National and international investors will attend Connect Scotland Investment Conference in Edinburgh on the 16th and 17th November as will businesses seeking to improve their management team or with compelling investment propositions.The event will see early stage companies pitching for talent, not money on day one

“This year the conference will also benefit from Connect Springboard, a unique event offering technology businesses the opportunity to pitch not for funding but rather for senior management and non-executives to join their team, which can often make the difference between success and failure in business,” says Isabell Majewsky, CEO of Connect conference organisers The GO Group.

Established technology companies have the chance to go before investors and pitch for between £250,000 and £3m in funding on the second day. Last year's conference had among the presentations MoneyDashboard and Alba Tern though their progress has been disparate.
                                                              
Majewsky notes: “It’s no secret that the banks are not lending to businesses. In fact, latest figures show that in June banks withdrew £3.5bn of credit as repayments outstripped new loans. 

"The Connect Conference is integral to the development and growth of Scottish companies, who are struggling to otherwise secure funding. Our priority is to select the best Scottish technology companies with real growth potential and a lucrative investment opportunity, and help them to secure substantial funding in order to realise their ambitions. "
 
Pitching companies will be announced two weeks prior to the conference once they have completed a rigorous recruitment and selection process to ensure that the most exciting opportunities are showcased.

Any new model bank approaches?

Despite receiving billions of pounds in taxpayer support during the credit crisis, high street lenders are now refusing to pass on the full benefit of historically low interest rates to customers, figures show. Instead, they have used the cheap cost of borrowing to drastically increase their profit margins.

Two years ago, the difference between the rate at which banks borrow money and the rate they offered to customers for fixed-rate mortgages stood at 1.28%.  Today it has risen to 3.29% for a two-year fixed-rate deal, the highest gap since records began 21 years ago.

The increase — which has taken place despite the Bank of England rate remaining unchanged at 0.5% since January 2009 — means that on a £150,000 mortgage, banks have taken an extra £149 a month for themselves, rather than share the benefit with customers. This is equivalent to an additional profit of £1,778 in a year and £3,576 over the two-year term.

Five million home owners – about half of the home loan market – have fixed-rate mortgages. Publication of the figures led to accusations that the banks have been “hoarding cash” to boost their balance sheets as many struggle to meet repayments.

Bank fees  and costs for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have risen since the end of last year. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) says many small businesses are unable to borrow from banks, because their lending criteria are too restrictive.

A separate report shows commercial lending is still sharply lower than at the height of the boom. The annual survey from the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) reveals that in the mid-2000s, nearly £20bn was being borrowed, but this went down to under £7bn and is now just over that.


"If you look at late 2007 [to] early 2008, our members probably had over 100 lenders to choose from for commercial finance. That now is below 50," Adam Tyler, the NACFB's CEO, told BBC Radio 5 live's Wake Up To Money. "It's become increasingly difficult to actually place business, whether it's with the High Street lenders or with smaller companies."