HSBC announces £400,000 lending fund for 'resilient' Bristol and Bath SMEs

By Peter Davison

2 June 2023

Share

The Business Magazine article image for: HSBC announces £400,000 lending fund for 'resilient' Bristol and Bath SMEs

A £400,000 lending fund for SMEs in Bristol and Bath has been launched by HSBC, with a survey by the bank showing the resilience of businesses in the region.

The survey found that nearly a quarter (22 per cent) of Bristol and Bath SMEs think the impact of current economic situation is worse than the pandemic.

But over a third (36 per cent) plan to adapt business strategies to navigate current financial challenges, and a fifth (20 per cent) feeling optimistic that business will get better.

The research reveals the top three issues currently affecting businesses are rising energy bills (77 per cent), travel costs (76 per cent) and rent (23 per cent).

Peter McIntyre, head of business banking at HSBC UK, said: “SMEs are the lifeblood of the UK economy. During the pandemic, many businesses had to act fast to successfully adapt - and we’re seeing the same resilience again now.

“The UK is home to many fast growing, robust and innovative businesses who, together with the support of their banks, can seize opportunities and become stronger.

“HSBC UK package of support is designed to give businesses access to the help they need to weather the current challenges they are facing.”

HSBC UK has committed to putting a comprehensive range of support in place to support SMEs that may be struggling with Cost of Living challenges, including a dedicated £15 billion fund, Cost of Living customer webinars, a new Financial Worries and Wellbeing Hub and support from HSBC UK’s specialist financial support team for customers showing early warning signs of financial difficulty.

The £400,000 lending fund for Bristol and Bath SMEs includes allocated funding for businesses trading internationally, the agriculture sector, the tech sector, and franchise businesses.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.