Access to Bank Credit: The Role of Awareness of Government Initiatives for UK SMEs

Due to the vital role that SMEs play in most countries, issues relating specifically to their access to bank credit remain a key concern for both academics and practitioners. To encourage banksto extend lending to SMEs, the UK government has launched several initiatives in the aftermath of the most recent financial crisis. This chapter utilises the survey data on UK SMEs to investigate the relationship between bank credit availability and awareness of government initiatives. We find some evidence that (1) SMEs that are aware of Funding for Lending Scheme are less likely to experience overdraft rejections, and (2) SMEs that are aware of the Business Growth Fund or the British Business Bank are less likely to experience loan rejections.