Four new lenders have been accredited to take part in the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

The Co-operative Bank, Cynergy Bank, OakNorth Bank and Starling Bank have been approved the British Business Bank, meaning each can put in place the operations required to start lending under the scheme.

The four lenders will soon confirm the dates from which they will be ready to start receiving CBILS applications from smaller businesses across the UK.

More than 80% of the UK’s smaller businesses have a finance relationship with the 40+ existing CBILS accredited lenders.

The British Business Bank is accelerating the process of approving of new lenders to further extend the scheme’s reach and has increased the size of its accreditation team to manage the volume of interest.

The Bank is also reviewing applications from a wide range of lender types – from PRA-regulated banks, to platform lenders, debt funds, invoice finance lenders, asset finance lenders and responsible finance lenders.

Keith Morgan, CEO, British Business Bank, said: “Our accredited lenders have seen an incredible demand for CBILS in the past few weeks, so we are helping to meet that demand and provide even more choice for smaller businesses by approving additional lenders for accreditation to the scheme.

“These new lenders will be able to deploy vital funding and get additional finance flowing to smaller businesses across the UK as quickly as possible.”

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme aims to provide financial support to SMEs across the UK that are losing revenue and seeing their cashflow disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The scheme is a part of a wider package of Government support announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak for UK businesses and employees.

Lenders can provide up to £5m in the form of loans, overdrafts, invoice finance or asset finance. Lenders have been given Government guarantees to enourage more lending though the companies taking the loan remain liable for the debt.

SMEs are encouraged to approach their existing banks in the first instance.

Shortly before the launch of CBILS, three lenders – Arkle Finance, Close Brothers and Secure Trust Bank – were accredited under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme and have also been accredited under CBILS and are ready to take applications from smaller businesses.

Coutts has been accredited for CBILS as part of RBS Group’s existing accreditation.