Demand for finance from the UK’s 5.5m small and medium-sized businesses is on the rise at the same time as banks are “reducing their lending appetite,” according to iwoca’s latest SME Expert Index.
More than eight in ten SME finance brokers (82 per cent) agree “that major banks have reduced their appetite to fund SMEs,” while nearly half of brokers (49 per cent) report “that more of their clients’ applications for finance were rejected compared to the previous month.”