The new SME Trends Survey from the CBI shows that small businesses are hiring more staff than ever. What is the key to nurturing and accelerating this growth? Non-bank finance.

As well as providing news of growing employee numbers in the SME sector, the CBI SME Trends Survey also details a rise in the output of small and medium-sized manufacturers in the second quarter. However, the latest data from the new ICAEW Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) underline the fact that the SME sector still requires support.

According to the BCM figures, business confidence has dipped for the first time in two years. While the decline is likely to be a one-off, it serves as a warning about the importance of maintaining momentum. In order for SMEs to continue hiring and posting output growth, they need a solid financial platform and that is why non-bank finance has a major role to play in securing the revitalisation of the economy.

Non-bank finance has stepped out of the shadow of traditional lending services thanks largely to prolonged cautiousness from the latter, and now products such as invoice finance, peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding are providing capital to maintain cashflow and start-up funding on an ever-increasing scale.

Economic recovery is under way, as the latest figures from the CBI suggest, but this recovery is far from assured, as the new data from the ICAEW BCM imply. That is why it is critical that the SME sector continues to receive support, in particular through the financial backing provided by non-bank finance.

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