More Lending Required
28 / Jul / 2009
Chancellor Alistair Darling told banks to lend more to small businesses, though surveys showed some firms are now finding it easier to raise bank loans and get finance from debt markets. Large companies could raise more finance via corporate bonds in the second quarter of 2009 than in the first as liquidity and price transparency improved, according to respondents in the Bank of England's quarterly Asset Purchase Facility report. Smaller firms were also able to borrow more in June, when bank lending to British small businesses rose by 391 million pounds, the British Bankers' Association said, but finance minister Alistair Darling said progress had been clearer in lending to bigger companies and for home purchase