SMEs are constantly in the news and hailed as the future wealth makers for the country yet at the same time, as many stories remind us, though much is made of their importance to the economy, the difficulties they face in obtaining the finance they need is a growing concern.

Much is made of businesses’ long term financial needs and yet short term funding is probably closest to most SME owners’ hearts. In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, short term funding in the form of overdrafts and other facilities has either been severely cut back or become more restrictive.

One of the consequences of the credit crunch and the retreat of the main banks, has been the reduction and in many cases elimination of the simple working capital facility for so many businesses. The overdraft has been just as much a casualty of the economic upheaval of the past six years. For younger companies which have grown up knowing no different, it has to be wondered just how much of their development as engines for growth has been stymied by the lack of access to this kind of basic facility.

An ABN AMRO Commercial Finance survey in 2014 found that nearly two thirds of businesses believed their businesses were being held back by the inflexibility of their short term banking facilities with 87% saying that the size of their facility was restrictive. The overall picture is of businesses missing out on taking on new customers and investing in building firms to expand and grow.

In a nutshell, access to short term funding is lacking and businesses needing immediate liquidity to take advantage of opportunities to expand are missing out.

For the intermediary community, there are opportunities to help SME clients that do not rely on traditional sources such as banks. Bridging finance has made massive strides as a means by which SMEs have been able to gain access to funding. However, even that convenience has been at a cost. For businesses that have found it hard to maintain or even obtain flexible banking arrangements, the premise of a loan secured against property is not necessarily a way forward.

However, the door to unsecured funding of up to £120,000 for periods of up to 15 months is accessible by all intermediaries for clients. A fully online service with a 10 minute application process, backed up by a client’s online VAT data, can deliver cleared funds within 24 hours with no early repayment penalties.

We use smart decision science to automate the underwriting process and it takes less than five minutes to create an intermediary account and once funds have been received you will receive your commission instantly.

This means that you can now deliver short term financing for SMEs - simply, efficiently and most importantly, quickly! Why would you not want to join the revolution taking place in intermediary led commercial funding?

Why not visit us at stand M11 – FSE Manchester to find out more about ways we can help you and your clients.

Author – Travis Mascitelli, Head of Broker Relations at ezbob