Banks take £4.4bn from BoE under Funding for Lending John Walker, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "The scheme was designed to help businesses as well as homeowners but evidence points to this helping the mortgage market more, perhaps due to the larger number of providers in this market." State-owned RBS said it has used the scheme to cut interest rates on small business lending by up to 1.7pc to as low as 3pc, as well as removing arrangement fees. "We will continue to offer these attractive rates to send a clear message that RBS is open for business," the lender said. Taxpayer-backed lender Lloyds Banking Group said it planned to draw down a further £2bn under the scheme, following an initial £1bn drawdown in September. Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta Osorio said: "We have passed on the benefits of this lower funding in full, in particular focusing on first-time buyers and small businesses, where it will make the most economic impact." Mr Walker said more competition and choice for small businesses to access finance was needed. Our data tells us that around four in 10 small firms were refused loans in the third quarter and independent data shows that businesses looking for finance for the first time are more likely to be refused. The key reason why, is the scheme does not help firms access credit, it only makes credit cheaper to those successful in their loan applications. He said the Chancellor had the opportunity in his Autumn Statement to address this by setting out his plans for the business bank - "how it would work to promote competition and how it will help the smallest of businesses and start ups access cash vital to their growth." Alan Clarke, economist at Scotiabank, said the FLS take-up had been "encouraging" and added: "Quite whether it kick starts the chain reaction that is required to get the economy going is less clear. Nonetheless, it is a case of so far so good with regards to the take-up of the scheme. Economic Secretary to the Treasury Sajid Javid said: "It's still early in the life of the scheme, but Funding for Lending has already helped to deliver half a billion in loans for households and businesses. Though it will take time to fully feed through, today's positive data shows participating banks are increasing their lending.