Bank lending to small businesses rises in January

The level of banks' lending to small businesses rose by £235mn to £54.2bn in January, according to new figures from the British Bankers' Association.

Banks are working to help all business customers through industry-wide initiatives like the Statement of Principles, which, since its publication in January, has been selling at around 300,000 copies a week. In addition, the BBA's Business Account finder - which aims to match firms to the right deal for them - has seen a 28 per cent increase in businesses accessing the site since the beginning of the year. Banks are setting up advice lines, running business seminars and workshops up and down the country and working with the Department for Business, Enterprise and

Regulatory Reform to ensure that viable businesses can access government guarantees.

These figures show that banks are still lending to UK businesses.

January's rise in lending reversed the previous month's movement when overdraft balances were reduced by receipts of single farm payments. Deposits fell by £1,513mn in the first month of this year, in part reflecting small businesses' tax payments.