Northern Ireland SMEs Refused £55.59m in Credit

• The alternative finance market has lent up to £61.43 million to SMEs in Northern Ireland
• Fleximize launches new free guide covering a broad range of funding options for SMEs

New analysis⁽¹⁾ from Fleximize, an alternative SME lender, reveals that during the first half of 2015, banks rejected up to £55.59 million worth of credit applications from SMEs in Northern Ireland.

Fleximize’s analysis⁽¹⁾ reveals that between April and June this year, the approval rates for smaller businesses in the UK applying for loans and overdrafts was 80% and 78% respectively, and the corresponding figures for medium-sized businesses was 90% and 93%.

This level of rejection is fuelling demand for alternative forms of lending. Fleximize estimates⁽²⁾ that in total, up to £61.43 million from alternative lenders has been taken out by businesses in Northern Ireland.

Max Chmyshuk, Founder and Managing Partner at Fleximize, said: “As the UK economy improves, demand for credit from SMEs is increasing but banks are still rejecting a significant number of applications. Alternative lenders such as ourselves are benefiting from this - in the first half of this year the amount we lent to clients was 211% higher than in the same period in 2014.”

To help SMEs understand the huge and growing range of funding options open to them, Fleximize has created pages on crowdfunding, unsecured business loans, revenue-based financing and invoice financing, as well as public funding offered on a national, regional, local and specialist basis.

Fleximize offers a choice of flexible loans and revenue-based financing to small and medium-sized businesses where repayments are tied to a client’s revenue flow – paying back more in good months and less when income drops. For further information visit fleximize.com or call 020 7100 0110.

-Ends-

Notes to editors

• Based on Fleximize analysis of British Bankers Association data Q1 2015 and Q2 2015, and Office of National Statistics data (Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2014)
• Fleximize analysis of altfi data and Office of National Statistics data (Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2014)