As the biggest bank for start-ups in Great Britain, we’re backing entrepreneurs more than ever before through our Accelerator programme. This September, we’re welcoming up to 2,500 new businesses to the programme. Our free Accelerator programme – offered through our Royal Bank, NatWest and Ulster Bank brands – supports entrepreneurs to grow and scale their businesses. Recently ranked as the third […]
Entrepreneurs looking to grow and scale their businesses are being urged to apply to join one of the UK’s leading accelerators, as NatWest prepares to welcome a record number of new businesses on its accelerator programme in September. Up to 2500 places will be available for free to entrepreneurs. NatWest Group is the biggest bank […]
A new global accountancy report has laid bare the “existential” skills crisis facing the industry – uncovering an “ever-widening chasm” between increasing demand and the shortening supply of talent. According to the new Accounting Talent Index, a new global research study conducted and written by outsourcing specialists Advancetrack, almost half – 45% – of firms […]
Nearly eight in ten brokers (77%) believe that high street banks are scaling back their willingness to fund small and medium-sized businesses, according to iwoca’s latest Q1 2024 SME Expert Index. The figure remains unchanged from the previous quarter, reflecting the continued challenges SMEs face when accessing finance from traditional lenders. Big businesses increasingly dominate […]
As 60% of SME owners admit to not feeling confident about the risks of personal guarantees, Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance, the UK’s sole provider of insurance protection for personal guarantees, has launched a white paper ‘Bitter pill or acceptable risk: The Role of Personal Guarantees in the SME Lending space’. Setting out the pros and […]
Three in ten SME finance experts (28%) report that the most requested loan amount at the start of 2024 was over £100,000, 56% higher than the same period last year, according to iwoca’s Q1 2024 SME Expert Index. The new research, conducted with SME finance brokers who collectively submitted over 2,500 loan applications over a […]
Finger on the pulse research conducted this week by business lender Together, released in the 24 hours since prime minister called for General Election on 4th July finds that over a third (35%) of UK SME business leaders strongly believe that ensuring access to finance for the country’s wealth creators should be prioritised by the […]
A new service has been launched to enable businesses and public sector organisations to find out more about available public funding opportunities and help them apply for UK and international grants. The EPM Academy – academy.epmconsultancy.eu – is an online platform designed by grant funding experts from across Europe, which aims to demystify the grant […]
Two in five (40%) UK SME decision-makers do not have protective measures against fraud and scamming in place, leaving them at risk of an incident or attack, new research from global research and insights agency Opinium reveals. The research, conducted among 500 senior decision makers at SMEs, found that this rises to 45% among SMEs […]
Coastal towns including Felixstowe, Bournemouth, Sidmouth and Bexhill-on-Sea are at the heart of a UK microbusiness boom, new data reveals. The findings come from Venture Forward, an international research initiative from GoDaddy that analyses data from more than half a million digital microbusinesses, typically defined as having 10 employees or fewer, with a unique domain […]
