Scottish small businesses ‘miss out on lending’

Small and medium-sized businesses in Scotland received less than 5 per cent of lending from a project set up by the UK government and the big banks, new data has revealed.

Under the Project Merlin agreement, the UK government, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander collectively committed to making £190 billion of fresh credit available in 2011, with £76bn of this for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Data from the Treasury, requested by Scottish finance secretary John Swinney, shows that Scottish SMEs received 4.8 per cent of lending, although they account for 6.4 per cent of UK SMEs.

Swinney has now called on the UK government to do more to accelerate bank lending.

He said: “The Project Merlin figures released last week showed that the big five banks failed to meet their SME lending targets. There is a more fundamental question about whether Project Merlin has achieved anything in addressing the current market failure in lending to SMEs.

“I believe we have a shortfall in lending to viable SMEs in Scotland, which is constraining economic activity and threatening this important component of our economy. If only 4.8 per cent of gross lending went to Scottish SMEs, it is clear that Project Merlin has failed to address poor lending conditions for Scottish companies, and this needs to be addressed by the UK government.”

He has written to Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander asking him to address the concerns.