Bristol pension specialists Clifton Asset Management has produced an online resource to educate business owners, directors and advisors about pension-led business funding, often seen as one of the UK’s best-kept funding secrets.
The website is launched at a time when, despite Government initiatives, traditional lending is increasingly hard to find for small and medium-sized firms, start-ups and entrepreneurs. Furthermore, with ING withdrawing from the UK asset finance market, an extra £1bn will now be needed to fund this gap.
Pensionledfunding.com was developed in response to a survey, commissioned by Ham Green-based Clifton Asset Management earlier this year, which revealed that almost three quarters (73%) of business owners are unaware that they can source finance directly through their own pension funds. 
It also appears that, despite changes in the Finance Act 2004, Intellectual Property (IP) being recognised as an acceptable asset class for use in pension-led business funding is another secret well-kept from business owners.
The new website offers a combination of myth-busting information, explanations of the pension-led business funding process and case studies. The latter include examples of entrepreneurs who have defied the BBC’s fearsome Dragons and backed their own business success, such as Tony Curtis, pictured, with his Alago heated glove company.
Clifton chairman Adam Tavener said: “The website is designed to be informative, transparent and lay to rest the myths that surround pension-led business funding. This form of business finance is not an either/or option against traditional lending, but is an innovative approach that business owners and advisors should be aware of.
“We were shocked by the research results and, given that the Government is pursuing a policy aimed at boosting lending to SMEs an online resource such as pensionledfunding.com is a positive addition in the battle to help business owners understand how they can fund their businesses and still retain control.”
