Bank accused of lending businessman £200,000 under scheme meant for budding entrepreneurs
A Government business lending specialist is to investigate a loan made by Barclays that turned sour and allowed the bank to collect nearly £70,000 in taxpayer guarantees. Capital for Enterprise, a fund management team owned by the business department, is looking into the £200,000 loan made in 2006 to a company controlled by Leeds businessman Jeffrey Morris, which was protected by the Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme. The scheme aims to help entrepreneurs get finance by guaranteeing 75% of loans but Morris has alleged his loan was not eligible. It could lead to a wider investigation into whether banks have misused the guarantee scheme as a safety net to protect them from risky lending rather than its intended purpose of getting finance to young entrepreneurs who could not provide the security for conventional borrowing.....Read more here: Barclays to be investigated over claim they misused loan scheme