The banking and finance sector has provided over £4.1bn to SMEs so far through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBIL) scheme, UK Finance revealed.

Over £1.33bn of loans were approved from 21 April to 28 April 2020.

There were 8,638 loans approved over the period, bringing the total to 25,262.

Stephen Jones, chief executive of UK Finance, said: “The banking and finance sector recognises the role we must play in getting the country through these tough times, and staff are working incredibly hard to get money to those viable businesses that need it.

“More than £4bn has been delivered to over 25,000 businesses so far through the CBIL scheme, as part of a broad package of support for SMEs including capital repayment holidays, extended overdrafts and asset-based finance.

“The changes to the scheme announced by the Chancellor this week will enable lenders to streamline their application processes and help even more businesses access the support they need.

“This extensive support will be complemented by the new Bounce Back Loans scheme targeted at smaller businesses, which lenders are now working at pace to get up and running from Monday.”

Lenders have received 52,807 completed applications under the CBIL scheme – some are expected to be approved over the coming days.