The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has loaned lending provider B-North 拢250,000 to support SMEs in the region.
Funding for B-North, currently in the process of gaining a banking licence, was announced at an investor event last week.
The lending provider said the loan will be used to help Manchester businesses access much needed debt capital quickly and effectively.
Jonathan Thompson, co-founder of B-North, said: 鈥淭ogether with the GMCA, B-North will provide access to essential lending to facilitate the growth of SMEs within the northern economy.
鈥淭here are 5.6m small businesses operating in the 海角视频, comprising 61 per cent of the 海角视频 workforce.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 an integral part of the 海角视频 economy, which we anticipate will only increase as the 海角视频鈥檚 relationship with the EU evolves and we become more reliant on home-grown enterprise.鈥
According to an IPPR report in February 2019, 99.8 per cent of north of England businesses have fewer than 250 employees.
Mr Thompson continued: 鈥淭he northern powerhouse already contributes significantly and is an essential part of the 海角视频鈥檚 identity.
鈥淎t B-North, we will offer tailored cloud-based banking and flexible support through an unrivalled product set, which will allow SMEs to remain competitive in this new era of business.鈥
With the funding, B-North will also launch the first of its 鈥榣ending pods鈥 in Manchester, which will then be rolled out to major cities in the 海角视频.
Each pod will contain people experienced in the lending needs of SMEs, including underwriters with discretion to sanction facilities locally and an in-house valuer, B-North said.
All loan applications will be managed locally and customers will have access to the local teams and resource in the B-North head office.
This localised model will allow lending to be made available to SMEs within as little as 10 working days, where with traditional banks, requests for loans can take three to four months to be delivered, B-North said.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who was guest speaker at the launch event, said there needed to be improved 鈥渁ccess to finance for our start-ups, our scale-ups and particularly our SMEs鈥.
He said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 really encouraging that B-North will focus on these businesses, which often struggle to get bigger investment funding and the money needed to take them to the next level.
鈥淲e have to provide that level of finance as a city-region if we鈥檙e to fulfil our economic ambitions, and it鈥檚 why the GMCA is so pleased to be investing in B-North.鈥
