Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) is relaunching HTB Syscap, the lender of short-term loans to professional firms and SMEs, following its acquisition of Wesleyan Bank in February 2022.

HTB Syscap’s lending facilities help professional firms and SMEs to borrow money over the short-term in order to meet such costs as tax bills, with minimal impact to the firm’s cash flow.

HTB Syscap will initially be offering two key lending facilities: short-term working capital loans and asset financing. The loans are designed to help legal firms manage their cash flow by helping to cover the costs of running a business, from paying tax liabilities to investing in larger purchases such as office equipment.

The lender offers the following:

Short-term working capital loans:

• “Ideal” for reoccurring annual expenses such as insurance premiums, Self-Assessment and Corporation Tax, VAT liabilities and practising certificates
• Flexible terms available between 3-18 months
• “Quick and easy” application process

Asset financing:

• For purchases such as computer and telecoms equipment, software, office equipment and refurbishment, vehicles and plant and machinery
• Lending terms available between 1-5 years

Stuart Hulme, managing director at HTB, said: “We are really excited about the relaunch of HTB Syscap, particularly at a time when small business groups are concerned that traditional lenders are pulling up the drawbridge for small firms.

“With this in mind, we are providing these two lending facilities so that professional firms and SMEs can gain a greater degree of control over their monthly outgoings by smoothing over the financial peaks and troughs throughout the year, enabling these hard-working small businesses to concentrate more of their time on the day-to-day.”

John Clarke, head of sales at HTB Syscap, added: “We fully appreciate that busy professionals are time poor, which is why we put service at the centre of our proposition: our clients have access to a dedicated relationship manager who will guide them through the applications process and we’ll typically obtain credit decisions within 48 hours.

“For existing clients looking to renew, they just need to advise us of their requirements, with no need to complete and sign additional documentation.”