Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Nationwide Building Society has won a £50m grant to help support small businesses.
The award is part of a £775m programme funded by Royal Bank of Scotland as a condition of its bailout during the financial crisis. A total of £425m will be given in cash grants to rival business banks and financial technology companies, while a further £350m is being used to encourage RBS customers to switch to alternative providers.
Investec and the Co-Operative Bank, which won smaller awards of £15m each, have also pledged to match the prize with their own investments.
Nationwide will use the money to deliver new services for SMEs. The building society will match every pound received over five years to shape new products and services.
Nationwide says 7,000 branch workers will be trained in business banking and it will create a further 400 jobs. including at the society’s head office in Swindon, Wiltshire.
The society is the only major high street provider currently not to offer a business current account.
Five big banks dominate 85pc of the business lending market, where switching levels are low.
Nationwide aims to shake up the market by focusing squarely on supporting the UK’s 5.6 million SMEs. Among