Tag: loans

Only 13% of businesses receive their agreed loan from the bank

Author
Angus Dent
Date

UK businesses face a major funding crisis, ArchOver finds, with 34per cent saying late payment has caused their business to fail

London, UK – 4 March 2019 – British companies are facing a funding crisis because banks are not supporting the future of UK PLC. Businesses desperate for finance to support their growth are only receiving on average 70 per cent of the agreed loan – which means over a third (37 per cent) are unable to launch a new product or service as a result.

Research commissioned by ArchOver, which reviews the funding landscape for UK businesses in the last year, has found that one in five companies are being rejected for a loan by banks, and of those 17 per cent were put off or unable to apply for any further loan, crushing the entrepreneurial spirit of UK SMBs.

The research also identified the catalysts for companies requiring additional financing and what type of loan they secured.

More than two in five (43 per cent) were prompted to seek finance in order to fund digital transformation, whilst 39 per cent needed a loan facility to fund the move to a new premises or purchase new equipment. More worryingly, over a third of businesses required credit to cover short-term cash flow issues – a threat to their ability to function overall.

ArchOver discovered that part of the reason for this is that companies are facing an epidemic of late invoice payments, causing cashflow problems that are compounded by the lack of bank support. Less than one in twenty respondents (under 5 per cent) said their invoices are paid on time all the time. Just under half of them (49 per cent) said they receive fewer than half of their invoices by the due date.

That’s pushing many into the arms of dangerous financing options. Four in five (81 per cent) of businesses have considered using invoice discounting to fix their cashflow problems. But over-promising is built into invoice discounting. The same amount of respondents (80 per cent) said their business is now over-dependent on invoice discounting – like opium, it provides a quick hit, but at the cost of addiction and long-term expense.

Conversely, nearly six in ten (58 per cent) of those who’ve used invoice discounting now believe peer-to-peer (P2P) lending is safer, and 54 per cent believe they can obtain a better rate on their loan with a P2P provider than through a bank.

“The funding system for UK businesses is broken”, commented Angus Dent, CEO. “2018 was a tough year to be an SME to say the least, but companies aren’t bowing down just yet – despite the best efforts of the banks. Our research shows that despite their optimism, high-growth companies are being turned away time and again by big funders who, we’re told, have postponed all decisions on sub-£10m loans until after 29 March. That businesses have to run into the arms of unscrupulous invoice discounters to find cash is an indictment of the finance industry’s treatment of British business.

“Brexit is about to make the funding picture even harder for businesses. But there are options that won’t ignore you or suck you dry. If they want to keep growing in 2019, UK companies need to look for financiers who’ll get to know them deeply and support them through the storm – not just make a quick buck from them.”

To read the full report, please visit ArchOver’s website.

About the research

In Q4 2018, when the Pound hit its lowest rate against the Euro since the 2017 Brexit referendum, ArchOver commissioned research to understand how UK businesses are affected by unfulfilled promises and misleading terms and conditions in their funding arrangements. It aimed to get a clear picture of SMEs’ experience when seeking funding, the major obstacles they face and the impact they have.

We interviewed 255 respondents, working in businesses with 50 or more employees who have sought finance in the last five years or are currently seeking finance.

All respondents were management-level and above, and were spread across the IT, financial services, manufacturing, professional services, construction and pharmaceutical industries. Participant companies had revenues ranging from £500,000 to over £100 million.

About ArchOver

ArchOver is a peer-to-peer (P2P) business lending platform, connecting businesses requiring finance with investors seeking an alternative asset class for their investment portfolio. ArchOver is approaching £100m of funding to UK businesses, having paid over £5m in interest and delivering lender returns of up to 10% p.a..

“We are helpful, focused and flexible. While technology sits at the core of what we do, we are a people business; we believe in building lasting relationships.”

Lending with ArchOver takes place over its secure online platform. Invest on a loan-by-loan basis in multiples of £1,000, or in increments of £250 via its automated Investment Plan. Loan-by-loan investments earn interest between 6% and 10% p.a., and up to 6.4% via their Investment Plan. Interest is paid monthly in arrears from loan draw down.

