UK SME Funding Index
What UK small and medium-sized businesses actually pay to borrow — taken directly from Bank of England published statistics, not our own estimates.
Latest available data: August 2026. The Bank of England publishes effective interest rates in arrears, so this is the most recent month released — not the current month.
The trend
How new SME lending breaks down
The Bank reports the headline SME rate alongside its components. Fixed-rate borrowing is priced separately from floating-rate borrowing, which is why the figures differ.
| Measure | Rate | As of | BoE series |
|---|---|---|---|
| Effective interest rate — new loans to SMEs (all)The average rate SMEs actually paid on new borrowing drawn in the month, across all reporting lenders. | 6.63% | Aug 2026 | CFMZ6LD |
| New loans to SMEs — of which floating-rateAverage rate on new SME lending priced on a floating basis. | 6.11% | Aug 2026 | CFMZJ3L |
| New loans to SMEs — of which floating-rate, Bank Rate linkedAverage rate on new SME lending explicitly linked to Bank Rate. | 6.09% | Aug 2026 | CFMZJ3M |
| New loans to SMEs — of which fixed-rateAverage rate on new SME lending taken at a fixed rate. | 7.88% | Aug 2026 | CFMZJ3U |
What this means if you're borrowing
The headline figure is an average across all reporting lenders. It is a useful benchmark for judging whether a quote you have been given is competitive, but it is not a rate you can apply for. Your actual rate depends on security, term, sector, trading history and the lender's appetite on the day.
Bridging and other short-term property lending is priced very differently from the term lending captured here — typically monthly rather than annually — so this index is not a guide to bridging loan pricing.
If you want to know what your business would actually be offered, talk to us about your funding requirements and we will compare the whole market for you.
Methodology & data sources
Every figure on this page is pulled directly from the Bank of England Statistical Interactive Database (IADB) by an automated job, and is shown with the Bank's own series code and observation date so it can be checked at source. Boxx Finance does not estimate, model or adjust any of these numbers.
The Bank of England defines SMEs for its effective interest rates return (Form ER) as private non-financial corporations with annual debit turnover of £25 million or less.
The Bank publishes effective interest rates in arrears. The most recent month available at the time of writing is August 2026; data was last retrieved on 12 October 2026.
Series used: IUMABEDR, CFMZ6LD, CFMZJ3L, CFMZJ3M, CFMZJ3U.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 — OGL v3.0.
These are published market averages for information only. They are not a quote, not an offer of finance, and not a prediction of the rate available to any individual business. Boxx Finance is a commercial finance broker, not a lender.