A BURY hotel boss who was left £600,000 out of pocket after becoming a victim of the so-called “rate swap” scandal is helping to spearhead a national campaign to put pressure on the banks to speed up compensation.

Stefan Sikorski, managing director of the Lavender Hotel Group, had his plight raised by Bury North MP David Nuttall during a House of Commons debate surrounding the mis-selling of interest rates by banks to businesses.

Mr Lavender operates six hotels in the North West, including the Bolholt Country Park in Bury and Ramsbottom’s Old Mill.

As a member of the Bully Bank campaign, the aim of the 55-year-old businessman’s visit to Parliament last week was to reinforce the message to the Government that it needs to make the banks accelerate compensation repayment for direct losses to businesses, and to subsequently redress consequential losses.

Mr Sikorski also wants to rally fellow businessmen and women who paid “extortionate” interest rates on business loans by banks to speak out.

A potential £12 billion is now owed to businesses by banks and many of the 30,000 companies affected have been care homes and hotels.

During the debate, Mr Nuttall disclosed that Mr Lavender took out a loan from Barclays in 2007 to finance the purchase of another hotel.

Later, it was suggested that it fixed its interest rates on the grounds no-one could predict where interest rates were heading.

Mr Nuttall added: “The bank mentioned rate fixing, collars and caps, and stressed that those were not a profit earner for the bank, but merely designed to give the customer protection.

“Although the term ‘rate swap’ was initially used, it was quickly replaced by the term ‘fixing’, suggesting that the bank was fixing the interest rate, rather like a fixed-rate mortgage.

“When interest rates started to reduce, what should have been good news turned into a nightmare and the amount that had to be paid back to Barclays rose dramatically.

“When the company sought a loan to purchase another hotel the following year, it was forced to enter into a 10-year rate swap.”

Speaking this week following the debate, Mr Sikorski said: “I am a private businessman who rarely looks to the spotlight for anything, including furthering my own interests, but this is an outrage and the way that it has been handled has compounded the problems.

“If the banking industry is to retain the confidence of its clients, it needs to draw a line under this scandal and get people compensation.

“The £600,000 represents the charges actually made on me by the rate swap derivative product.” Disclosing that the losses did not damage the hotel chain, he added: “That underlines what a wonderful and healthy business we have.”

Mr Nuttall added: “This is a national scandal. Thousands of small businesses, including some in Bury, have lost out because of the mis-selling of these products.

“The banks have set aside billions in readiness to compensate these businesses, but we need action now to get the problem sorted out. These businesses should not have to wait any longer.”

In a statement, Barclays said: “It is in Barclays’ interests as well as our customers to complete the review as soon as possible.

“Our 600 dedicated staff continue to progress the review thoroughly with those customers who have responded to us.

“We would encourage those who haven’t yet responded to do so shortly so that their reviews can commence. Where we have made mistakes, we will put them right.

“Barclays has built a quick and clearly defined consequential loss assessment process which is now in full swing.

“If a customer submits a claim within 40 days of their redress offer, we will review and provide them with a final redress offer within 28 days of receipt of their claim.”