The government said that the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) will hold a survey to find out which bank is best at servicing small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
Of course the UK taxpayers already largely own the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), after having had to bail it out in 2008. It formerly speicialised in the SME sector but is still in a woeful way.
The independent survey will talk to high street banks, challenger banks and alternative money suppliers in a bid to get the full picture.
George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said he wanted British banks to put Britain’s small businesses at the top of their priority list.
Earlier today, the National Audit Office said that there are financial problems facing British SMEs, which are likely to needan additional £22 billion by 2017.
It said in a statement there is a lack of clarity what different schemes are expected to deliver. “Although the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and HM Treasury both have teams dealing with ‘enterprise policy’, there is no formal research programme joining the Department with other departments, such as HMRC, with an interest in SMEs.”
