BBB re-opens RLS lender accreditation
The British Business Bank (BBB) has re-opened its lender accreditation process for the recovery loan scheme (RLS).
The state development bank began accepting applications from commercial lenders in early February and is scheduled to start assessing applications late this month.
The BBB has said it will welcome new applications to become an accredited lender under the government-backed loan scheme but added that expressions of interest would not be reviewed until April.
Read more: Who is offering the RLS?
The new iteration of the RLS opened on 1 August 2022 and is expected to run until 30 June 2024.
A successor to the government’s Covid loan schemes, the RLS is designed to help businesses grow post-pandemic. The facility can be used for business purposes, including managing cash flow, investment and growth. It is designed to appeal to businesses that can afford to take out additional finance for these purposes.
It supports facility sizes of up to £2m for borrowers outside the scope of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Borrowers in scope of the Northern Ireland Protocol may borrow up to £1m unless they operate in a sector where aid limits are reduced.
The BBB administers the scheme on behalf of the government.
Read more: Covid loan fraud not as bad as feared, says British Business Bank chief
The latest scheme data for earlier iterations of the scheme, published last month, revealed that as of 31 December 2022, businesses had drawn 20,100 RLS facilities, totalling 4.33bn.
£4.51bn of total funding has been offered through 20,643 facilities so far. In its most recent performance data, the BBB said lenders had identified 81 RLS loans (equating to 0.40 per cent of the total, with an aggregate drawn value of £15.26m) as suspected fraud.
This first iteration of the RLS was originally scheduled to run until 31 December 2021 but was extended by six months to 30 June 2022 as part of the 2021 Autumn Budget, resulting in the second iteration. Both closed on 30 June 2022.
A third iteration was announced by the government and opened for applications on 1 August 2022, performance data for this iteration is yet to be published.
Read more: British Business Bank boss says UK firms will escape default “Armageddon”