As a part of a concerted effort to help British households and businesses in the thick of surmounting crisis, Bank of England cut rates from 0.75% to 0.25%. British economy in January was already in a weak position, so this move is most timely and welcome. Mike Carney and Andrew Bailey assured that the Bank would not use negative interest rate. To lower borrowing costs for the high street banks, the Bank may use the quantitative easing programme of buying bonds.
As a consequence of this decisive move to keep the British economy afloat, Lloyds Bank, RBS and NatWest increased credit card limits and let savers withdraw cash early. As a part of relief measures Lloyds and TSB, along with RBS, offered repayment holidays on mortgages and loans for those who are in need.
What is more important, the banks started to issue emergency loans to UK firms hit by a coronavirus. Santander UK, Barclays and RBS pro-actively contacted thousands of businesses and checked whether their cash flow is exposed to new risks.
Barclays and RBS together have more than a million business customers in Britain. If the demand for emergency funding will increase in the upcoming months, British banks are ready to supply finance.
Oracle Capital Group helps its business customers to open accounts in the most prominent UK banks, like Santander UK, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Barclays.
