We want views on how our regulation can help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access finance.
Supporting growth is one of our strategy’s 4 priorities[2] and this work is part of our commitment to making sure businesses have better access to capital.
Introduction
SMEs are crucial to the UK economy. At the start of 2025, they accounted for 60% of private sector employment and 50% of its turnover.
Securing external finance allows business to start up and grow. However, the evidence suggests[3] that the UK’s SME demand for finance is low compared to international counterparts.
Our work
We want to understand how our regulation affects SME access to finance, including its impact on different firms and sectors.
This work will help us design our regulatory approach and prioritise future work. Potential outcomes could be, for example, a review of our rules or clarifying specific requirements. We will test any specific proposals with stakeholders through consultation.
This work will complement the joint initiatives being undertaken by the Treasury with the Bank of England on access to finance for ‘high potential growth firms’[4] and by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) on demand and supply side barriers for SME finance through their call for input[5].
Scope of work
Types of SME finance
We want to understand how our regulation can support SME finance across debt, equity, hybrid and alternative finance.
Our focus will be on financial products and services that we regulate.
However, we will also consider the impact of our regulation on FCA-regulated firms that offer products and services to SMEs outside our regulatory perimeter.
Areas of interest
Within the context of our regulation, we’d like to explore:
- Barriers to SME finance, including regulation that directly affects the cost and/or perceived risk of providing SME finance.
- Opportunities for future regulation to better support the provision of SME finance, such as industry collaboration and adopting innovation and new tech.
- Sector-specific issues in getting finance, particularly for high-growth sectors such as Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy Industries, Creative Industries, Defence, Digital and Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences and Professional and Business Services.
- Future trends including the role of open finance.
Lessons from international experience
We have also commissioned research into comparable international jurisdictions’ approach to SME access to finance.
The research will consider the outcomes and examine the key market structures, policy interventions, and institutional features that may explain cross country differences.
Getting stakeholders’ views
We want to hear about the impact of our regulation from:
- SMEs about their experience of applying for finance, including the process, outcomes and the support they received. We would be interested in hearing the views from SMEs in specific sectors, including the high-growth sectors listed above.
- Providers and distributors of SME finance about any regulatory blockers or opportunities they have seen.
If you’d like to share your experience on these questions, email us at [email protected] by 17 April 2026.
Timelines and next steps
We will:
- Engage directly with SME representatives and trade associations in March 2026.
- Hold a roundtable with key stakeholders in May 2026.
- Produce a summary of the insights from this engagement and the international research, and an update on the next steps later in 2026.