£40m lent under Funding for Lending scheme by RBS and NatWest
FIGURES released by NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) show that the banks have lent £40.5m to SMEs in the West Midlands through the Government’s Funding for Lending scheme (FFL) since August 1.
Chris Sullivan, CEO, RBS Corporate Banking, said: “This is a real opportunity to stimulate growth in the West Midlands and across the UK – the strongest way we can do this is to offer our best ever terms on SME loans. We hope this gives more businesses the confidence they need to invest.”
One of the first businesses to benefit was Wright Restaurants. The firm is opening a new McDonald’s restaurant franchise in Rugeley.
Douglas Wright, McDonald’s franchisee and owner of Wright Restaurants, said: “We have had a fantastic response to the launch of our new restaurant in Rugeley and received an overwhelming response to our job adverts which will create 90 new jobs in Rugeley.
“I am a local businessman and I am delighted we will be able to create this extra employment for the local job market.”
Another beneficiary is Indian restaurant business Suriya, based in Kingstanding, Birmingham. It has used £12k of funding under the scheme towards the full re-furbishment and promotion of its new restaurant.
Partner Mo Islam said: “We’re overwhelmed with the reaction we’ve had from customers and have had a number of famous footballers, Models and the executives of many FTSE 100 companies pay us a visit.”
The FFL scheme is being used by NatWest and RBS to cut interest rates on £2.5bn of SME loans by an average one percentage point.
RBS is also using the scheme to provide a discounted fund for mid-sized manufacturers – these businesses, who turn over £25m to £500m, represent 30% per cent of the UK’s manufacturing base.
