Osborne To Heed Banks' Call With Funding Move

George Osborne will this week offer an olive branch to banks angered by recent tax moves, extending a flagship programme aimed at bolstering lending to small businesses. Sky News understands that Treasury officials are looking to prolong the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) beyond its intended expiry in January. The move will pave the way for the Bank of England to provide tens of billions of pounds to banks to pass on in the form of loans to small and medium-sized companies (SMEs).