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British Business Bank ENABLE Build programme to launch next month

Press release 13 March 2019

  • ENABLE Build will make available up to £1bn of guarantee support for smaller housebuilders
  • The British Business Bank will work alongside Homes England to deliver the new programme

During today’s Spring Statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond MP, confirmed that the British Business Bank’s ENABLE Build programme will launch next month.

Funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), ENABLE Build is a new variant of the Bank’s existing ENABLE Guarantee programme.

It will make available up to £1bn of guarantee support to smaller housebuilders via specialist and high street lenders. ENABLE Build was originally announced by the Chancellor at Autumn Budget 2018.

MHCLG’s additional funding for ENABLE Build will allow the Bank to expand further its support to banks targeting the housebuilding sector. It follows three previous British Business Bank transactions that guarantee portfolios of lending to smaller housebuilders to promote further growth in the UK’s housing stock.

A lack of development finance is one of the major barriers preventing smaller builders from delivering a greater number of homes. Through this programme – and alongside Homes England’s other interventions –we will help clear the path for SMEs to play a more central role in making homes happen across the country. - Nick Walkley Chief Executive of Homes England
The ENABLE Build programme is a great example of how the Bank can help boost access to finance in a targeted way to support wider public policy goals. This new variant of our ENABLE Guarantee programme builds on our existing support for lending to smaller housebuilders, providing more of the finance they need to grow, succeed and increase the supply of much-needed housing across the country. - Keith Morgan Chief Executive Officer, British Business Bank

The ENABLE Guarantee programme is designed to encourage additional lending to smaller businesses and encourages banks to increase their lending to smaller businesses by reducing the amount of capital required to be held against such lending. Under an ENABLE Guarantee, the UK Government takes on a portion of the lender’s risk on a portfolio of loans to smaller businesses, in return for a fee.

The British Business Bank has so far committed guarantees for live portfolios of over £800m under its ENABLE Guarantee programme (as at end October 2018).

Further Information

Notes to editors

About British Business Bank

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank programmes are supporting more than £5.9bn of finance to over 82,000 smaller businesses (as at end of September 2018).

As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses:

  • The new British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to high-growth businesses about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success. The new site also features case studies and learnings from real businesses to guide businesses through the process of applying for growth finance.

As the holding company of the group operating under the trading name of British Business Bank, British Business Bank plc is wholly owned by HM Government and is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank operates under its own brand name through a number of subsidiaries, one of which is authorised and regulated by the FCA.

British Business Bank plc and its principal operating subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

ENABLE Build is administered by British Business Financial Services Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Business Bank plc.

About Homes England

Homes England is the Government’s housing accelerator. We have the appetite, influence, expertise and resources to drive positive market change. By releasing more land to developers who want to make a difference, and investing in places of greatest need, to deliver new homes. Homes England welcomes partners who share their ambition to challenge the traditional norms and build better homes faster.

For more information visit our home page or follow us on Twitter @HomesEngland.

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