Nigel Morgan working with Paul Turner (SME Alliance adviser), Nick Gould (SME Alliance Director) and Hannah Beko (Gunnercooke) have been negotiating for months to refinance the Morgan farm to return it to family ownership. It hasn't been an easy task and all parties (not least the Morgan family) have had a stressful time BUT yesterday…. the deal was finally done! Yeh!!!!

Hopefully we'll have more good news for more members in the near future – but we wanted to share this victory with all members and congratulate the Morgans and the team from SME Alliance on completing a refinancing deal for several million.

It's been a year since the very first meeting is SME Alliance at The law Society sponsored by Rustem Guardian. So much has happened in this year. We said we wanted to lobby, we've been to Number Ten and the Treasury. We said we wanted to communicate, we've met with the SRA, the FCA, BIS and even Council General for RBS. We said we wanted to spread the word about the plight of SMEs against bank misconduct and we have even shared our stories at the 33rd International Cambridge Symposium On Economic Crime. 

We haven't even started. We know we have a long way to go to bring about serious banking reform and change. But let's give ourselves a big clap on the back. We really have rolled our sleeves up and started to raise the voice of the SME sector.

Many thanks to all our SME Alliance members and congratulations to all those who have contributed to all our small victories!!

SME Alliance had an excellent day at the 'Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime' on Thursday. Most of the people attending this event are academics, lawyers, bankers, regulators, or experts on economic crime related issues. In fact other than some members of Whistle Blowers UK I don't think 'victims' of economic crime have spoken at the symposium so it was quite a unique opportunity to tell people about the real consequences of economic.

 Clive and Nigel have very kindly agreed we can put their speeches up on the website. They are posted in the public interest area – because actually, the public should know more about what happens to SMEs when banks decide to behave badly. I'm posting my speech as well although I sort of dipped in and out of it and also Paul's speech which he didn't have a chance to deliver as we ran out of time in the morning session.

At our afternoon session with Abhishek Sachdev, Mel Loades and others gave really interesting and very clear explanations about derivatives, personal guarantees and how they are tackling these issues. I have never fully understood the whole derivatives issue but I am much better informed now and I can honestly say I don't know how the banks got away with such reprehensible behaviour for so long? I asked Abhishek if the sale of such abhorrent products was still happening and he assured me some banks have stopped selling derivatives completely while others are much more controlled in what they can sell. All the same I would ask how they were able to sell them in the first place? And how could they add their clients homes to the situation without their knowledge? 
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I thought the explanations about how these products work to our detriment were so informative I am going to ask some of our advisers to give short talks at our next meeting on 5th October and then do a Q&A for members.

Jesus College is absolutely fantastic and rarely seen in its full splendour because it's hidden behind a high brick wall. Laura came with us to photograph our sessions but she also took lots of photo's of the college – I'll get her to put a selection of photo's up in the next few days. We will also go through the ton of information the symposium organisers supplied (on DVD) and we'll put anything useful to members up in a section of the members area. Clive has already started going through it and says it has the most up to date laws, guidance, regulations etc on economic crime. Given how much there is, it will take us a few days to get this on the site.

I'd really like to thank Professor Barry Ryder for allowing us to attend and also Angela Futter who does such an amazing job organising this event. Most of all I'd like to thank our members who travelled from all over England and also Scotland and Wales, at their own expense to be there. They all did a great job at helping to put SME Alliance on the map. Hopefully next year more members can attend.

*PLEASE NOTE: Only people registered to attend the symposium can book places at our sessions. If you would like to attend please register your place by Monday 7th September or ASAP!!