SMEs across the UK are increasingly turning to alternative funding sources because they cannot get the funding they need from the banks.

Following the economic crisis in 2008, banks have become increasingly cautious of high risk lending opportunities, such as loan requests from small businesses.

New figures from the Bank of England reveal that net lending to SMEs at the start of 2014 has decreased for the fourth year in a row.

Ivor Freedman, a Senior Partner at Freedman and Partners believes it comes down a number of factors.

"Banks simply can't make money on small businesses, there is a lack of delivery and most importantly they have no appetite for what they believe to be high risk assets.

There is already a growing number of businesses already turning to alternative sources of finance, including both Peer-to-Peer and crowdfunding."

The p2p sector more than doubled in size last year, with cumulative gross lending at the end of 2013 reaching a record £843million, up from £381 million in 2012.

Ivor added that: "The future of p2p lending is very bright; I think it is going to be the mainstream method of choice for small business.

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