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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Business
Rhiannon Curry

Banks ‘pulling up the drawbridge’ on small business lending

Small businesses are struggling to access extra cash

(Picture: PA Archive)

The UK’s largest business group has warned that banks are “pulling up the drawbridge” to small companies and stifling economic growth, as successful finance applications plummet to the lowest level on record.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) found that fewer than one in ten small firms applied for finance in the first quarter of 2022, the lowest proportion since its records began.

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