There’s a simple reason that Switzerland’s business loans are working better than the UK’s

It isn't about different banking cultures - but different incentives.

A loan company advert is pictured on the side of a bus in front of the Bank of England in the City of London on September 28, 2012. Britain tightened the screws on troubled banks, vowing to overhaul a "broken" Libor interest rate system that damaged the financial sector's reputation and threatening to imprison those who abused it. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) watchdog made the proposals in an independent report that was commissioned by British finance minister George Osborne in the wake of this year's notorious Barclays rate-rigging affair. AFP PHOTO / CARL COURT (Photo credit should read CARL COURT/AFP/GettyImages)

Rishi Sunak’s economic package isn’t working. Or at least, a big and crucial part of it isn’t: the government-backed loans to help businesses through lockdown-induced collapse in demand and legally enforced closures. A little over 6000 loans have been issued – less than a tenth of those given out in Switzerland.

But Sunak is far from alone. Switzerland is a world leader as far as its loan system is concerned.