Competition from alternative lenders is driving banks to boost lending amounts for businesses, according to Conrad Ford, Chief Executive of SME finance aggregator Funding Options.

Barclays and NatWest/Royal Bank of Scotland are among the banks that are boosting access to finance for SMEs.

Research from finance and accounting recruitment firm Reed Accountancy & Finance has shown that businesses in the finance sector want clarity to be provided on the UK’s exit from the EU as concerns rise among their employees.

The study, which surveyed 800 finance professionals, showed that finance firms are calling for the government to focus on securing a free trade deal during Brexit negotiations, securing employment rights for employees, and keeping membership of the single market.

Research from mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and debt advisory firm Livingstone Partners has shown that M&A activity targeting companies in the UK increased by 13% in the second quarter of the year, with financial services being one of the main drivers of growth.

The findings showed that the UK continues to lead the way for M&A in Europe, with a total of 355 deals taking place in Q2 2018.

The latest IHS Markit jobs report has shown that there was an increase in job vacancies for permanent staff across the UK last month, with accounting and finance being among the sectors to see a rise in demand.

The report, which is sponsored by the Recruitment & Employment Federation (REC), analysed data from the Office for National Statistics and showed that job vacancies hit a record high of 824,000, with a year-on-year rise of 50% in the three months leading up to June.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced a consultation phase in its plan to create a global fintech sandbox.

The UK financial regulatory body announced plans for a global version of its domestic regulatory sandbox in February this year with the aim of tackling common cross-border issues and enabling financial technology firms to conduct tests in different countries concurrently.

Research from FIS has shown that digital-first banks are outperforming the world’s top 50 banks when it comes to customer services such as security and privacy. 

The Performance Against Customer Expectations (PACE) study surveyed thousands of banking consumers from the UK, the US, Germany and India to identify the most important performance indicators in banking and to rank the performance of service providers against consumer expectations.

Research from finance and accountancy recruitment firm Robert Half has shown that digital transformation is driving demand for new skills in the finance sector.

The study surveyed almost 14,000 Chief Financial Officers across 14 countries, exploring hiring trends and career ambitions, and found that more than 40% of UK CFOs believe that more focus is being placed on skills such as data analysis as digital transformation becomes a priority for businesses.

A study carried out by market research and data analytics firm YouGov has shown that 72% of UK adults are not aware of Open Banking.

The research surveyed more than 2,000 adults to explore their views on the Open Banking initiative, which was launched earlier this year and requires banks to share financial data with third-party providers with the permission of their customers in order to boost services.

Figures from labour market analytics data provider Innovantage have shown an increase in online advertising activity for front-line roles across a number of sectors, including finance and insurance.

The data analysed job posting trends, exploring original job adverts and reposts of job roles to identify which sectors saw the highest increase in demand for front-line workers.

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics have shown that UK exports of financial services hit a record high in 2017.

The ONS Pink Book 2018 showed that financial services exports reached £59.6bn last year, up by £3.6bn on 2016.

Research from finance solutions provider Duologi has shown that consumers want access to flexible finance options, with 20% saying that they would be more likely to go elsewhere if a company did not offer them.

The study, entitled Finding the right balance: the future of credit, found that point-of-sale (POS) finance, which enables customers to purchase a product or service through a loan, could be critical to a company’s survival.