BANK managers must bridge the communications gap with Yorkshire’s small firms, says a Huddersfield businessman.
Nick Brook, of TaxAssist Accountants in Lockwood, was commenting during a small business forum hosted by the company in Harrogate. The event featured sole traders and business owners, advisers and bank representatives.
Delegates heard how one Yorkshire retailer needed bank lending to buy stock at discount prices in order to remain profitable – but had hit “the proverbial brick wall”. Many small businesses felt there were too many hoops to jump through to secure the funding they needed.
Andy Tunnicliffe, of HSBC, told the forum: “We’ve increased new lending to UK businesses by 5% on last year and we awarded £9.5bn to small and medium-sized enterprises – a 10% rise.”
Mr Brook said: “The banks have to understand that local small businesses simply don’t believe that they’re lending. Local relationship managers need to get under the skin of the small businesses in their region and give them advice and support on their business plans.”
