As the Secretariat of the APPG for Challenger Banks and Building Societies, Barndoor Strategy was delighted to pull together this important and timely roundtable discussion on the issue of SME lending in light of the Bank of England consultation CP 16/22 consultation on implementing BASEL 3.1.

Challenger Banks make up the majority of SME lending in the UK, and we were delighted to have almost all of the key players participating in this session, including Allica Bank, Atom Bank, Shawbrook Bank, and Oaknorth Bank.

We were also joined by representatives of the Federation of Small Businesses, UK Finance, the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers [NACFB], and Oxera, who have published an independent study into the impacts of the Bank of England’s proposed reforms.

Also participating to listen to feedback from the sector and to explain their own proposals were Phil Evans, Director of Financial Policy and Tamiko Bayliss, Head of Banking Capital Policy at the Bank of England.

There was a full and frank discussion of the issues around SME lending and the Bank of England’s consultation proposals. The APPG will take all the different viewpoints on board in compiling its report on this issue. That report will be submitted to the Bank of England’s consultation on behalf of the APPG membership.

UPDATE: You can read the APPG’s full report on SME lending here.