Banks want to lend more

Manufacturers have outsourced, streamlined and drastically altered their supply chains over the past two decades, during which time they also adopted a conservative approach to debt. This meant many were able to endure the recession much better than companies in other sectors – but, in turn, this may hinder their ability to power the country's economic recovery. As a banker that looks after a large team working with the full spectrum of mid-large UK manufacturers, I can say unequivocally that we are very keen to lend more. But often we witness the same conservative approach from manufacturers; a focus on consolidation or at best steady, organic growth, certainly taking on very little new debt. This is fine for a culture of survival, but not a culture of economic outperformance, of rebalancing the economy, of globalised growth. A healthy increase in manufacturing borrowing would be a clear sign of moving beyond previous experiences and demonstrating a new confidence in exploring both the growth opportunities in developing economies and the consolidation possibilities in markets closer to home, particularly with some distressed businesses available at bargain multiples. We simply haven't seen a jump in acquisitions or a major increase in investment feature in the manufacturing recovery yet, which means opportunities could be missed for lack of risk appetite and ambition. Lending to manufacturers is a high priority for all banks – and, with the majority of industrial companies boasting clean balance sheets and viable business propositions, we want to increase it. I hope that the culture within the manufacturing industry will quickly evolve to enable businesses to take advantage of this interest in lending, so creating a real growth platform for the decades ahead. Graham Allison, head of manufacturing, Barclays Corporate