Clydesdale to lend extra £100m to cash-strapped SMEs

Published on Wednesday 1 July 2009 21:15

CLYDESDALE Bank has earmarked £100 million of cash to lend to small and medium companies under an invoice financing scheme to improve cash flow for credit crunch-hit businesses.

The funding will be available to companies across the UK through Clydesdale's 77 financial solutions centres, 17 of which are in Scotland.

Invoice financing enables businesses to obtain up to 85 per cent of the value of invoices they issue immediately, with the remainder payable when payment is received.

Firms have been increasingly facing cash flow problems as customers delay payments in a bid to save money in the current economic climate.

An invoice financing facility has been offered to SMEs by Clydesdale in the past, but has not been formally available in a specified fund.

The bank claims the new initiative will make borrowing easier and more immediately accessible.

Scott McKerracher, regional director for Clydesdale Bank in Scotland, said: "Tougher economic conditions traditionally lead to pressure on cash flow for small to medium-sized businesses, compounded by a tendency among their customer businesses to delay payments, usually because they face similar difficulties."

Companies can access the new financing facility online.

Clydesdale, part of National Australia Bank, earlier this year reported a pre-tax profit of 70m for the six months to 31 March, down from 194m a year earlier.

Last month it announced that it was to cut nine Scottish jobs as part of a reduction of more than 100 banking and mortgage adviser posts at the Clydesdale and its sister bank, the Yorkshire.

The invoice finance scheme will create eight new jobs across the UK.