Small Business Finance Markets Report 2023 Infographic

Challenger and specialist bank lending reached record high

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£35.5bn

lent by challenger and specialist banks in record year, exceeding lending by the major UK banks

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12.8%

increase in gross bank lending to smaller businesses in 2022 versus 2021, to £65.1bn

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£8.5bn

fall in net lending, in large part reflecting repayment of Covid loans

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11%

increase in transactions in the smaller business asset finance market, reaching a new high of £22.1bn in 2022

Demand for smaller business finance is down

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33%

of smaller businesses were using external finance in Q3 2022, compared to 44% the year prior

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64%

success rate for those seeking loans, sharply falling from 80% year on year

Net zero deal numbers outperforming the wider equity market

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12%

of all current smaller business equity deals are net zero-related deals, compared to just 5% in 2018

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184%

rise in investment value of net zero-related deals over the past year to a new record level of £1.7bn

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36%

of UK net-zero related deals and a third of net-zero related investment value took place in London

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Greater share

of net zero-related deal count or investment value than share of UK turnover from low-carbon businesses in Scotland and South East of England

Innovation required to boost productivity and economic growth

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65%

of innovative businesses use external finance compared to 58% of non-innovators

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9%

of non-innovating smaller businesses cited the availability of finance and 8% the cost of finance as significant barriers to innovation