The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) has been supporting businesses set up to solve social problems for many years. The social enterprise sector plays a major role in the UK economy with 62,000 businesses drawing both financial and social returns in the UK. These organisations employ 800,000 people and contribute £24bn to the UK economy.
We want to build on our legacy to do even more to strengthen the sector.
To achieve this ambition we are launching Inspiring Social Enterprise today and making a three-year commitment to help more social enterprises gain access to finance. In addition:
- We have renewed our Founding Partner status with Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) for a further three years
- Social enterprises, charities, community interest companies and co-operatives who find it difficult to get sufficient mainstream finance to expand their business, can apply for a specifically designed Community Business Loan from the RBS Group MicroFinance Fund
- We are the only bank to have Commercial Banking Relationship Managers who are trained and accredited by the Chartered Institute of Bankers and SEUK.
- We will continue to support the Social Enterprise 100 Index (SE100). The RBS SE100 Index, data report and survey are unique in providing the facts and figures behind the powerful stories we hear about social enterprises.
Inspiring Social Enterprise is part of RBS Inspiring Enterprise. In October 2012 we announced our commitments to Youth Enterprise and Women in Enterprise. Inspiring Social Enterprise is the third and final strand of RBS Inspiring Enterprise.
