West Midlands based BCRS Business Loans has joined the European Microfinance Network to scale up its lending to small businesses across the region.

BCRS, which was established in 2002 makes loans of up to £100,000 to local businesses turned down by the banks. Whilst overall lending to SME’s across the country continues to fall, BCRS grew it’s lending by 40% in 2013.

Paul Kalinauckas, Chief Executive of BCRS said, “We’ve just had our best month ever for lending to local businesses. The landscape for access to finance has changed substantially, so we are continuing to scale up to the meet the demand for business loans. Securing European funding is essential to the growth prospects of the region, so we’ve joined the European Microfinance Network to help us access further capital”.

The creation of the European Microfinance Network has proved to be an essential step in the promotion of microfinance in the European Union.

EMN has been active in the support to small businesses and entrepreneurship, through its Members, in lobbying activities at the EU level and in raising awareness on the need to build European legislative and regulatory frameworks fostering a sound microfinance market.