Today saw the BBC Look North cameras descend on rebuildingsociety.com towers for an interview with Dan about peer-to-business lending.

In conjunction with Exquisite Handmade Cakes Ltd, a borrower through the site, the story focuses on why Yorkshire businesses only have a 29 per cent approval rate with the banks in the region, versus an average of around 50 per cent of businesses throughout the rest of the UK.

Exquisite Handmade Cakes Ltd is the second Yorkshire business to have an application funded through rebuildingsociety.com, with Integral IT Ltd based in Ripon completing a £20,000 loan last week.

Of course, the beauty of an online business is that your customers can come from anywhere, they just need an internet connection, but it’s good to feel like you’re helping out your local community. We believe this is the next stage of peer-to-business lending, a localisation of borrowing and lending so people can see the physical results of their help in job creation, money being spent in local shops and local economies thriving.

It’s small at the moment, but the potential is huge.

See if any of our borrowers are local to you by visiting the Marketplace.