UK lenders provide 1.1 bln pounds in emergency COVID loans

LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - Britain's banks have provided
1.115 billion pounds ($1.39 billion) in emergency loans to small
and medium-sized companies under a government-backed scheme to
help businesses survive the coronavirus lockdown, an industry
group said on Wednesday.

UK Finance said total lending under the Coronavirus Business
Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) had grown from 453 million
pounds in the last week, an increase of 150%.

Some businesses have said they have struggled to use the
scheme to get access to cash quickly, and UK Finance said its
members had approved just over 6,000 of the nearly 29,000
applications it had received.
($1 = 0.7994 pounds)
(Reporting by William Schomberg and David Milliken)