New research has recently discovered that the UK lags far behind the US when it comes to finance options that cut out banks recalcitrant to provide cash loans to businesses and consumers alike.

The Federation of Small Businesses recently found that, unlike in the UK, where there are only five large-scale lenders accounting for in excess of 90 per cent of lending made to SMEs, there are fifteen thousand such lenders across the pond in competition to provide credit co companies.  FSB head, Graeme Fisher, said that while access to finance in the UK is quite difficult due to a lack of business lending alternatives, non-bank lending to consumers through the use of payday loan providers has become quite prevalent - perhaps even to levels that may be unsustainable.

The Government has taken steps to both reduce the number of payday advance lenders that are preying upon what could very well be vulnerable individuals in need of cash to pay the bills and to increase the amount of business lending that does not rely upon High Street banking providers in order to revitalise an otherwise moribund market. Alternatives that have seen more development abroad, such as invoice finance, asset leasing, community finance institutions, and peer-to-peer lending, are slowly beginning to grow here at home, experts say - and the adoption of these alternatives could spell the difference for a number of SMEs in the UK.