Boost for small firms as Lloyds reopens

LLOYDS is allowing small start-up firms to open current accounts again after The Mail on Sunday revealed that nearly every big bank was blocking applications.

NatWest, HSBC and Lloyds have all been turning away new business customers after finding up to half of applications are potentially fraudulent.

They had been flooded with demand from customers seeking emergency bounce back loans of up to £50,000 – but the block threatened to stifle economic recovery.

NatWest reopened to start- up business account applications after our story last week. Lloyds did the same yesterday. Barclays is offering appointments in February.

MPs on the powerful Treasury committee will tomorrow grill senior bankers on why they have blocked small firms. One, Labour’s Siobhain McDonagh, said: ‘Fraud can be detected but banks don’t want to invest the time in doing it. I will be asking about why people say they are being turned down – why they’re not investing the time in it.’

David Clarke, chairman of the Fraud Advisory Panel charity, said: ‘This is a business decision by the banks.’

Fraud checks can be done ‘in 15 minutes’, he added.

The Public Accounts Committee, which oversees Government spending, will this week publish a report into bounce back loans, amid fears of widespread fraud. According to Companies House, the number of firms incorporated between July and September increased by nearly a third on the previous year.