London SMEs hold £540k in savings accounts

LONDON’s small and medium sized firms hold an average of more than £500,000 in their savings accounts – or almost twice the national average – according to new research.

The level of savings held is seen as an indication of confidence in the future, said Hampshire Trust Bank, which carried out the survey.

It found London and West Midlands-based firms have significantly higher savings than businesses in other regions. London’s firms hold on average £539,510 and those in the West Midlands £394,405, against the national average of £273,305.

West Midlands firms hold 73 per cent of funds in business savings accounts, ahead of London companies with 59 per cent.

Though smaller firms in the North East, the East and Yorkshire & Humberside have the lowest amount in business savings, they place about half of their total funds in such accounts (47 per cent in both the North East and Yorkshire & Humberside and 52 per cent in the East), in line with the national average (52 per cent).

Stuart Hulme, head of savings at Hampshire Trust Bank, said: ‘What’s revealing is that the businesses which have lower overall amounts of money in the North East, East and Yorkshire & Humberside, are putting a significant percentage of the cash they have available into savings accounts, indicating that these businesses are confidently planning for the future.’

Meanwhile, 39 per cent of London companies felt confident to put cash away for more than a year – higher than the national average of 25 per cent, while 28 per cent of West Midlands firms also followed this trend.

Companies based in Northern Ireland hold the lowest percentage of funds in business savings at 39 per cent.