On 16 July 2019, the Lending Standards Board (LSB) published a revised version of its standards of lending practice (SLPs) for business customers (see previous blog post). The LSB has extended the SLPs to apply to businesses with a consolidated turnover of up to £25m, from a previous turnover threshold of £6.5m, bringing consistency in the treatment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In addition to the extended turnover threshold, the LSB has developed the existing section on financial difficulty to include a set of standards focusing on the treatment of customers in business support units, and also has included an enhanced level of LSB oversight around debt sale

This extension will initially cover core products, loans, overdrafts, credit cards and charge cards. The LSB plans to further extend the SLPs for business customers: asset finance that apply to trade loans and invoice financing.

The extended SLPs will become effective on 1 November 2019.