Lending to companies from the four biggest banks in the UK increased in Q3, according to official figures from the Bank of England.

The period saw £57.4 billion of loans up from £53bn which was seen in Q2 across Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns NatWest.

However, small to medium size enterprise lending fell from £20.5bn to £18.8bn in Q3.

The figures show that banks are at least willing to lend. However, analysts have raised concerns that the cost of credit and the terms and conditions banks are imposing are a “major concern, especially for SMEs”.