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Small business call for lower London Interbank Offered Rate |
Members of the FSB in East Berkshire have been following the lead of their national Chairman, John Wright by meeting with local representatives from the banks to discuss the current banking crisis and demand a better deal for small firms.
Local bankers from across East Berkshire were invited to attend a “Meet the bankers” event in The Ivory Lounge in Maidenhead on Thursday 11th December. Barclays were the only bank to accept the invitation and diligently answered all the questions put to them. The non attendance of the other big banks tells its own story. The key concerns of the businesses present related to the increased cost of borrowing, the reduction in the level of funds available for borrowing and the incapacity of banks to take decisions at a local level. The bulk of the audience were all experiencing the problem of clients increasing the time taken to settle debts. Staggeringly, despite the government hype and the promise of additional funding for small business, banks on the front line have not received any communication from government which would ease the borrowing problems of small businesses. The current Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme was considered so cumbersome that very few small firms ever make it through the process successfully. There was also a desire for any intervention that would bring down the rate of inter-bank lending (LIBOR). The discussion was chaired by David Knowles-leak, FSB committee member and owner of Leadership Management UK. David confirmed: “The FSB bank watch survey revealed that in the Thames Valley 45% of respondents have seen an increase in their bank charges over the last few months. This was confirmed at the meeting when a straw poll saw half the room confirm they have seen increased banks costs recently. I would like to see more pressure being put on the banks to get together in a dark smoke filled room and remove the barriers to bringing down the inter-bank lending rate”. Mary Flavelle, FSB East Berkshire Chair said “I am pleased we were able to follow in the steps of the FSB Nationally and give our local members the opportunity to speak directly to the bankers. After the more serious part of the meeting we rounded off the event with a speed networking session which always proves very popular. We have a very full programme of events for 2009 all of which can be found at www.fsb.org.uk/thamesvalley |
