WHILE the latest quarterly report on the Funding for Lending scheme that was intended to ease credit conditions suggest it is having beneficial effects at the UK level, it is unclear what it is achieving in Scotland.
Economists believe lenders are taking advantage of cheap credit provided by the Bank of England under the scheme to make more mortgages available and at keener rates. That looks like good news for property buyers across the UK.
Savers will be less pleased though if the Funding for Lending Scheme has taken pressure off banks to boost the painfully low rates some have been offering depositors.
The figures on lending to non-financial businesses and households in the second quarter raise fresh questions about the state of key markets in Scotland. Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank cut lending net of repayments by £2.8bn and £0.8bn respectively. As both lenders, and Royal in particular, have big shares of the Scottish market the cuts in their net lending may have had a significant negative impact north of the border. With both firms undergoing complex restructuring, the fear must be their activity could remain subdued a while yet.
News Lloyds Banking Group, which owns Bank of Scotland, lent £1.3bn net of repayments in the latest quarter was much more encouraging. The bank was repaid £6.6bn more than it advanced in total in the preceding year.
But the figures suggest the challenger banks some hope will galvanise the market are having limited impact in areas like business lending.
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