Borrowing companies are UK-based and seeking a loan of between £250,000 and £10m. They will have been trading for a minimum of two years, have an established management team and proven business model. Loans are for any business purpose, typically raising working capital, replacing invoice discounting or bank overdrafts. Loans are fixed term, for a fixed amount and at a fixed rate of interest.

ArchOver offers five lending services supporting UK businesses. Each service addresses security in different ways to suit the needs of the Borrowers and the appetite of the Lenders. ArchOver’s flagship ‘Secured & Insured’ (S&I) service allows lenders to invest in loans secured against a company’s Accounts Receivable, where those Accounts Receivable are insured. ‘Secured & Assigned’ (S&A) allows Lenders to invest in loans that are secured against a company’s contracted recurring revenue, with ArchOver taking assignment of the contracts. ‘Secured’ (S) loans are leveraged against either a company’s Accounts Receivable or contracted recurring revenue, with the main difference being that the Accounts Receivable are not insured and the recurring revenue is non-assignable. ‘Bespoke’ (B) loans are made on the same basis as S&I or S&A, with the sole exception being that the all-asset charge initially ranks second and will transition to a first charge during the loan term. ‘Research & Development Advance’ (RDA) is unsecured short-term lending against an identified Research & Development claim payable to a company by HMRC. ArchOver also has an IFISA.

ArchOver is a member of the long-established, privately-owned Hampden group.

ArchOver is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority 723755.
Lender capital is at risk and interest payments are not guaranteed if the borrower defaults.
Lending over the ArchOver platform is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The Bank Model: Broken?

Author
Angus Dent
Date

Each day brings fresh evidence that the traditional UK banking model is under intense pressure, if not actually on the verge of breaking down altogether. RBS was on the receiving end of some elaborate media speculation last weekend that it was planning to shed a further 15,000 jobs to save £800m per annum in costs; not surprisingly, the report failed to elicit any official response from the bank in advance of it publishing its results later this month. However, that it is still in business at all, having lost a reported £50bn since its original Government bail-out in 2008, is little short of a miracle. In any other sector, losses on this scale would not be tolerated. The financial institutions, including the banks themselves, would simply call time on the business and its management.

RBS clearly has some special problems, including the need to replace an obsolete IT system that is prone to breaking down, but there is one common and lethal trend that plagues all the banks – the fall in interest rates to record levels. Resulting margins are simply too fine to sustain profitable existence, which is why we also learnt last week that the Co-op Bank has put itself up for sale. Good luck with that.

Adding to the woes is the fact that low interest rates are extremely popular with politicians because, in combination with the fall in the value of sterling, they can power economic growth in this post Brexit era by helping our exporters. They also keep down the costs of borrowing, including mortgages. The irony is that, if and when interest rates do start to rise, we know from their past behaviour that the banks are likely to put up the cost of borrowing before they pass on any of the benefits to long-suffering savers. That’s how they will hope to restore margins.

It begs the question that, if the banks can’t earn a decent crust in times of low interest rates, how can they expect anyone else to, especially if they don’t enjoy the same special dispensation to make losses. The picture becomes even more disturbing when set against the backdrop of rising inflation, which we learn was 1.8% in January, up from 1.6% in December. Already, this is almost alongside the Bank or England’s target of 2% for this year and racing towards the 2.7% predicted for 2018.

The low interest rate era looks like it will be with us for some time yet and it is hard not to feel sorry for the honest savers who have just seen another 0.25% shaved off their returns from National Savings products – a move quickly reflected in bank and building society deposit rates.

What it means is that the relatively secure returns that are readily available through P2P loans are looking more attractive with each passing day.

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be”

Author
Angus Dent
Date

The phrase “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” sounds both elegant and wise, but if the advice contained in those words, taken from a passage in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, were to be adopted literally, the commercial world as we know it today would come to a shuddering halt. Whether we like it or not, money is the essential lubricant for any business, regardless of size, sector and location.

