Just Loans Group, the alternative lender to SMEs, has responded positively to the appointment of Professor Russel Griggs to review the effectiveness of the recently introduced online portal to offer businesses an alternative to mainstream lenders.
Part of the Small Business, Enterprise & Employment Act 2015, the Bank Referral Scheme was launched in November 2016 to offer businesses, which have been declined loan or overdraft requests by their bank, the opportunity to be introduced to alternative lenders who may be willing to lend to them.
However, since it’s launch, the scheme has not generated the anticipated volume of referrals and the Government is now reviewing how effective it is.
John Davies, Chief Executive of the Just Loans Group, has welcomed the review, making reference to the low level of introductions passed to Just Loans. ‘The Bank Referral Scheme is a good initiative,’ he says. ‘Those businesses who have had their borrowing request declined have, through the scheme, another route to access the funding they need. But at Just Loans, we have not seen the volume of referrals we expected since the scheme started which suggests to us that something is not working as it was intended. The appointment of Professor Griggs is a welcome move in trying to unearth any blockages, whether these are in the referring banks, the managers of the online portals, or with the businesses themselves.’
‘As businesses have started to look for other sources of funding beyond the traditional banks the alternative lenders are becoming more and more important,’ says John Davies, who also chairs the Association of Alternative Business Finance, ‘and it is important that those enterprises who are either unsuccessful in winning support from their mainstream bank, or are looking for a complementary offering, are aware of the alternative options available to them. We hope that this review by Professor Griggs will shine a light on the areas of the scheme that are not working, and will lead to removing the barriers to its effectiveness.’