• Swindon & Wiltshire Support
• Tuesday June 3 2025

British Business Bank hits £5 billion lending milestone

British Business Bank, the state-owned bank set up by the government in the wake of the banking crisis to increase the supply of credit to SMEs, has hit a major funding milestone.

The bank announced this morning that it had lent £5 billion through its ENABLE Guarantees and construction industry-targetted ENABLE Build programmes – with 273 South West SMEs benefitting to the tune of £401 million.

The ENABLE Guarantees programme is designed to encourage additional lending to smaller and medium-sized businesses.

Participating institutions are incentivised by a government-backed guarantee to support defined portfolios of debt finance in return for a fee.

The structured guarantee programmes have provided over £2.3 billion of support to the construction and housing sectors, including around £1.2 billion under ENABLE Build.

Other notable sectors benefiting include hospitality, with over £270 million, and agriculture, with over £260 million.

Chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves said: “Our work with the British Business Bank is one of many levers we are pulling to go further and faster in our mission to deliver economic growth for the entire country and put more money in people’s pockets.

“This £5 billion lending milestone is our Plan for Change in action. Not only has this programme delivered much-needed investment to areas outside London and the South East, it has supported the construction and housing sectors to get Britain building again.”

Michael Strevens, managing director, structured financial institutions, British Business Bank said: “It’s incredibly rewarding to reflect on the volume of lending to smaller and medium-sized businesses and the number of homes built that we’ve helped enable over the years.

“Our focus has always been on evolving our support to strengthen UK businesses, and it’s encouraging to see those efforts bearing fruit.

“Looking ahead, we’re focused on being more proactive — working closely with lenders to understand their challenges and tailor solutions that fit. That’s how we’ll unlock the next £5 billion — and do so with greater pace and purpose.”

The British Business Bank’s core programmes support over £17.4 billion of finance to almost 64,000 smaller businesses.

Image by Photo by Mikael Blomkvist at Pexels