British Business Bank supports SME lender with £300m

The British Business Bank has announced a £300m increase to business lender Simply’s existing ENABLE Funding facility.

This is now the largest facility under the Bank’s ENABLE Funding programme. It aims to improve the supply of asset finance to the UK smaller business community.

Simply, an independent lender and equipment finance company, was formed in April 2017 in response to the need for innovation and disruption in the asset finance sector. It now employs over 110 people and has provided £650m of support to more than 4,200 customers since it was founded.

Launched in 2014, the ENABLE Funding programme supports the British Business Bank’s objective to diversify finance markets for smaller UK businesses. Providers of finance to smaller businesses often lack the scale required to access capital markets – a key source of funding for lending institutions – in a cost-efficient manner.

The ENABLE Funding programme warehouses finance receivables from different originators, bringing them together into a new structure. Once the structure has sufficient scale, it will refinance a portion of its funding on the capital markets, helping small finance providers to tap institutional investors’ funds.

Mike Randall, CEO of Simply, said: “We are proud to work with the British Business Bank and are committed to encouraging a positive change to the market and our customers.

“Our recently launched digital brand, Simply Connect, enables faster decisions through automated processes and is bringing the next generation of asset finance into the sector. This complements our personalised customer service.

“We look forward to serving as many SMEs as possible in these unprecedented times. We aim to help them grow and prosper, come rain or shine.”

Reinald de Monchy, managing director, guarantee and Wholesale of the British Business Bank, said: “By partnering with alternative and non-bank lenders like Simply to help close the funding gap, we are enabling smaller businesses across the UK to gain access to finance through a wider offer of funding options.

“Tackling the problem of diversity of financial provision for small businesses is central to the ENABLE Funding programme, which was developed by the British Business Bank specifically to address this critical issue.”

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