I am sure we can all agree that 2020 was not a normal year for UK businesses, or anything else for that matter. This is reflected in the main headline ‘UK Business Finance Statistics’ in the article below.
Lending to businesses in the UK was dominated by the government backed loan schemes, predominantly CBILS & BBLS. With the two schemes paying out a combined total £68.1 Billion.
Top UK Business Lending Statistics In 2020
- 1.4 Million Bounce Back Loans Approved in 2020
- £43.54 Billion of Approved Bounce Back Loans in 2020
- 456,000 Bounce Back Loan Applications Were Declined in 2020
- 82,618 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans (CBILS) Were Approved in 2020
- £19.64 Billion of Approved Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans (CBILS) in 2020
- 56% of All Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) Applications Were Declined In 2020
- £27.3 Billion Business Lending Facilitated by NACFB registered Commercial Finance Brokers in 2020
- Gross Lending to SMEs From 1st Jan to 31st Sept 2020 Was More Than Double All of 2019
- 37,000 Businesses Using Invoice Finance At The End of 2020
- 20% Increase In Business Savings & Deposit Holdings in 2020
1.4 Million Bounce Back Loans Approved in 2020
According to HM Treasury there was 1,431,987 Bounce Back Loans approved under the government backed scheme. This is from the start of the scheme up to close of business on 14 December 2020, so this covers most of 2020.
£43.54 Billion of Approved Bounce Back Loans in 2020
The total value of all approved Bounce Back Loans was £43.54 Billion. The maximum loan size for Bounce Back Loans was £50,000.
This is from the start of the scheme up to close of business on 14 December 2020, so this covers most of 2020.
Given that there was 1,431,987 approved loans, this would give an average of £30,405 per facility.
456,000 Bounce Back Loan Applications Were Declined in 2020
According to the data released by HM Treasury on Bounce back Loans in 2020, there was 1,887,967 applications. Of those applications 1,431,987 were approved, this means that 455,980 applications were either declined or not progressed to completion.
- Total BBLS Applications: 1,887,967
- Total BBLS Approvals: 1,431,987
- Total BBLS Declines/Unsuccessful: 455,9080
This means that around 76% of BBLS applications were successfully completed and paid out.
Government figures have been released to state that 82,618 lending facilities were approved in 2020 under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme. These are figures from the start of the scheme to close of business 14th December.
You can find out more about the CBILS scheme in our recent in depth article ‘CBILS FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions 2021‘
The total value of approved loans under the CBILs scheme in 2020 was around £19.64 billion. Given that there was 82,618 approval lending facilities, that gives an average of £237,720 per facility. This is not surprising given that only loans up to £250,000 don’t require a personal guarantee.
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme provided 2.2x more funding than CBILS in 2020.
The figures released by government up to 14th December 2020 would suggest that only around 44% of CBILS application were approved. This means that a larger number of SME’s (103,904) were not able to access the CBILS scheme, although they may of already accessed the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
- Total CBILS Applications: 186,522
- Total CBILS Approvals: 82,618
- Total CBILS Declines/Unsuccessful: 103,904
£27.3 Billion Business Lending Facilitated by NACFB registered Commercial Finance Brokers in 2020
The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) is the UK’s largest commercial finance broker trade body. They have released figures estimating that around £27.3 billion in commercial finance was facilitated by its members in 2020. It shows the vital part that NACFB members play in the UK finance market.
As part of the total around £6.1 billion were CBILS facilities.
Gross Lending to SMEs From 1st Jan to 31st Sept 2020 Was More Than Double All of 2019
With the massive uptake of the government back loan schemes (BBLS & CBILS), business lending in 2020 was more than double the year before. This data is only for the first 3 Quarters of 2020 but already shows a significant increase in SME borrowing.
37,000 Businesses Using Invoice Finance At The End of 2020
According to trade body UK Finance, at the end of 2020 there was approximately 37,000 businesses using Invoice Finance. This is down from 40,000 using it at the end of 2019.
20% Increase In Business Savings & Deposit Holdings in 2020
Despite some of the perhaps worrying headlines above, business savings and deposits have actually increased in 2020 by 20%. This would suggest that SME’s are being cautious and that some may be holding onto funds from loans ‘Just in case’.