A NEW payment system will be found by a Ribble Valley funding specialist for a national business networking scheme.

Ribchester-based KeyFleet has been signed up by BNI, which chapters up and down the country, for the contract.

Bosses at BNI wanted to allow their members to spread annual subscriptions into monthly payments, which is thought to be especially benefit small and start-up businesses.

Keyfleet itself owes a debt of gratitude to the networkers - it was formed by founder Mark McLoughlin and commercial finance specialist Liam Mulligan at a BNI gathering.

And since their association they have managed to supply £1million worth of vehicles and are actively involved in their chapters in Blackburn, Lancaster, Burnley, Clitheroe, Accrington and Samlesbury.

Mr Mulligan said: "By way of a BNI referral, I was introduced to BNI’s national director, Tim Cook, who is based at head office in London.

"We listened to their requirements and aims and spent lots of time talking to providers and the BNI head office and then set about designing a system and a finance instrument which precisely suited their needs.

"The end result is a system which allows new and existing members to spread their membership payments over 12 months, which provides cash flow benefits for all businesses, but which is particularly attractive to newly launched businesses aiming to use BNI to help themselves get off the ground and up in the air, but for whom funding can be a particular issue."