Partner Article

Forum urges small firms to tell of their banking experiences via online survey

A NOT-FOR-PROFIT small business support group is urging firms to take part in a new survey to highlight their experiences of dealing with the banks.

The Forum of Private Business is hosting the questionnaire on behalf of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in an effort to find out how business owners are being treated by the major lenders.

The move comes after new figures from the British Bankers’ Association, which show bank lending to businesses fell again last month, placed fresh scrutiny on the relationships between banks and smaller companies.

The Forum hopes as many small firms as possible will take part in the online survey in order to provide the OFT with clear evidence of bank-related problems and difficulties facing business owners.

The Forum’s research manager, Thomas Parry, said: “Clearly, the issue of the way banks treat small firms has received an enormous amount of attention recently and sparked a lot of debate.

“One the one hand, groups like the Forum have been arguing that viable smaller firms are being unjustifiably denied credit or offered it at an extortionate cost, by risk-averse banks which often don’t understand their needs.

“We hope this survey will provide the OFT with clear, empirical evidence and reinforce the valid concerns many small business owners have over their relationships with their banks, and the banking industry in general.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .