Manchester lender accredited as Recovery Loan Scheme provider

Property-focused marketplace lender, Assetz Capital, has been accredited as a lender under the Government-backed Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS).

The RLS is administered by the British Business Bank on behalf of the Government and is designed to support access to finance for businesses across the UK as they recover and grow following the coronavirus pandemic.

The scheme enables lenders to provide facilities of up to £10m to UK SMEs and gives the lender a government-backed guarantee against the outstanding balance of the facility.

The funds can be used for any legitimate business purpose, including managing cashflow, growth and investment and the scheme is designed to appeal to businesses that can afford to take out additional finance for these purposes.

Under RLS, Manchester-based Assetz Capital will be delivering property-secured loans between £250,000 and £10m to SMEs across the UK, covering both commercial mortgages and development finance.

Assetz Capital was also accredited as a provider of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), and delivered £370m of funding under that scheme.

Stuart Law, Assetz Capital chief executive, said: “We are pleased to be accredited and we look forward to helping even more SMEs recover from the impacts of the pandemic.

“We exist to support the growth of UK SMEs, so being accredited as a lender under RLS is a natural step for us after our success delivering CBILS and our previous £1bn of further lending outside of the pandemic.

“It is SMEs that will power the UK economy as we exit the pandemic and ensuring they have continued access to finance is critical. We look forward to playing our part.”

Assetz Capital has lent approaching £1.5bn since its inception in 2013 to UK SMEs and house builders and funded around one in every 100 new homes last year. It is estimated that its current borrowers support up to 100,000 jobs across the UK.