That is why there should be no shame or stigma attached to borrowing – provided it is for the right reasons and terms are sensible and fair. Right now, the P2P lending sector is awash with both individual and institutional investors eager to secure a reasonable return on their cash in the current low interest rate environment. But SME borrowers are not so plentiful, presumably because they are uncertain about the post Brexit world that lies ahead.

If that is the primary reason for lack of appetite then, if anything, the picture is becoming even more confusing as politicians, lawyers and other vested interests jostle for position on deciding the final terms of the UK’s exit from the EU. But, as those of us in the P2P sector know only too well, there is another, more apposite quote (this time from Benjamin Franklin) that says “Out of adversity comes opportunity”. The unvarnished truth is that, if the 2008 financial crisis had never happened, the P2P sector would probably never have taken root and flourished in the way that it has. So, for that, let us all be thankful.

In the meantime, SMEs, often described as the backbone of the UK economy, should not be encouraged to get themselves into debt simply for the sake of it, or just because the money is available, but to view borrowing as the gateway to growth and opportunity – to invest in people, technology, new plant, marketing, or a new products or services.

The trick, though, is to borrow on the right terms. The banks may be lending more to SMEs than they were, say, a year ago, but often this is not in the form of a straightforward fixed term, fixed rate loans. Customers are often encouraged to go down the invoice financing route, where fees can be extortionate and the arrangement can be difficult to escape from once signed.

The cost of borrowing is trending down because of competition, which is exactly the way it should be. And the ‘one size fits all type of finance’ is a thing of the past; there is an immense variety of options available if you can be bothered to shop around. That lenders will want their money back is obvious, but you don’t necessarily have to give up your precious equity, or risk losing your house through signing personal guarantees, just to gain access to the right type of finance. Alternative finance has brought genuine innovation to financial markets – it would be a pity to suffocate it with onerous regulation.

ArchOver and GapCap form strategic alliance to extend market reach

Author
Alex Taylor
Date
ArchOver and GapCap, which both specialise in providing loans to SMEs secured against invoices, have signed a formal Service Level Agreement which will enable them to cross-refer and share future business opportunities. ArchOver secures its loans against whole books of borrower companies’ Accounts Receivable (debtor invoices) whereas GapCap provides loans secured against selected individual invoices.
The intention is either to refer business where one or other platform is most appropriate to the particular circumstances, or to combine to provide borrowers with a double layer of finance: ArchOver to provide fixed term loans for basic working capital and GapCap to offer top up facilities to meet the cyclical needs of the same business.
Commenting on the agreement, Angus Dent, CEO of ArchOver, said: “Both organisations work in the same sector, but from different ends of the business spectrum. We often come across situations where we are either not in a position to help or are perhaps not the right people. The arrangement with GapCap means that, in some instances, we won’t need to turn the borrower away, but to send them along to GapCap who might be able to provide the help required.”
“In certain situations we will be able to lend alongside each other to provide borrowers with a real Alternative Finance solution that they would be unlikely to get from any bank.”
Alex Fenton, the founder and CEO of GapCap, said: “We are both operating independently in a busy and competitive sector and that situation will remain. However, this sensible collaboration can benefit UK SMEs trying to find the right funding solution to suit their particular circumstances.”
“On a broader scale, we see the collaboration between two finance sector disrupters as something of a ‘first’ in the Altfi industry. It’s not something the banks do, either, but ultimately this has to be to the benefit of smaller businesses looking to find flexible solutions to their financial problems. ”
ArchOver offers crowdlenders the opportunity to invest across its platform for secured returns of up to 8% per annum; it has raised over £17m for SME borrowers since it began operations in September, 2014. The Accounts Receivable, over which a first charge is taken and registered at Companies House, are protected against default by credit insurance provided by Coface, one of the largest credit insurers in the world.
Since inception in June 2014, GapCap, whose finance is provided by specialist funds including Advance Global Capital (AGC), is growing fast. The company, which provides borrowers with finance for up to 85% of invoice value within 24-48 hours, has helped clients of all sizes with annual turnover figures ranging from £80,000 to £17m.