CBILS goes digital, but lags behind BBLS
More digital banks have been added to the list of accredited CBILS lenders, but the funding is still moving slowly. Starling’s Anne Boden sheds some light on the disparity between CBILS and BBLS while Barclays comes under fire for its provision of emergency loans.
Since the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) went live on 23 March, the British Business Bank (BBB) has been adding to its list of approved lenders.
Starting with 40 accredited lenders and partners, the list reached 60 in early May and built through the month to its current total of 76. Recent additions include fintechs Starling, iwoca, MarketFinance and Capital on Tap.
Capital on Tap CEO David Luck said the digital lender will primarily target smaller businesses, “from beauty salons, family-run companies, small agencies - those who have struggled the most with accessing funds so far during this pandemic”.
iwoca CBILS accreditation
Funding fintech iwoca was the most recent addition to the CBILS lending list, receiving approval on 20 May.
“Having already served over 50,000 customers since 2012, our processing capabilities for lending match, and, in many cases exceed, those of the big banks,” iwoca CEO Christopher Rieche said following its accreditation.
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Barclays branch and online systems are woefully inadequate, if I treated my clients the way they do I wouldn't have any left ! .
Barclays tried to compare the Bounce Back LOan approvals to their normal lending. Oranges and Pears - just dont know why I stay with this bank.
I was advised that one of the problems was that Barclys had to "Know their clients for money laundering purposes" as part of the Bounce Back scheme but this part of the sytem was either useless or could not connect to the main system or systems. As this is a fairly simple process one wonders why some of the at home staff could not have dealt with this?