LONDON (MNI) – Bank of England data suggests the five major banking
groups in the UK are broadly on track to hit the corporate lending
target agreed with the government.
Bank of England data shows the five UK banking groups provided
gross corporate lending facilities of stg47.3 billion in the first
quarter of this year. Under the terms of Project Merlin, an accord
between the government and Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal
Bank of Scotland and Santander, the banks agreed to make stg190 billion
in credit available.
As a rough guide, if the Q1 corporate loan facility amounts are
maintained, the banks would be offering st189.2 billion by year end –
almost bang in line with the target.
Of the amount available in Q1, the BOE said stg16.8 billion was
available to small and medium sized enterprises.
With banks rebuilding capital and margins in the wake of the credit
crunch, the government, which owns large chunks of Lloyds and RBS, was
under pressure to try and ensure credit remained readily available to
business.
It came up with a corporate lending agreement with the banks –
which it named Project Merlin.
The BOE is responsible for publishing the data, but it warns that
these data have not been collected under its own stastical code of
practice.
–London Bureau; Tel: +442078627491; email: drobinson@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$$BE$,M$B$$$]
