Almost 600,000 new small business bank accounts opened
More than 598,000 small businesses set up new banking relationships in the last year, figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) have revealed.
The statistics also showed that lending to small firms grew by 8% to £38.5 billion, while overdraft lending fell by 2% to £8.9 billion.
Property, IT and professional services businesses accounted for the biggest proportion of loans and funds. In addition, the study showed that almost half - 46% - of small firms now operate their accounts online.
A BBA spokesman said:
"With some 50,000 small businesses starting new banking relationships each month, the number of firms served by business banks continues to grow significantly."Bank lending and customer deposits have both expanded by around 6% over the past year and are now almost exactly in balance, reflecting strong support from banks and healthy liquidity on the part of customers."
