A consortium of 167 of the UK’s FinTechs and lenders has been formed, with the aim of speeding up the allocation of government loans to help small businesses stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The consortium is being led by WorldPay founder Nick Ogden, along with ClearBank and Funding Options. Other participating FinTechs include Just Cash Flow, Credit4, Invocap, Merchant Money and Fleximize. All UK lenders are being welcomed to join.

The joint initiative is designed to focus on small businesses that need up to £150,000 loans to stay solvent and manage cash flow, and is calling for £5 billion government funding to kick start distribution ahead of critical end of the month difficulties.

As of Friday, just £1.1 billion of the £330 billion SME loans pledged by the Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme had been granted, signalling that a crisis point will hit by payday at the end of the month. The consortium is aiming to ensure that an estimated 33,000 British businesses eligible for support will be able to access the funds they need through the joint action.

It will open access to lending, make it easier to onboard businesses and facilitate fund delivery, so that SMEs can receive the money they need as soon as possible.

ClearBank will onboard regulated businesses and facilitate fund delivery, and Funding Options will provide access to appropriate lending, with businesses being able to access the scheme via Business.co.uk.

Nick Ogden, leader of the consortium, said: “Small and micro businesses are at the heart of our economy - cash flow is critical and in the current system, they’re not receiving funds fast enough.

“Via this consortium we have built a fully regulated structure that can uniq

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