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The Growth Guarantee Scheme is delivered through a panel of accredited UK lenders — not directly by the British Business Bank. This guide covers who the largest GGS lenders are, the difference between high-street banks, challenger banks and specialist finance providers on the GGS panel, and how to choose the right lender for your application.
Compare GGS lenders →The Growth Guarantee Scheme is the successor to the Recovery Loan Scheme and is administered by the British Business Bank (BBB). The BBB doesn’t lend directly to SMEs — it provides a 70% government guarantee on each individual loan written by an accredited lender.
To deliver GGS, a lender must be accredited by the BBB and operate within the scheme’s rules: facility limits, eligible business size, eligible loan purpose, fees and term. Outside of those rules, each lender sets its own credit policy — which is why the same business can be declined by one GGS lender and approved by another.
A non-exhaustive overview of the larger and more active accredited GGS lenders we work with. The full BBB-published list is broader and changes periodically — we maintain an up-to-date introducer panel internally.
Among the largest GGS lenders by volume. Best fit for established SMEs with an existing banking relationship and clean financials. Typically lowest pricing, tightest credit policy.
Active across the term-loan and asset-finance variants of GGS. Good fit for international or trade-exposed SMEs. Decisioning typically 2–6 weeks for new-to-bank cases.
Lloyds Commercial Banking is a major GGS lender, particularly for the asset-finance variant. Bank of Scotland delivers GGS to Scottish SMEs.
Active across term loans, asset finance and invoice finance variants. Particularly strong fit for established trading businesses with bookable assets.
Active GGS lender across both term loans and asset finance. Particularly strong appetite for owner-managed SMEs and property-backed cases.
Specialist mid-market lender. Larger ticket sizes (typically £500k+), strong appetite for property-backed and growth-stage SMEs. Decisions typically 7–14 days.
Major specialist GGS lender for unsecured term loans. Faster decisioning (often 5–10 working days) and broader appetite than high-street banks — pricing accordingly higher within the GGS range.
Specialist SME lender accredited for the GGS term-loan variant. Strong appetite for newer-trading and owner-managed SMEs. Fastest decisioning of the larger GGS lenders — often < 5 working days.
Mid-market specialist for GGS term loans, typically £250k–£15m. Property-backed and asset-backed cases preferred.
Major GGS-accredited asset finance lender. Hire purchase & finance lease structures for vehicles, plant and equipment up to £2m.
Established asset-finance lender across hire purchase, finance lease and refinance, all available under GGS. Decisions typically 7–10 working days.
Largest independent UK invoice finance lender, accredited for the GGS invoice-finance variant. Good fit for B2B SMEs with sales ledgers worth £100k+.
Lender panel composition can change. We confirm current GGS appetite with each lender before submitting your case.
| Use case | Best fit lender type | Typical ticket |
|---|---|---|
| Established SME, working capital, < £500k | High-street bank, challenger bank | £25k–£500k |
| Growth-stage SME, asset-light, £100k–£1m | Challenger bank, Funding Circle, iwoca | £100k–£1m |
| Property-backed mid-market, £500k+ | OakNorth, ThinCats, AIB GB | £500k–£2m |
| Vehicle / plant / equipment finance | Close Brothers, Aldermore, Lloyds AF | £25k–£2m |
| B2B with invoiceable sales ledger | Bibby, Lloyds, Aldermore Invoice Finance | £100k–£2m |
| Newer trading (< 24 months), faster decision | iwoca, Funding Circle, specialist non-banks | £25k–£250k |
For full pricing detail across these lender types, see our dedicated GGS interest rates & fees page. For an indicative monthly repayment, use our GGS calculator.
The British Business Bank publishes the official accredited GGS lender list. As of 2026, the panel includes the major UK high-street banks (NatWest, HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays), challenger banks (AIB GB, OakNorth) and specialist non-bank lenders (Funding Circle, iwoca, ThinCats), plus asset-finance and invoice-finance specialists.
Each application is a separate underwriting decision and a separate hard credit search. As an introducer broker we only run a single soft-search enquiry across our panel and then submit your case to the most appropriate single lender once you have selected an indicative offer — preventing unnecessary credit-file footprint.
If you have an existing high-street banking relationship, established trading history (3+ years) and clean financials, a high-street GGS loan will typically be the cheapest option. If you need a faster decision, have shorter trading history or are growth-stage, a challenger or specialist GGS lender will usually be a better fit.
No. The scheme has five variants — term loan, revolving credit facility, asset finance, invoice finance and asset-based lending — and not every accredited lender offers all five. Most banks cover term loan and asset finance; specialist lenders typically focus on one variant.
No. The BBB administers the scheme and provides the 70% guarantee on each loan, but the loan itself is written, funded and managed by the accredited lender. Repayments are made directly to the lender.
We’ll soft-search your business across the accredited GGS panel and come back with indicative offers from the best-fit lender(s) for your case — usually within 24–48 hours.
Compare GGS lendersEvery page below feeds the same panel of British Business Bank-accredited GGS lenders. Pick the deep-dive that matches your question, or jump to grants and alternative funding routes.
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