A number of South West business are adapting their strategies to navigate financial challenges over the next six months.

A study from HSBC 海角视频 found that a third (36%) of 海角视频 businesses plan to alter their approach, with 29% stating that they had to adapt their business strategy over the past five years to survive.

HSBC, which recently announced that it is set to relocate to a new South West headquarters in Bristol, has launched its latest SME fund alongside these findings. The bank will provided a dedicated 拢400,000,000 lending fund for small and medium sized businesses in Bristol and Bath.

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HSBC has committed to putting a "comprehensive range of support" in place to support SMEs that may be struggling with cost-of-living challenges, including a dedicated 拢15bn fund cost-of-living customer webinars, a new Financial Worries and Wellbeing Hus, plus support from HSBC 海角视频鈥檚 specialist financial support team for customers showing early warning signs of financial difficulty.

The fund is available to businesses across the country and includes allocated funding for businesses trading internationally (拢2bn), in the agriculture sector (拢1.2bn) the tech sector (拢500m) and franchise businesses (拢500m).

Business and trade Minister Kevin Hollinrake commented: 鈥淏ritish SMEs are vital to our communities, creating jobs and opportunities, and they have shown great resilience in the face of challenging circumstances.

鈥淭hrough the British Business Bank, the Government is helping more businesses to access the finance they need to start, scale and grow. It is great to see HSBC doing their bit to back business through their SME lending fund and other support services.鈥

Peter McIntyre, head of business banking at HSBC 海角视频, added: 鈥淪MEs are the lifeblood of the 海角视频 economy. During the pandemic, many businesses had to act fast to successfully adapt - and we鈥檙e seeing the same resilience again now.

鈥淭he 海角视频 is home to many fast growing, robust and innovative businesses who, together with the support of their banks, can seize opportunities and become stronger. HSBC 海角视频 package of support is designed to give businesses access to the help they need to weather the current challenges they are facing.鈥

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