Small and medium-sized businesses in the UK have lost nearly £931m in interest over a year due to falling interest rates.
New analysis by peer-to-peer lending website rebuildingsociety.com reveals that the average rate paid on best buy business savings accounts on a £10,000 investment is currently just 1.60% gross annual equivalent rate (AER) compared with 2.34% gross AER on average best buy rates in December 2012. This represents a fall of nearly a third.
British Bankers’ Association data suggests that around £125.9bn is currently held in current and deposit accounts by UK SMEs, which equates to a potential loss of around £931m in interest before tax.
Daniel Rajkumar, managing director of rebuildingsociety.com, said: “Successful businesses will have money sitting on their balance sheets or in a savings account earning very little.”
Sally Percy is editor of The Treasurer