Since entering the short-term lending market in mid-December 2011, Shawbrook Bank is set to begin its first complete year as an alternative lender with a bang.

The specialist savings and lending bank came to market in April 2011 after being bought by RBS Equity Finance, which allowed the business to grow. Subsequently, Shawbrook was able to buy further lending facilities, enabling the bank to develop towards its current model and branding launch in October last year.

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The Co-operative Bank has provided £500m (€585m) in project and asset finance to UK renewable energy projects in the past four years.

As it released the figures, which go back to 2007, the Cooperative Group’s banking division set a target to double the funding to £1bn by 2013, as part of the wider group’s corporate responsibility strategy, called Ethical Plan.

The Co-operative Bank, which prides itself as an ethical lender, has funded 108 renewable energy projects over the period with a capital value of £1m to £25m.

Projects are typically taken on by smaller developers, community groups and landowners as a means to diversify income, according to a statement from the bank released with the figures.

The projects funded include onshore wind, hydro, biomass and combined heat and power systems, and the bank has a renewable energy team to deal with planning permission and grid connection on behalf of clients.

Richard Wilcox, head of social banking at The Co-operative, said: “At a time when many communities are fighting for survival from the wider economic challenges, small to medium renewable energy schemes provide an opportunity for communities to become sustainable, creating local jobs and diversifying local economies.”

Renewable energy projects in the UK currently receive around £1.4bn a year in government support through the Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROC) scheme.

However, a review of the scheme has been delayed, which could stall renewable energy investment, Wilcox warned.

“We welcome the Government’s commitment to renewable energy investment which has helped to provide an enabling arena for our rapid growth in renewable investment,” he said.

“However, there is a real danger that this could grind to a halt if the review of ROCs and pending review of feed-in tariffs are not completed quickly and with a view to nurturing our fledgling environmental industries.”

Article contributed by: Leasing Life

A survey by Shawbrook Bank, a new specialist savings and lending bank, has revealed that 89 per cent of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in the UK believe the country’s banks fail to use common sense when they make decisions about business loan applications.

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