Nationwide scoops £50m prize for small business lending May 14, 2019 Nationwide has won the latest round of funding from a high-profile grant designed to boost small business lending in the UK, pocketing the top £50m prize. Read more: Nationwide invests in ex-Barclays CEO's firm to boost business banking Investec and the Co-operative Bank were also named as winners, taking home £15m each. The awards, handed [...]
MPs push for law change to give shareholders and business owners more power to sue May 8, 2019 Shareholders and small business owners could be able to take direct legal action against parties they blame for causing them losses when their companies fall into insolvency, after a group of MPs called for radical changes to the law. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on fair business banking took to the Supreme Court yesterday in a [...]
Natwest increases small business loan programme amid Brexit uncertainty April 23, 2019 Natwest will double its growth funding programme for small and medium-sized British businesses, citing the need to help them navigate Brexit disruption. Read more: Government provides £200m for small firms as Brexit threatens EU funding The UK bank’s growth funding loan pot, which was started in May 2018, will be immediately doubled to £6bn in [...]
Government provides £200m for small firms as Brexit threatens EU funding April 17, 2019 The UK government has handed over £200m to help support smaller businesses in the 2019-20 financial year as the future of European Union funding remains uncertain. Read more: No-deal planning programme extended due to later Brexit date The Treasury announced today that it has made the cash available to the British Business Bank, which provides [...]
Debate: Is Sadiq Khan’s new ultra-low emission zone an effective solution for tackling air pollution? April 9, 2019 Debate: Is Sadiq Khan’s new ultra-low emission zone an effective solution for tackling air pollution? Yes – Fiona Howarth is chief executive of Octopus Electric Vehicles. If London’s water supplies were poisoning 9,000 people a year, there would be national outrage. So why are we not outraged about the air that we breathe? Research published [...]
Funding Circle shares fall as it plans to wind down SME fund April 5, 2019 Funding Circle's shares dived today as it revealed plans to wind down its small and medium enterprises fund and return capital to shareholders. Funding Circle SME Income Fund (FCIF) said that after a consultation with shareholders accounting for over two thirds of the register, it had concluded investors did not want to put more money into [...]
Emojis are a better metric for national wellbeing than traditional data methods March 20, 2019 HMRC’s programme to make tax digital continues to roll out. Anyone with a small business will know about the imminent deadline of 1 April, when VAT returns become digital. Quick to seize an opportunity, several companies have developed software to ease the task. The digitisation of tax raises the wider issue of whether technology will [...]
A third of small businesses have no cyber security strategy, report finds March 18, 2019 A third of small businesses in the UK have no cyber security strategies in place, a new report has found. Research by charity Business in the Community (BITC) revealed 40 per cent of small businesses had not taken any action on cyber security over the past 12 months. In addition, more than three-quarters of firms [...]
Formula One legend Bruce McLaren is a racing role model, but what can business leaders learn from his life story? March 15, 2019 When Bruce McLaren, the founder of the motor racing team named after himself, was just nine years old, he was diagnosed with a hip issue that left him bedridden, with his legs encased in plaster for three years. This devastating experience left him unable to do what every youngster should be doing: playing with friends, [...]
If Kylie Jenner can be an entrepreneurial superstar, so can the rest of Generation Z March 7, 2019 Generation Z are the most entrepreneurial age group, according to recent research. While we all thought that millennials were the trailblazers in terms of entrepreneurship, today’s 16-24-year-olds knock them out of the park. And they are 20 per cent more likely to want to start a business than their parents. What’s even more interesting is the [...]