The business finance provider canvassed 2,006 employees and directors of British SMEs in January 2019.
- Growth Street names new BDM for the West Midlands
- Growth Street strengthens business development team
- Less than half of financial advisors use social media
Other highlights from the survey included:
- only 28% of the 54 Cardiff respondents had considered alternative finance solutions
- 54% of Cardiff businesses stated that banks would be their first port of call when seeking new funding, which is three percentage points above the national average (51%)
- 38% of Welsh SMEs said they had no confidence in their knowledge of finance outside the banks, compared with 32% in Scotland and 29% in Northern Ireland
- 34% of British respondents said that they were not at all confident in their knowledge of non-bank funding, compared with 45% in the 2018 survey
- 66% of British respondents had at least some knowledge of finance outside of banks, up from 54% in 2018
Commenting on the survey, Greg Carter, CEO at Growth street, said: “Welsh SMEs are lagging behind the rest of the UK on several fronts, from knowledge of finance outside banks to considering going somewhere other than a bank for their finance.
“We must find a way to engage and educate Welsh business people about alternative finance options if we are to tap into a market that will become increasingly important following Brexit.”
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