The British Business Bank has revealed that the stock of finance supported through its programmes was £8bn at the end of March, an increase of 21% from £6.6bn in March 2019.

Publishing its 2020 Annual Report and Accounts, the Bank also suggested it has helped to create a “more diverse” finance market for smaller businesses, with 93% of the finance supported by the Bank in 2019/20 delivered through smaller, newer or alternative finance providers.

The Bank announced 12 new delivery partners across its programmes, bringing the total number of providers it was working with to more than 140 at the end of March.

The report also suggested that the Bank has helped to reduce regional imbalances in access to finance, with the Bank’s regional funds making a total of £436m of investments. The number of smaller businesses outside London benefiting from British Business Bank programmes also increased to 83,000, up from 75,000 at the end of 2018/19.

British Business Bank CEO, Catherine Lewis La Torre, commented: “The Bank and our role within the UK economy has been thrown into sharp relief as we continue to work as a trusted partner of government to create the conditions for improved access to finance that will enable smaller businesses to stabilise, prosper and grow.
 
“The results reported in this set of accounts, which include our support for £8bn of finance to 98,000 businesses, demonstrate that we continue to deliver value for money to the taxpayer.”

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