The figures come from the British Business Bank, Small Business Finance Market 2016/17 report and the BDRC Continental, SME Finance Monitor for September 2017 respectively.
Business finance provider iwoca said that lending to SMEs had reduced since 2011, despite large corporations benefiting from quantitative easing during that time.
Christoph Rieche, co-founder and CEO of iwoca (pictured above), added: “At a time when Brexit uncertainty is hurting confidence, thousands of small business owners also face a difficult and frustrating search for finance.
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“It seems clear from what these owners are reporting to us that high street banks are not living up to their responsibilities to small businesses.
“Breaking the banks’ oligopoly in this area is key to unlocking more small business lending and delivering a boost to the UK’s economy.”
iwoca added that SMEs could look forward to open banking in 2018, which should increase competition in SME lending and help to address the UK’s critical funding gap.
The lender is aiming to finance 100,000 more SMEs over the next five years.
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