Of the £1.06bn offered through 6,190 facilities, £822.8m has been drawn down as 5,137 loans.
The RLS, which was launched in April 2021, is currently scheduled to run until 31st December 2021.
The scheme supports borrowing of up to £10m for individual businesses and up to £30m across a group, with funds available for any legitimate business purpose, including managing cashflow, growth and investment.
It is designed to appeal to businesses that can afford to take out additional finance for these purposes.
Catherine Lewis La Torre, CEO at the British Business Bank, said: “Businesses up and down the country are beginning to look beyond the pandemic towards the opportunities available to them in the recovery.
“The British Business Bank is committed to supporting smaller businesses in accessing the finance they need to grow sustainably in the future.
“In meeting the £1bn milestone, the RLS is demonstrating its impact by helping thousands of companies to fund their further development.”
The British Business Bank has also accredited Kingsway Finance — part of Praetura Group — as a new lender for the RLS.
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The firm will be offering RLS term loan funding from £25,001 to £250,000 over two to five years, with no personal guarantees required.
Applications for the new RLS facilities will be open to both new and existing SME customers via referrals from a select panel of approved broker and intermediary partners.
Peadar O Reilly, chief executive officer at Praetura Asset Finance Group, said: “Following on from the success of the number of SMEs Kingsway’s CBILS funding facilities were able to assist, it is important that we keep striving to offer businesses access to the most suitable funding for their specific circumstances.
“Through our accreditation to the RLS, the Praetura Asset Finance Group is once again able to enhance the range of funding facilities in the group’s portfolio for small and medium-sized businesses.”
Mike Day, sales director at Kingsway Finance, added: “At Kingsway we have a long history of supporting the borrowing requirements of the UK SME market.
“Now as an accredited non-bank lender under the government backed RLS initiative, we look forward to providing qualifying businesses with the much-needed support they require to recover, strengthen, develop and diversify, via our panel of selected intermediaries.”
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