Earlier this month, Hannah Bernard, Head of Business Banking at Barclays, was one of the speakers at this year's MoneyLIVE event, which brought together industry leaders to discuss and explore the future of the banking and global payments industry. Below is an edited version of her speech for UK unlocked. 

Last week, I had the pleasure of delivering a speech at MoneyLIVE. The central theme of my speech was the importance of confidence—not just for entrepreneurs and business leaders, but also in our economic environment, financial systems and investment landscape.

I emphasised that confidence is the foundation of growth and that effective storytelling can inspire collective action. Drawing parallels with the space economy, I highlighted the need for a strong narrative and the importance of storytelling to encourage business owners and entrepreneurs to aim high and take bold steps towards growth. As leaders in finance, we may not be trying to sell a vision of space tourism or the colonisation of Mars, but UK economic growth may seem as distant at the moment.  

For our latest Business Prosperity Index, we surveyed 1000 business decision makers towards the end of January and discovered that over half of SMEs have plans to invest in their growth over the next 12 months. However, nearly half are still planning to hold back in the year ahead. The reasons for this are wide-ranging. 31% said high interest rates were a challenge when trying to access finance, while 38% cited economic uncertainty as one of their primary concerns.

Our report “Business Attitudes to Investing” found that there is appetite among UK businesses to invest - but it could be higher. From our research, we can see that businesses are put off investing by a variety of factors. Those factors include political uncertainty, capacity and capability constraints, skills availability, worries about inflation and economic uncertainty. These figures tell us two things. ​Firstly, that businesses are willing to invest, but secondly, and more crucially, that they need an environment where they feel secure enough to do so. ​

So, how do we build that environment?​

Business Attitudes to Investing focuses on this challenge and has a series of recommendations for policymakers. ​

It named low appetite and demand for investment is one of the biggest inhibitors of business investment in the UK right now. ​ To address this, the government needs to increase its focus on fostering business demand and confidence to invest, ​with the aim of unlocking an entrepreneurial spirit across the UK business population. ​

This should include efforts to improve business awareness and education on how, why, and where to invest, especially at a local level​. 

One of the most powerful ways we can instil confidence is by ensuring businesses can access the right type of funding at the right time. Banks want to lend. At Barclays, we’ve committed £22 billion through our Business Prosperity Fund, ensuring businesses have tailored financial solutions that support growth at every stage.

But access to finance is about more than just capital—it’s about providing the tools, resources, and expertise to navigate the funding landscape.

That’s why we’ve invested heavily in several key initiatives. Barclays Eagle Labs is one of the UK’s largest tech entrepreneurial networks, enabling over 17k tech founders to raise nearly £5bn in lifetime funding through our ecosystem support.

We also have our High-Growth and Entrepreneurs team, which helps scaling businesses secure investment from venture capital and private equity partners. And just last year, we launched our Demo Directory, a platform that connects founders with potential investors, giving SMEs the visibility they need to secure funding and scale, particularly those outside of London. And, of course, we have over 700 relationship managers up and down the country to support SMEs.