Barclays approves over 32,000 ‘bounce back’ loans
Barclays has approved over 32,000 “bounce back” loans since the scheme was launched yesterday.
Yesterday, the bank said it received 35 loan applications per minute when the government launched the new scheme.
Barclays UK chief executive Matt Hammerstein told a House of Commons committee that the bank had received 200 applications within minutes of opening at 8am.
The new loan scheme offers the UK’s smallest firms loans worth 25 per cent of turnover, up to £50,000. The loans are 100 per cent guaranteed by the government.
Earlier today, Lloyds said more than 32,000 of its smallest business customers applied for a bounce back loan on Monday, totalling over £1bn. HSBC also said it had received 34,5000 applications by 4pm yesterday and had agreed to lend out £650m.
The wave of activity is in stark contrast to the CBILS scheme, under which the government only guarantees 80 per cent of loans.
By last week, 25,000 loans worth £4.1bn had been made through CBILS after it had been open since 23 March. However, small firms said they had found they were shut out due to inconvenient application processes and strict criteria.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak introduced the bounce back loan scheme to iron out these issues, offering a simplified, online application process.
Barclays has approved 4,351 CBILS loans totalling £835m, as of 28 April, and has introduced 12-month capital repayment holidays on existing loans over £25,000.