Small firms to benefit from new bank funds

Date: 15th January 2010

A new investment pot of £1 billion has been ringfenced to support the manufacturing industry.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest announced details of the fund earlier this week.

Peter Ibbetson, chairman of business banking at NatWest and RBS, said: "As we see many of our manufacturing customers turning their thoughts to investment in order to drive competitiveness, we want to send a clear message of support to them by creating a fund that is designed specifically to enable that investment."

UK manufacturers and small businesses will be among those to benefit from the fund, which is to offer competitive fixed rate loans and the option to defer repayments for up to three years.

The move has been seen as a positive by the UK business owners.

Alastair Murray, group finance director of the Dairy Crest Group, added: "Anything that is designed to help UK manufacturers invest for growth should be welcomed. The fund should be seen as a positive initiative in this respect."