The amount of funding secured by Welsh firms in the second quarter of this year exceeded the total amount raised from 2015 to 2019, shows new figures.
According to representative body for the banking and financial services sectors, 海角视频 Finance, Welsh firms secured £2bn worth of lending from April to June, as the economic fallout of the pandemic took root.
In total 62,000 firms shared in the total funding, from start-ups to large employers.
While not broken down the majority was secured from the 海角视频 Government's various coronavirus loan schemes, which includes the Bounce Bank Loan scheme which provides up to £50,000 of debt funding and the Development Bank of Wales' £100m coronavirus loan fund, which has now been fully invested.
The figures equate to more than six times as many businesses securing finance in the quarter than in the whole of 2019 and 47% more than in the period from 2015 to 2019, demonstrating the unprecedented scale of the industry’s support for businesses.
Across the whole of Great Britain, gross lending to SMEs amounted to £34.5bn in the second quarter, 50% more than the annual total in 2019.
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As well as government-backed Coronavirus lending schemes, firms in Wales also benefited from a range of facilities provided by lenders, including extended overdrafts, invoice finance and capital repayment holidays.
Towards the end of the first quarter, lenders moved quickly to provide extended overdraft facilities as businesses sought to cover their cash flow needs.
This support has continued as businesses turned to government-backed loan schemes — resulting in a drop in the utilisation of overdraft facilities from 54% in Q1 to 39%t in Q2, according to 海角视频 Finance data.
This existing revolving credit will give businesses additional headroom as various elements of government support unwind over the coming months.
Stephen Pegge, managing director of commercial finance at 海角视频 Finance, said: “With Coronavirus support measures fully operational in the second quarter, our data shows that many companies in Wales still had a degree of financial headroom from a combination of existing facilities and deposits, but the demand for additional support was substantial.
“The number of loans accessed by businesses in Wales rose by 47 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the total amount of lending during 2015 - 2019. This demonstrates the scale of support that the 海角视频 banking and finance industry has been providing across the United Kingdom.
“Gross lending across the country for Q2 was up 50 per cent on the entire annual total in 2019, reflecting this significant demand with new overdraft facilities as well as the Government’s business interruption finance schemes providing support.
“The finance industry continues to work closely with the government and regulators to deliver the support schemes alongside its usual assistance measures to help viable businesses as they plan for recovery.”