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British Business Bank ENABLE Guarantee with Hampshire Trust Bank will help finance smaller housebuilders across the UK

Today, the British Business Bank announces that Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) has secured an ENABLE Guarantee. This is the second time such a guarantee has been offered by the government-owned British Business Bank that is specifically targeted at boosting the SME housebuilding sector.

The transaction is expected to enable HTB and the British Business Bank to support the building of new housing to a value of over £500m over the lifetime of the guarantee. This is a significant increase in the amount of housing built by SMEs that HTB can finance.

HTB’s Development Finance division offers financing solutions to experienced SME property professionals across the UK. HTB has a dedicated team in the North of England, with a new office in Leeds expected to be opened in the next few months.

The 2018 Federation of Master Builders (FMB) survey highlighted the challenges that SME housebuilders face in accessing finance. It found that 46% reported that a lack of finance constrained their ability to build more houses.

The British Business Bank’s ENABLE Guarantee programme encourages banks to increase their lending to SMEs by reducing the amount of capital required to be held against such lending. Under an ENABLE Guarantee, the UK Government takes on a portion of the counterparty’s risk on a portfolio of loans to smaller businesses in return for a fee.

In this instance HTB has said it will allocate this additional capital to increase its funding to SMEs across the UK in order fund further growth across the sector.

Robert Grigg, Executive Chairman of Development Finance, HTB said: “We are committed to helping SME housebuilders make the most of the opportunities available to them. The ENABLE Guarantee will bolster our ability to support the development and financing of housing in the UK. Working with SME housebuilders up and down the country, we can continue to drive housebuilding activity. Hampshire Trust Bank is focused on developing strong and lasting business relationships and this announcement demonstrates the benefits of co-operative private and state sector engagement.”

Reinald de Monchy, Managing Director of Guarantee & Wholesale Solutions British Business Bank, said: “The ENABLE Guarantee is specifically designed to address the issue of high capital requirements associated with small business finance, which restricts banks’ ability to lend to SMEs.

“This is the second ENABLE Guarantee that we have announced which will help specifically to provide the extra finance that smaller housebuilders require to allow them to grow, succeed and increase the country’s new housing stock.”

Business Secretary, Greg Clark said: “The UK’s 5.7 million small businesses are the backbone of our economy.

“Through our modern Industrial Strategy and the Construction Sector Deal, the British Business Bank is supporting small businesses in the housebuilding sector to access the finance they need to maximise their potential, grow and boost the number of homes built.”

ENDS

For further information:

Hampshire Trust Bank

Emily Murphy, Communications Manager, emily.murphy@htb.co.uk

British Business Bank

MHP Communications, bbb@mhpc.com
Scott Shearer, British Business Bank, Scott.Shearer@british-business-bank.co.uk

Notes to Editors

About Hampshire Trust Bank

Hampshire Trust Bank is a specialist bank, focused on lending to UK businesses. HTB also provide savings accounts to individuals and businesses. The bank is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority. For more information, please visit our website: www.htb.co.uk

About the British Business Bank

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank is currently supporting almost £5.2bn of finance to nearly 75,000 smaller businesses (as at end of March 2018).
As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses:

• The Business Finance Guide (published in partnership with the ICAEW and a further 21 business and finance organisations) impartially sets out the range of finance options available to businesses at all stages – from start-ups to SMEs and growing mid-sized companies. Businesses can take the interactive journey at www.thebusinessfinanceguide.co.uk/.

• The new British Business Bank Finance Hub provides everything high-growth businesses need to know about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success. The new site also features case studies and learnings from real businesses to guide businesses through the process of applying for growth finance.

As the holding company of the group operating under the trading name of British Business Bank, British Business Bank plc is wholly owned by HM Government and is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank operates under its own brand name through a number of subsidiaries, one of which is authorised and regulated by the FCA.

British Business Bank plc and its principal operating subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

The ENABLE Guarantee programme is administered by British Business Financial Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Business Bank plc.