Rotton’s Rambles – Walking with Vincenzo De Gioia
My latest walk took me to the Vale of Belvoir where I walked along the Grantham canal with Vinnie from Lloyds.
Initial discussions focussed on me (obviously) and my journey with Vasculitis and then moved onto the weather, moving house in lock down, interest rates and whether a swan could really break your arm.
Our ramblings then focussed on the challenges faced by the Banks as we move out of the pandemic and how we start to deal with the consequences of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Bounce Back Loans (BBLs) taken out in 2020.
The discussion wasn’t by any means negative and, amongst other things, we pondered the following: –
- CBILS and BBLs took up a significant amount of time for the Relationship Mangers of the main Banks and continue to be incorporated into the conversations they are having with customers
- Directors, quite rightly, are unwilling to refinance Banking facilities agreed under the beneficial terms of CBILs/BBLs
- The Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) isn’t delivering in the same way and there is a sense that there is significantly less demand from businesses
- RLS hasn’t been promoted as strongly as CBILs/BBLs and consequently Directors may not realise that a new RLS can sit alongside existing Government backed facilities
- Higher debt levels from perhaps CBILs/BBLs are impacting on the ability to service debt. This could affect both the demand from borrowers and the willingness of lenders to consider new debt
We agreed that CBILs/BBLs were hugely supportive measures from the Government however the impact of this additional debt is now beginning to be felt by business.
Ramble over for today and I can confirm the swan thing is an urban myth but neither of us wanted to test this with the one flying past!
Nic
