SME Finance Monitor

The SME Finance Monitor has been providing independent, robust and respected data on access to finance amongst SMEs since 2011. Over 150,000 interviews have now been conducted by BVA BDRC (4,500 interviews each quarter), building into a considerable data set on SME sentiment around past and future finance needs.

The Monitor is vital for understanding how SMEs are thinking on key financial issues and the business environment as economic conditions change. Having tracked how SMEs fared after the last recession, we are now monitoring them through the immediate and long term implications of Covid-19, with regular updates available not only on access to finance but on their growth plans, ambitions and current performance.

SME Finance Monitor data is made available across a range of bespoke reports

Updates on key metrics are published each month based on the previous 3 months rolling data. The latest period is the 3 months to the end of August 2020.
A full report is published every 6 months, providing the latest data on SMEs by size, sector and region and showing how the market has evolved over time. The last report was to Q4 2019. Due to the pandemic and the need to get data out in a timely manner, the Q2 2020 report has been replaced by a Q2 2020 summary chart pack and management summary published on the 12^th of August 2020. The Q4 2020 report will be written as normal and published in March 2021.
Every year we publish the annual Regional Report which provides more detail on the English regions and the three devolved nations in the last year and over time. The 2019 report was published in July 2020 and the next report for 2020 will be published in mid-2021.
We also publish reports on specific sub-groups of interest. The most recent Women-lead business report included data to Q2 2019. The last Black and Minority Ethnic business report included data to Q2 2016 but an updated version with data to Q2 2020 is due to be published later in 2020.

The full archive of SME Finance Monitor reports can be found here: https://www.bva-bdrc.com/sme-finance-monitor-archive/

Blogs

My 2020 summer holiday abroad: a nightmare or a pleasure? What we can learn about overseas leisure travel in the months to come

22nd Oct 2020

August 2020 was a month filled with so much promise and excitement at the start of the year. Even at the start of April, I was confident that it would go ahead as normal. By early July, everything hung in the balance.

Behind the doors of visitor attractions: How has it all changed during Covid-19?

12th Oct 2020

With limitations on what can be open, some attractions have chosen to change their pricing. In this blog, we explore the ways in which organisations are responding to these ‘restrictions’.

How have mortgage intermediaries adapted in the face of a pandemic?

2nd Sep 2020

As the Government encourages more people to return to the office, we have been looking at how businesses are responding.

Are you afraid of staying at a hotel? Don't be.

26th Aug 2020

Anubhuti Manglik, has been been busy setting up www.hotelitout.com, a collaborative blogging website which shares updates on the hotel industry. Anu's blog gives a useful round-up of the new measures employed by the main players in hotel accommodation.

Banks the unexpected NPS ‘winners’ of Covid-19?

25th Aug 2020

It seems a global pandemic may well have been an unexpected saviour (for NPS at least!) in retail banking, with three of the big four Australian banks and a number of Tier Two brands seeing substantial uplifts in NPS.

Mortgage Payment Deferrals Offer a Lifeline to Landlords

6th Aug 2020

In the Q2 wave of our Landlords Panel research programme, we interviewed c800 members of the National Residential Landlords Association with BTL borrowing to assess take-up of mortgage payment holidays and the drivers for doing so.

UK Landlords Bouncing Back after Initial Covid Crisis

4th Aug 2020

Just after the lockdown was announced, as you can imagine, we found business sentiment among investors had reached its lowest ebb in 14 years of our quarterly tracking. Three months on and confidence is slowly flowing back to the sector.

Daring to dream: The highs and lows of a recent booking experience

4th Aug 2020

It started with a dream of being on a beach. We imagined getting the train to Margate, Broadstairs or Brighton on a sunny Friday morning. However, forecasts of the Great British weather during the period of our planned domestic getaway were anything but great.