The initiative provides small businesses with 100% government-backed loans of up to £50,000, to help cope with the financial impact of COVID-19.

The seven largest lenders, Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS, Santander and Virgin Money received more than 130,000 applications on the first day of the scheme.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, said: “Small businesses will be the driving force of our recovery from the pandemic, creating jobs and securing economic growth.

“These loans will help them bounce back from this crisis – getting money fast – so it’s great to see more than 69,000 business benefitting in just the first day.

“It’s vital this speedy progress continues in the days and weeks ahead.

“The Bounce Back Loan scheme is one part of the government’s package of business support that includes: £8bn to pay the wages of furloughed staff at 800,000 firms, nearly 700,000 business properties benefiting from £8.6bn  of business grants, generous VAT deferrals and scrapping businesses rates.”