Thursday 25th July, 2013

The UK’s biggest lenders are to reveal how much they lend at a local level, as part of a move by the Treasury to improve lending transparency.

The Treasury says the new data could help to boost competition and make it easier for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) to access finance. The lending data will include 10,000 postcodes across the UK.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander said:"The government is committed to creating a strong and safer banking system that serves the UK economy. From next year businesses will be able to see exactly where the major banks are lending – up to within a few streets of their premises."

He added: "It is a major step forward in terms of transparency and should encourage competition by helping smaller lenders to identify gaps in the market and allowing businesses to hold their local bank to account where they aren’t lending."

This new data, published for the first time by the end of this year, will allow businesses and the public to see clearly how the banking and building society sectors are serving the wider economy, and in what areas of the UK there is less lending.

The first set of data will be provided by Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC. Barclays, Santander UK, Nationwide, Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks (National Australia Bank). It will be published by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) and the Council of Mortgage Lenders on a quarterly basis.

The government expects more lenders including banks, building societies, credit unions and other types of finance providers to sign up to publishing their data in the future.