UK banks expect to lend more to business as COVID-19 crisis deepens

LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - British banks expect to lend
more to businesses but curb mortgage and consumer lending over
the next three months as the country feels the economic effects
of the coronavirus, a Bank of England survey showed on Thursday.

The quarterly survey, conducted between March 2 and March
20, showed growing concern from banks about the outlook as the
impact of COVID-19 became more stark over the period.

"Overall availability of credit to the corporate sector was
unchanged for all business sizes in Q1, but was expected to
increase for all business sizes in Q2," the BoE said.

Britain's government has launched a 330 billion-pound
government guaranteed lending scheme to support businesses
through the economic shutdown it ordered to slow the spread of
the coronavirus.

The BoE survey showed businesses' demand for credit the
highest since they were first asked about this in 2016.
(Reporting by David Milliken
Editing by William Schomberg)