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FSB launches Bank Watch Scheme |
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We need your help to ensure the banks are held to account
Last week the FSB National Chairman, John Wright attended the first Small Business Finance Forum on behalf of our 215,000 members. The meeting was chaired by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and attended by small business group and the banks. The FSB want to make sure that these meetings are more than a public relations exercise for the banks and government and that the banks are held to account on their lending practices. To help us do this the FSB has launched Bank Watch to access the decision making and criteria our members are experiences at a local branch level. We would like to have this information available for the next Small Business Finance Forum meeting. Please click here to complete our short questionaire and help us gather evidence. We would also like to hear from you if you would like to be contacted regarding being considered as a media contact. Please use link above. The FSB is also making demands on the banks and the Government immediately: • The Government announced that it wants to see lending at 2007 levels which the FSB welcomed. The FSB wants to see the recapitalised banks lend the same amount of money as they did in the last financial year. • If banks (especially the recapitalised institutions) do not lend at 2007 levels the Government most force them to do so. • The historic base rate cut from 4.5 per cent to 3 per cent needs to be passed down to small and medium sized enterprises immediately as this can reduce repayments by £750m. • Existing finance must not be subject to "claw back" products such as Facility Fees and Arrangement Fees which can add up to 2.5 per cent on existing finance. • The FSB welcomed the Government's application for £4 billion from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help small businesses, but only three - Barclays, Close Brothers and Alliance and Leicester - are involved. The Government must force the recapitalised banks to offer EIB finance. • All banks must now supply Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme finance, and heavily promote the scheme to small businesses of all ages. • Switching between banks mush be made easier with the time period cut to five days for accounts with and without borrowings. Launched on 1 October 2007 FSB Care in association with RED ARC ASSURED Limited takes a lead in supporting members diagnosed with a serious health condition. Call RED ARC on 01273 716700 between 9am and 5pm and they will arrange for a personal nurse adviser to ring you back. |
