Unlock Editor's Digest Lock for Free
FT editor Roula Khalaf will select your favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The Minister will focus on lending by UK business banks to small businesses operating in the high-growth sector to put financial muscle behind the government's new industrial strategy.
The BBB, the government's economic development bank, has been told to target eight sectors identified in its industrial strategy as Prime Minister Rachel Reeves is trying to stimulate economic growth.
Officials who explained the plan highlighted a speech by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandi last month, and announced that the BBB, which supports more than £17 billion in small business finance, will increase its support for the creative industry.
The creative sector is one of eight high-growth industries covered by industrial strategy, in addition to advanced manufacturing, clean energy, defense, digital and technology, financial services, life sciences, professional and business services.
Nandi said the BBB “promises to increase the scale of its support for the creative industry” and the bank “reports us about investment in the creative industry, so we know that it has real-world impacts. “It's.”
One official who was described as an early industrial strategy, which is due to be released in June, said, “I can read from what Lisa Nandi said to other sectors of industrial strategy and what I want to do with the BBB.” I stated.
The BBB will continue to fund promising small and medium-sized enterprises in sectors that are not subject to industrial strategy, but the Minister hopes to focus on these areas where financial thermal power is considered to represent the future of the UK economy. I'm here.
A report released last month by the Center for Cities Think-Tank urged the government to focus on regions with clusters of companies exporting in high value sectors such as AI, Advanced Materials, Fintech and Life Sciences.
The BBB was founded in 2014 under a conservative Democratic Union government with the mission to promote sustainable growth and provide access to finance for small businesses. Its core program supports more than £17.4 billion in funding to almost 64,000 small businesses.
The government is a 100% shareholder of the bank and the minister must approve the business plan, but the BBB can operate which businesses it supports.
The UK Business Bank said: “We can support the objectives of government industrial strategy through programs that support greater investment and lending in high-growth sectors with the potential for innovation in life sciences, clean energy, creative industries, and finance. We are pleased to meet you: Services, Digital and Technology.”
Reeves plans to roll out plans for individual sectors before the industrial strategy is officially published. “We can't wait until June,” she told her colleague. Earlier this month, she met with the bank boss to discuss financial services strategies.
