Statements

APPG on Fair Business Banking Statement Updates

Statement on the Governments updated finance support package for UK businesses

Following concerns raised by the APPG and others, The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has made welcome, rapid and significant improvements to the new Coronavirus Business Loans Interruption Scheme (CBILS). As we wanted, banks will now arrange these loans as the default option, rather than first trying to arrange standard commercial loans and these loans that can range from £5k to £5m will now be available to any SME whose business has been affected by the virus outbreak. The requirement for a personal guarantee has also been dropped for loans under £250k and for loans over that amount a personal guarantee of
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Statement regarding the FCA and BoE announcement on temporary financial relief for customers impacted by Covid – 19

The APPG welcomes the recent announcement by the FCA on the measures it has introduced to protect consumers. Ensuring that customers who had arranged overdrafts will not have their rates increased is particularly welcome. In these uncertain times, we must ensure that everyone is treated fairly and supported. ​ Likewise, we welcome the announcement by the Bank of England that there will be no dividend or bonus payments, and that cash should be held to help the country through this crisis. ​ ​ The events of the last few weeks have highlighted that the financial system is not just a
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Statement from the APPG regarding Fee-Free Overdrafts.

The APPG calls on The FCA to suspend the imminent change to overdraft rules, which will see some interest rates on overdrafts increase tenfold. Due to new FCA rules, from April 2020, banks can only charge for overdraft users a simple annual interest rate – without additional fees and charges so that all users of unarranged overdrafts will be better off or see no change. In many scenarios, however, rates for users of arranged overdrafts will increase significantly, with some rising from as low as 3% to the new industry standard of 39.9%. We commend RBS for delaying the interest
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