This Shopkeeper Knows Why Britain’s Business Rescue Fell Flat
Big banks moved away from servicing small companies, but now they’re key players in the emergency plan to save them.
The offices of global financial institutions stand in London.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
When Yvonne Lin contacted her bank, HSBC Holdings Plc, for an emergency business loan in March she knew the process was going to be tough. The economy was grinding to a halt and even though the U.K. government was covering 80% of the risk for loans to firms like her London fashion boutique, most companies, including the country’s biggest lenders, were struggling to adapt to a new reality.
But Lin had expected she’d at least get a call back.