Member Article

MP supports North West business finance comparison site

Eddisbury MP Antoinette Sandbach lent her support to Cheshire-based business finance comparison site Businesscomparison.com when she met Head of the business, Philip Brennan.

The meeting was arranged to discuss recommendations made by the government following an investigation by the Commercial Markets Association (CMA) into competition and customer care within the financial services sector. In a report the CMA stated that 57 per cent of consumers have been with their personal current account provider for more than 10 years. It highlighted a specific problem in small and medium-sized business banking where entrepreneurs have been opening their business accounts at the same bank as their private account, then stay with that bank for business loans.

The authority concluded that competition in the marketplace is not currently working properly and highlighted the need for a price comparison site for small businesses. Philip Brennan took the opportunity to make Antoinette Sandbach aware of the work already being done by Businesscomparison.com to help businesses get the best deal on financial products such as loans, invoice finance and commercial mortgages.

The MP, who won her constituency seat in 2015, pledged to write to cabinet Minister for Small Business, Anna Southby, to make her aware of the innovative approach taken by Businesscomparison.com.

Company Head, Philip Brennan, comments,

“The CMA’s conclusions match our own observations about the financial marketplace for SMEs which is exactly why we set up. We need transparency not just in banking but across all financial products such as insurance, energy, mortgages and it is vital to encourage businesses to compare in the same way that has become commonplace in many consumer markets. We’re now calling for greater awareness of the need for our country’s businesses to shop around and get the best deal possible on bank accounts and financial products. The CMA have highlighted the need for a business comparison website in the market. This is a move that we wholeheartedly welcome. It was fantastic to meet with Antoinette Sandbach MP to highlight the work that we are already doing to drive competition in the banking sector by assisting UK businesses to find the right financial support and guidance.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lucy Liddiard .