Bank Referral Scheme: Official Statistics
The Bank Referral Scheme helps SMEs access finance and competition in the SME lending market.
The government’s Bank Referral Scheme is designed to help improve SME access to finance and competition in the SME lending market.
Launched in November 2016, the Scheme requires 9 of the UK’s biggest banks to pass on the details of small businesses they have turned down for finance to three government designated finance platforms: Alternative Business Funding, Funding Options and Funding Xchange. These platforms are, in turn, required to share their details, in anonymous form, with alternative finance providers, helping to facilitate a conversation between the business and any provider who expresses an interest in supplying finance to them. SME customer data is only shared with the consent of that customer.
The Scheme was introduced in response to evidence that SMEs often approach their main bank when seeking finance and, if rejected, may not shop around for alternatives. By requiring designated banks to refer rejected SME applicants, with their permission, to designated finance platforms that may be able to match them with alternative finance providers, the Scheme helps address barriers to shopping around for finance and supports greater SME access to finance.
The following statistical releases provide data on the Bank Referral Scheme, from across all designated finance platforms, since the Scheme went live on 1 November 2016, including:
- value of quarterly funding;
- quarterly referral rates;
- quarterly conversion rates;
- deals made by location;
- funding value distribution; and
- average deal size by location.
Data is collected on an anonymised basis from all current finance platforms.
Documents
Updates to this page
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Bank Referral Scheme: July 2026 added and details updated.
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Updated with: Bank Referral Scheme: January 2025.
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Updated with: Bank Referral Scheme: December 2020.
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Updated with 2019 data.
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First published.