Bank announces £2bn fund for SMEs impacted by coronavirus

Lloyds Banking Group is to make £2 billion available to SMEs that need help to overcome cashflow issues caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The support will be available to SMEs with a turnover of up to £25 million. The bank says there will be no arrangement fees for new overdrafts or overdraft limit increases, and no arrangement fees for new or increased invoice discounting and finance facilities.

David Oldfield, group director, commercial banking, Lloyds Banking Group, said: “We fully understand how worrying these times are for business owners, concerned not only about their and their own family’s health and wellbeing, but also of their employees. They are also worried what the outbreak might mean for their business and with no knowledge of how or when they might be affected. As our customers face into such uncertainty, we want to provide reassurance to them that, if needed, we are here to help with additional working capital to get them through temporary interruptions to their business and to their cashflow.”