The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting thousands of small and medium-sized businesses across Wales with many predicting significant declines in their turnover. So what support is available? Kevin Morgan of the NatWest Cymru Board explains what it is doing help Welsh businesses.
Right now, businesses need support. They need to know they are not alone and that their bank has got their back.
It’s a conviction that we’ve always believed in as a bank – the responsibility ingrained into us is to help and support businesses in any way we can. Yet that support has never been more vital than now, which is why our relationship managers across Wales are doing all that they can to help our customers.
Businesses throughout Wales affected by the pandemic will share two primary concerns: cash flow and the instability of not knowing when the crisis will be over. As the pandemic continues, trading for many of these businesses has stagnated. None will want to furlough their staff, but if cash flow is markedly impacted then this is the position some will have found themselves in.
We are encouraging our customers affected in this way to speak to their relationship manager as soon as possible. They will understand the customer’s business inside out and be able to help them strategise and access the support and finance they need.
There is lots available from initiatives like the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to NatWest’s £5bn Working Capital Fund. All are designed to help businesses get the funding and resources they need.
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) provides financial support to smaller businesses (SMEs) across the UK that are losing revenue, and seeing their cashflow disrupted, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
CBILS has been significantly expanded along with changes to the scheme’s features and eligibility criteria. The changes mean even more smaller businesses across the UK impacted by the coronavirus crisis can access the funding they need through an accredited lender such as one of the UK’s main high-street banks.
A lender can provide up to £5 million in the form of:
- – term loans
- – overdrafts
- – invoice finance
- – asset finance
CBILS gives the lender a government-backed guarantee for the loan repayments, but the borrower remains fully liable for the debt.
At NatWest we’ve rolled the scheme out with a streamlined approach and, where possible, minimised requirements to ensure we can support our customers as quickly as possible. Our CBILS lending starts at £5k, lower than any other bank, and we were the only bank to say we will not require Personal Guarantees in support of any CBILS loans from when the scheme was launched. Crucially, we’ve doubled the size of our call centre workforce so we can work with customers as quickly as possible.
NatWest £5bn Working Capital Fund
When the pandemic began, we worked quickly to launch a £5bn Working Capital Fund for businesses to help our customers adapt to the crisis and begin to weather the story. Within days we had lent nearly £500m. The support is an extension to NatWest’s Growth Funding Package and aims to build on the support the bank offered to SMEs during the flooding and to be Brexit-ready. We are also providing temporary emergency loans with no fees and have further digitalised our applications process so there is no need for wet signatures or face-to-face contact.
Additional support
We have introduced further measures to help alleviate the pressures on businesses. These include:
– Up to six-month Capital Repayment Holiday on fixed and variable rate lending.
– The granting of new overdrafts or extension of existing overdraft limits with the waiving of fees on overdrafts with limits up to £5,000.
– Customers can have immediate access, if required, to deposit balances with no penalty charges.
– Help to access alternative forms of finance for customers unable to access the Covid Corporate Finance Facility of CBILS.
– Free access to FreeAgent accountancy software for freelancers, sole traders and small businesses banking with NatWest’s online business bank Mettle.
For further information on the support available visit the online www.business.natwest.com.
