Cable vows lending boost under new industry bank

The bank could inject £10billion of fresh lending to UK businesses, the government claimed. Cable said: ""For decades British industry has lacked the sort of diverse, long-term finance that is quite normal elsewhere. We need a British business bank with a clean balance sheet and a mandate to expand lending rapidly and we are now going to get it." The business secretary's comments came as he expanded on plans for a business bank first revealed in the government's commitment to develop a formal industrial strategy earlier this month. The bank was billed as a one stop shop for SMEs to access government funding support. Cable added: "Alongside the private sector, the bank will get the market lending to manufacturers, exporters and growth companies that so desperately need support." The institution will operate at "arms length" from Westminster under proposals. The bank will not have any retail presence through branches, the government stressed. Its role was not to compete with other banks but to "encourage the development of private sector solutions and enable the market to work properly". More details on the bank are expected this autumn.