Finance Panel – Crowe AFEX & NatWest
A great panel discussion with updates from Crowe, AFEX & NatWest.
Crowe UK is a leading audit, tax, advisory and risk firm with a national presence to complement our international reach. We are an independent member of Crowe Global, one of the top 10 accounting networks in the world. With exceptional knowledge of the business environment, our professionals share one commitment, to deliver excellence.
Contact Details:
Chris Mould: chris.mould@crowe.com
Nick Latimer: nick.latimer@crowe.com
https://www.crowe.com/uk/croweuk
Brexit Hub: https://www.crowe.com/uk/croweuk/insights/brexit-hub
AFEX
- AFEX (Associated Foreign Exchange) was founded in 1979.
- We provide commercial foreign exchange solutions for businesses and private individuals, including a range of global payment and risk management solutions such as Spot Transactions, Forward Contracts, delivery and currency options.
- Trading more than $15bn in foreign exchange each year.
- One of the world’s largest non-bank, private providers of global payment solutions.
- Our presence spans the globe with offices across the United States, Australia, Europe, and a growing presence in the Middle East and Asia.
- We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for the provision of payment services in the United Kingdom.
- We are licensed and regulated in all jurisdictions in which we operate.
- We have won the Deutsche Bank ‘Straight Through Processing Award’ five years in a row.
Contact Details:
Trevor Charsley: tcharsley@afex.com
Paul Szymanski: pszymanski@afex.com
https://www.afex.com/unitedkingdom/
NatWest
So far £22bn has been lent to 92,449 businesses under CBILS and a staggering £45bn to 1.5 million businesses via Bounce Back Loans from the banks.
These programmes have saved many SMEs and, equally importantly, enhanced liquidity in the lending market and reduced bankruptcies and hence default rates.
The Recovery Loan Scheme will replace CBILS. It will allow facilities of up to £10m per business, doubling the current CBILS limit. It will also remove the turnover restriction, eliminate the payment of first-year interest rates by government and maintain the 80 per cent government guarantee to the lenders.
In addition, the government is introducing a Mortgage Guarantee Scheme for lenders which will very much improve the availability of mortgages for buyers with small deposits and therefore allow many more to get on the housing ladder. Lenders that provide mortgages to homebuyers who can only afford a five per cent deposit will benefit from a government guarantee on those mortgages. Most of the large regulated mortgage lenders including Lloyds, NatWest, Santander, Barclays and HSBC have already signed up.
The housing market will be helped further by the stamp duty holiday extension until 30 June 2021.
NatWest locally has partnered with UWE and Gloucestershire College to launch the Scaleup 4 Growth Programme.
Grants of £10,000 to £40,000 are being made available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Gloucestershire thanks to the launch of a highly successful funding scheme.
The Scale Up 4 Growth (S4G) programme allows access to grant funding and support to businesses across Gloucestershire that are looking to grow and scale up their operations. With a total of £1 million to give out, S4G is inviting SMEs to submit their grant applications by Wednesday 5 May 2021. Applications must be made via the S4G website and applicants can receive support in submitting their applications and developing their project ideas from UWE Bristol experts.
http://www.scaleup4growth.co.uk/scale-up-4-growth/4595218021
Contact Details:
Mike West: michael.west@natwest.com
