Small Business Finance Markets Report 2020

We have now published the Small Business Finance Markets Report 2020/2021. To view the updated report, please click here.

Our Small Business Finance Markets 2019/20 report provides a timely and comprehensive review of finance markets for smaller businesses.

This year’s report explores developments since the Bank’s creation in 2014 alongside a more in-depth look at opportunities for strengthening local finance markets across the UK.

Three themes provide the background to the sixth edition of the Small Business Finance Markets report:

  • First, there has been significant growth in alternative finance flows to smaller businesses over the past five years. While bank lending has remained relatively flat, the volume of equity investment, asset finance and marketplace lending to smaller businesses has continued to rise. Increased competition and innovation have led to a wider range of products, providers and platforms than ever before, increasing the range of finance options available to businesses.
  • Second, businesses have faced uncertainty in 2019, which suppressed their confidence and investment plans. Looking ahead, confidence is showing signs of recovery with some forecasters suggesting improved business investment and economic growth from 2020 onwards.
  • Third, recognising the importance of UK businesses’ ability to access finance wherever they’re based, the report explores the characteristics of successful entrepreneurial ecosystems. The report looks at the role private and public sector intermediaries play in developing local finance markets and addressing market imbalances.

Small Business Finance Markets report infographic

View the full Small Business Finance Markets report infographic

The British Business Bank 2019 Business Finance survey

Download the 2019 Business Finance survey slide deck

Evidence from our annual survey, based on 4,000 interviews undertaken by Ipsos MORI between August and November 2019 for the British Business Bank, is used extensively in the Small Business Finance Markets Report.

This year, we’ve expanded the survey to get a more complete picture of smaller businesses’ use of and attitudes towards finance across the UK, highlighting where significant regional variations exist. The survey includes insights on businesses’ finance journeys – which types of finance they’re aware of, which sources of information they consider and who they contact for finance. The survey also places this in a wider context, looking at businesses’ expectations for growth and trading conditions over the year ahead and how these differ across the UK.

Small Business Finance Markets Report 2020

Download the Small Business Finance Market report