Banks Agree £70bn Boost For Small Firms
Wednesday 22 December 2010 8:07 AM
The bosses of five big UK banks have offered to lend billions of pounds more to small businesses next year.
It is thought staff at the major banks will share £7bn in bonuses
A commitment to "pay discipline" was also given to the Chancellor George Osborne and Business Secretary Vince Cable during a summit at the Treasury.
The Government had gone into the meeting with RBS, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Barclays and Santander UK determined to tackle the bonus issue, before the annual awards are handed out next spring.
It has threatened to act if the payments are deemed excessive.
It is estimated that staff at the major banks will share £7bn for their performance in 2010, slightly less than the £7.3bn paid out for the previous year.
Barclays is among non-bailout banks making a lending commitment
Talks are set to continue over Christmas but it seems the most progress was made on the thorny issue of lending to small businesses.
Sky’s City editor Mark Kleinman believes that by offering a figure of around £70bn during 2011, the banks will be hoping for a truce on the wider areas of disagreement.
It's significant in that it means the banks not directly backed by the taxpayer for the first time will be obliged to adhere to formal lending targets.
He understands it would equate to a rise of £10bn on the previous year.
A Treasury statement following the meeting said the dialogue was "constructive".
It added: "These proposals will be the subject of further discussions over the Christmas period with the aim of building a sustainable, co-operative relationship between the lenders and Government in 2011 in support of the economic recovery."
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