Lloyds Banking Group will this week attempt to steal a further march on rival Royal Bank of Scotland by halving the time it takes to handle small business lending appeals.

The two part-nationalised banks are under intense political pressure to show they are taking their consumer and business lending commitments seriously with Lloyds already been singled out for praise by Business Secretary Vince Cable for meeting lending targets.

The bank will announce it will better the four other main high street banks by dealing with all but the most complicated small business lending appeal cases within 15 days. Successful appellants will also receive a £150 goodwill payment.

The five leading banks agreed to set up an appeals system from April 1 as part of the industry’s Banking Taskforce commitments to counter mounting concern that small businesses applying for credit were being turned away without good
More on this story LINK: Bank tackles small business loan appeals - Telegraph