To ground the scale of UK SME credit in more intuitive terms, one can approximate hourly lending by dividing annual flows.
If the SME lending pool is, say, £60–70 billion annually (a rough working range drawn from recent reports), that implies £160–190 million per day, or £6.7–8 million per hour (on a 24-hour basis). That number is illustrative, it does not reflect working hours, transaction timing, approvals, drawdowns or segment breaks.
Still, such a benchmark can help stakeholders visualise how capital moves in aggregate. The caveat, of course, is that many “hours” see minimal activity, while large deals may be concentrated in pockets. Also, part of that flow is refinancing, not new investment.
By treating the hourly metric as a communication tool rather than a literal measure, one can spark productive discussion about pipelines, capacity, and capital deployment. In later weeks, we’ll break that flow down by sector, region, and product type to see where those millions tend to concentrate.
As a founder of multiple businesses, Jamie believes that mindset, discipline and ambition are key drivers for success, both for his businesses and for his clients.
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