Platform Black lobbies 10 Downing Street

Platform Black was at 10 Downing Street last week lobbying the policy unit on how best to maintain Britain’s position at the forefront of alternative finance.

Louise Beaumont of Platform Black, the invoice factoring lender, attended Number 10’s policy unit which evaluated Britain’s position within the alternative financing sector.

The aim of the day was to establish the specific barriers that businesses in the UK face in obtaining finance.

Also in attendance was Lord Young, who works at Downing Street as the Prime Minister's advisor on enterprise, John Kingman, Second Permanent Secretary at the Treasury and Will Cavendish, Executive Director at the Implementation Group, Cabinet Office.

In keeping with its consistent approach to voicing the benefits of alternative finance, Louise aso ran a working capital workshop at the Challenger Business Workshop, with representatives of No.10, HMT, Cabinet Office, the FCA and BIS all in attendance.

During the workshop, Platform Black’s Louise Beaumont put forward three proposals;

1. To promote the alternative finance options that businesses have available to them via the Business Bank – recognising that the Business Bank has a vitally important role to play in ensuring that Britain’s businesses know where to obtain finance.

2. To ensure banks refer companies to alternative finance providers where they have turned down credit applications – recognising that alternative finance providers are complementary service providers, who work alongside the banks.

3. To ensure banks remove debentures on SMEs businesses when facilities have been repaid

Finally, Louise is also working with Number 10 on how to facilitate the growth of invoice finance and its benefits to developing SMEs, either with policy changes or through wider legislative ideas.

The news comes off the back of the Prime Minister’s announcement three weeks ago that there will be a government consultation next month on late payment, including a section on financial tools to help small businesses manage their cash flows.

Commenting on the event, Louise Beaumont, Co-Founder at Platform Black, said: “It was refreshing and inspiring to see so many senior members from Cabinet Office, HMT, BIS, OFT and the FCA present at this workshop.

“The level of commitment shown by the Government at this event and the fact that they have worked alongside those of us from industry to come up with concrete actions to ensure that businesses in the UK can access finance more easily, demonstrates that there is an understanding of how important this issue is for the UK as a whole to ensure the country continues on the path to economic recovery.”

Events such as this aim to ensure that the Government facilitates the Business Bank in helping British businesses get access to finance from alternative finance providers that will work hand-in-hand with the banks.

It is also hoped that the Government will encourage the banks to refer those businesses whom they reject for lending onto the alternative finance providers.