Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The Government is mulling setting up funds to ensure that small and medium-sized businesses have enough access to credit to weather a no-deal Brexit.
Business secretary Andrea Leadsom; Michael Gove, the minister in charge of no-deal preparations; and City minister John Glen are expected to meet senior bankers in Westminster on Thursday to discuss limiting the impact of a hard Brexit on small businesses, according to the Financial Times.
Read: 70% of businesses put investment on hold because of Brexit uncertainty
The Government is concerned about banks cutting lending to small business after the UK is due to leave the EU on October 31, according to one person briefed on the meeting agenda.
However, lenders are pushing for the Government to support companies that might be excluded from access to loans under banks’ standard risk criteria. They want the Government to extend the Enterprise Finance Guarantee on loans to businesses that do not have enough collateral to meet lenders’ normal requirements.
The Enterprise Finance Guarantee provides lenders with a Government-backed guarantee for up to 75pc of the outstanding balance of eligible facilities, potentially enabling a “no” credit decision from a lender to become a “yes”. It supports facilities

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