UK banks commit to supporting coronavirus-hit customers

Some of the UK’s biggest banks have outlined a number of measures aimed at helping businesses and personal customers survive financial difficulties caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Lloyds Banking Group – Britain’s biggest domestic lender – said it had allocated £2bn of arrangement fee-free finance to support small and medium-sized enterprises, defined as having a turnover of up to £25m, who might be suffering cashflow issues because of the outbreak. The bank also pledged to remove certain fees and to consider payment holidays “for the worst affected”.

Only existing SME customers are eligible.

David Oldfield, group director, commercial banking, said: “We fully understand how worrying these times are for business owners. We want to provide reassures to them that, if needed, we are here to help with additional working capital to get them through temporary interruptions to their business and to their cashflow.”

The announcement came a day after the state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns NatWest, said it was putting aside £5bn to cover emergency loans and scrapping borrowing fees for affected businesses.

The bank, which is 62% owned by the taxpayer, has also now introduced measures for personal banking customers, including a possible three-month holiday on mortgage and loan repayments. RBS also said it would allow customers to temporarily increase credit card limits and access fixed savings accounts early without being penalised, if needed.

TSB, meanwhile, said it would allow personal customers to defer mortgage payments for two months, while Barclays said it would remove penalty charges, allowing personal customers to access fixed savings accounts early. Credit card holders could also apply for a temporary increase on the credit limit, the bank added.

For SME customers, Barclays said it had various measures, including 12-month capital repayment holidays on existing loans of more than £25,000, and increased or new overdraft facilities.

None of the banks have so far defined exactly how customers would have to affected by the virus to qualify for help, however. A RBS spokesperson told the BBC it would be on a “case-by-case basis”.

Earlier on Tuesday, Italy’s deputy economy minister Laura Castelli said in a radio interview that all residential mortgage payments would be suspended. The entire country has been placed on lockdown as the authorities look to contact the outbreak, one of the world’s worst.