Business lending surges at the Co-op

THE Co-operative Bank says it has significantly increased lending to business over the past three years.

The Co-op’s lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the country increased by 40% to £8.7bn since the start of 2007.

And this trend has been reflected at its corporate banking centres (CBC) in Manchester, Preston and Liverpool.

It says it is capitalising on the fact that other banks have tightened their lending criteria and are holding funds back from small businesses.

The central Manchester CBC saw business lending rise 49% to £227.7m in 2010. An Altrincham branch, which opened in spring 2008, increased lending from £6.9m to £11m, or 59%.

Liverpool’s lending figures rose sharply from £7.9m at the start of 2007 to £96m, while lending from the Preston office jumped 39% to £36.7m.

The bank said it had doubled the number of corporate banking centres, from 10 to 20, and seen corporate deposits increase from £1.4bn to £4bn.

Keith Alderson, executive director of corporate banking, said: “Our presence in the corporate market has benefited from a strong financial position that has supported growth at a time when our competitors were scaling back.

“We put considerable emphasis into forming close relationships with our corporate and business customers and this has served us well as many businesses have felt abandoned by some of the other banks.”