British Business Bank hits £5bn in structured guarantee programmes

The British Business Bank has reached £5bn in lending through its ENABLE structured guarantee programmes.

These programmes, including ENABLE Guarantees and ENABLE Build, have delivered more than £3bn to businesses outside London and the South East, supporting smaller and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the UK, the bank said.

A total of £500m has been allocated to each of the North West, East Midlands and East of England regions.

The ENABLE Guarantees programme is designed to encourage additional lending to SMEs by providing a government-backed guarantee to participating institutions, which support defined portfolios of debt finance in return for a fee.

The structured guarantee programmes provided more than £2.3bn of support to the construction and housing sectors, including approximately £1.2bn under ENABLE Build.

Other sectors such as hospitality and agriculture have also benefitted, receiving more than £270m and £260m, respectively.

Since the first transaction in 2017, these programmes have enabled both bank and non-bank financial institutions to increase lending to SMEs.

The ENABLE Guarantees programme is open to all UK banks, UK branches of foreign banks, asset and asset-based finance providers, and certain other lenders that lend to viable SMEs in the UK.

The ENABLE Build programme operates similarly to ENABLE Guarantees but focuses on encouraging additional lending to smaller and medium-sized housebuilders in the UK.

British Business Bank Structured Financial Institutions managing director Michael Strevens said: “It is incredibly rewarding to reflect on the volume of lending to smaller and medium-sized businesses and the number of homes built that we have helped enable over the years.

“Our focus has always been on evolving our support to strengthen UK businesses, and it is encouraging to see those efforts bearing fruit. Looking ahead, we are focused on being more proactive – working closely with lenders to understand their challenges and tailor solutions that fit. That is how we will unlock the next £5bn – and do so with greater pace and purpose.”

"British Business Bank hits £5bn in structured guarantee programmes" was originally created and published by Leasing Life, a GlobalData owned brand.

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