More than 69,000 loan applications have been approved by seven largest lenders during the first 24 hours of the newly launched Bounce Back loan scheme, the chancellor has announced.
The government-backed scheme, opened on Monday (4 May), allows small businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 for up to six years. The first year is interest-free for firms, after which they pay an interest rate of 2.5 percent.
The seven lenders – Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS, Santander and Virgin Money – received more than 130,000 loan applications on 4 May, of which they approved over 69,000 loans.
“Small businesses will be the driving force of our recovery from the pandemic, creating jobs and securing economic growth. These loans will help them bounce back from this crisis – getting money fast – so it’s great to see close to 70,000 businesses benefitting in just the first day,” Chancellor Rishi Sunak said.
“It’s vital this speedy progress continues in the days and weeks ahead.”
The Treasury said the banks are working hard to process the loan applications as quickly as possible.
Banks handling the loans are not required to run credit checks or assess the long-term viability of applicants.
Britain last month announced an emergency 330 billion-pound credit scheme including loans of up to £5 million for small and medium-sized companies, with state guarantees of 80 percent.
But many companies said they struggled to secure bank approvals, putting pressure on Sunak to provide full state guarantees for commercial loans to the smallest businesses.
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