Yorkshire Bank announces £100m SME funding boost

YORKSHIRE Bank has given SMEs across Yorkshire a boost by announcing a new £100m fund.

Yorkshire Bank’s Leeds-based national invoice finance team is increasing its support to SMEs with the new fund to be made available through its nationwide network of 77 financial solutions centres – six of which of which are in Yorkshire.

Head of the national invoice finance team, Martin Rothera, said: “In the current economic climate, SMEs need extra support to give them a competitive edge.

“By making this new invoice finance fund available, we are helping successful businesses secure their future and get one step ahead of their competition.”

Invoice finance – sometimes called cash-flow finance – is a sales-driven facility, which enables business to obtain up to 85% of the value of invoices they issue immediately with the remainder payable when payment is received.

The service means that businesses are not hampered by late payments as they always have rapid access to funds that reflect their commercial performance.

Regional director for integrated financial services in Yorkshire and the North East, Kath Myers, said that tougher economic conditions traditionally led to pressure on cashflow compounded by late payments.

She added: “Invoice finance helps businesses to run smoothly by releasing a proportion of invoiced values immediately.

“We are sure that many will want to benefit from the additional funds available and that it will play an important role in helping both our existing and new business customers operate in the current climate.”

Earlier this year Yorkshire Bank’s interim results for the six months to March 31, showed it had expanded its customer base by 5% with business lending up by 14% representing £1.2bn of new money to support local business and deposits – an increase of 15%.

In Yorkshire, the bank continued its strong performance with average lending growing by 13% highlighting its commitment to the local economy.

Lending increased by 19% in Leeds and 23% in Bradford. Yorkshire Bank’s traditional banking model ensures that every pound raised from local deposits is reinvested back into lending for local businesses. In the period, deposits grew by 11%.

Yorkshire Bank’s main financial solutions centres in the region are in Leeds, Bradford, York, Hull, Doncaster, and Sheffield.