The Business Finance Partnership aims to increase lending to small and medium-sized businesses from sources other than banks. It has 2 strands. The first strand invests in fund managers who lend to medium-sized businesses. The second strand invests in non-traditional lenders that provide an alternative source of lending for small businesses.
So far the scheme has helped create around £5 of lending for every £1 of taxpayers’ money. A total of £172 million of government money has been used by the lenders alongside an additional £705 million from private sector investors to lend a total of £877 million to 18 medium-sized businesses and 880 small businesses.