Business Bank to be based in Yorkshire
THE Government is today expected to announce that its new Business Bank is to have its headquarters in Yorkshire.
The Business Bank, which was set up last year to help small companies struggling to secure financing from high street lenders, is to move to a permanent HQ in Sheffield and Business Secretary Vince Cable will announce a further £250m boost to the £1bn already committed to the project by the Chancellor.
The move, due to be announced this morning by Mr Cable and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, comes at the start of a week when the Coalition Government is aiming to underline its commitment to small businesses and regional development.
Last month Vince Cable appointed Ron Emerson, a former executive of Standard Chartered, as the first chairman of the Business Bank. The Business Secretary declared that the bank was in a “substantial expansion phase”. He said it would unlock £10bn of financial support for expanding companies over the next five years.
Despite a range of smaller Government lending schemes, worth a total of £600m, having been folded into the Bank, it has faced criticism that it does not have enough firepower to compete in the market.
However Mr Cable will say today: “Since I announced this initiative more than 10,000 businesses have already been helped and this new money will help it do more of that. The British Business Bank is fixing a big long- term problem in our banking system and it is set to unlock up to £10bn of finance over the next five years to help small and medium sized businesses grow.”
The move comes as Prime Minister David Cameron leads a trade mission which heads to China today, thought to include the biggest contingent of small businesses yet, as well as bosses from GlaxoSmithKline, the London Stock Exchange and TalkTalk.
On Thursday, the Chancellor George Osborne is expected to use his Autumn Statement to unveil a series of measures to help smaller firms, including an overhaul of business rates which could be frozen for two years.
The push is designed to curb criticism that Britain’s resurgent economy is not broad enough and based too much on financial services. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is expected this week to raise its economic forecasts for UK growth this year to 1.4% from 0.6%. Predictions suggest 2.3% growth next year.
The Chancellor may also confirm that the Treasury is working on early plans to issue a big retail offer in Lloyds Banking Group shares as part of the gradual sell-off of the Government’s stake in the high street lender.
