Council to help finance local businesses
Spelthorne Borough Council and Funding Circle today announced the launch of the Local Business Lending Partnership.
Spelthorne Borough Council and Funding Circle today announced the launch of the Local Business Lending Partnership, a pioneering new scheme, to stimulate local economic growth and employment through improved access to business finance.
As part of the scheme, the Council will lend up to £300,000 directly to businesses based in Spelthorne using Funding Circle, the UK's leading online marketplace for small business loans.
The Council will join thousands of British people already lending their money to small and medium sized businesses across the country. The government-backed British Business Bank and 11 other councils across the country (including Newcastle County Council, Camden Council and Nottingham County Council) have also signed up to lend money to businesses through Funding Circle.
This pilot scheme will help realise the growth potential of Spelthorne businesses that are currently being stifled by poor access to finance. Council partnerships with Funding Circle have proven to be an effective way of unlocking business growth at a local level. 77 per cent of the businesses who have borrowed through Funding Circle would chose to return to the marketplace over a bank, demonstrating the appetite for fast, fair and transparent access to finance.
This new partnership will enable local businesses to have greater access to funding independent of banks, and a chance to work together in collaboration with this Council, giving them every available opportunity to prosper. I am very proud to be able to enter into such an arrangement and hope that it will prove beneficial for everyone involved."
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