There Is Finance Available for Firms with Sound Plans; in the Wake of George Osborne's Project Merlin Announcement, Barry Evans, NatWest and RBS Commercial Regional Director for South Wales, Looks at Access to Business Finance and Why Small Companies Should Not Assume That They Will Be Refused Credit

Byline: Barry Evans

THERE has been much talk about access to finance, following the Chancellor's Merlin announcement on banking. I cannot agree more that it is vital to Wales' economic recovery that SMEs understand what finance options are open to them. Crucially, businesses need to be talking to their bank as early as possible.

In a recession, with pressures on cash flow, businesses are reluctant to invest, and often look to pay down debt rather than take on more. We currently have just under pounds 50bn in undrawn credit facilities in the UK, which suggests that nervous markets create nervous investors.

Money is available to credit-worthy businesses, …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: There Is Finance Available for Firms with Sound Plans; in the Wake of George Osborne's Project Merlin Announcement, Barry Evans, NatWest and RBS Commercial Regional Director for South Wales, Looks at Access to Business Finance and Why Small Companies Should Not Assume That They Will Be Refused Credit. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales). Publication date: February 17, 2011. Page number: 29. © 2009 MGN Ltd. COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.