Whilst concerns about the broader market remain, HSBC’s customers are thinking about growth via investment, acquisitions and capital expenditure. Businesses have told the bank that they are ready to invest for growth and are confident about the prospects for their own businesses. They point to the biggest areas of opportunity are in sustainability (12%) and digitisation (11%)*.

The Fund is a key part of HSBC’s commitment to help British businesses to innovate, thrive and grow in the UK and internationally. SMEs are vital to the UK economy and account for three fifths of the employment and around half of turnover in the UK private sector according to the FSB. The Fund, which includes specific regional and locally focussed allocations, will seek to ensure that companies throughout the country can benefit.

This year’s fund also includes ring-fenced funding for businesses trading internationally (£2 billion), in the agriculture sector (£1.2 billion) the tech sector (£500m) and franchise businesses (£500m).

It is also aligned with the Green SME Fund (£500m) for businesses of all sizes to transition and thrive in a low carbon economy and the new Growth Lending Fund (£250m) for high growth tech businesses to support well-equitised, high growth, loss-making scale ups early in their growth journey.

Since launching the SME Fund in 2014, HSBC has lent more than £90 billion helping businesses to make the most of their money, now and into the future and opening up a world of opportunity for our customers.

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Source : https://businessnewswales.com/750m-fund-launched-to-support-smes-across-wales/