Despite reassurances of increased lending levels to SMEs, a new report published today by online marketplace eBay shows that one in three SMEs are still unable to access new finance from their banks.

The damning dossier of findings has been submitted to the Independent Banking Commission on behalf of the 160,000 businesses trading on the site. The latest Online Business Index, eBay’s regular barometer of the attitudes and performance of online firms, investigates the relationship between banks and businesses, naming and shaming the worst offenders

In spite of the backlash against the banks since the financial crisis, there is little evidence that it has prompted them to treat their customers any better, since fewer than one in six claims their bank has become more helpful. Businesses are unconvinced that the creation of new high street banking chains would ease lending problems, with only 36% agreeing it’s the solution.

However, businesses are still in favour of greater competition in the sector – even to the extent that almost half believe it is more important than maximising taxpayer returns on the sale of its nationalised stakes in RBS and Lloyds.  Barclays’ customers are most in favour of Government breaking up the nationalised banks to create competition (59%). However, customers of the banks that would be on the receiving end of the decision, RBS / NatWest (47%) and Lloyds (42%), are least in favour. 

Jody Ford, eBay UK’s Director of SME Businesses said: “Government recently announced a series of measures to encourage enterprise in the UK, but it needs to do much more to get the banks lending.  It’s been nearly a year since we scraped out of recession, and three years since the financial crisis began. So it is unacceptable that a third of SMEs are still unable to access finance. SMEs have a difficult job trying to protect their profit margins and keep costs down, so it’s concerning to see so many businesses being forced to rely on expensive bank overdraft facilities.“We have over 160,000 VAT registered businesses making a living on our site, and we have seen 25,000 new businesses register since the start of the recession. They need flexible support from their bank to survive"