Banks to come under scrutiny

The attitudes of UK banks to ethnic minority businesses are to be investigated in a two year study.

The study, which will begin in January, will be carried out by the British Bankers’ Association, the Bank of England, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Commission for Racial Equality.

Its remit will be to focus on ‘any difficulties experienced by ethnic minority businesses in relation to obtaining finance and business support’. A report earlier this year from the Bank of England found that banks should be doing more to help ethnic minority customers.