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The bank also said it would maintain overdraft limits and overdraft margins at existing levels for these customers and will only change the limit or price if the risks associated with that customer change materially.

On top of this, Lloyds said it will also agree to any reasonable request for short term finance to support any business through difficulties.

Small business borrowing - defined as those with a turnover of up to £1m- will not be switched from Base Rate to LIBOR and a series of seminars will be hosted across the UK to provide expert guidance and support for small firms.

In addition, Lloyds said it is continuing to support firms by extending its use of the Small Firms Loans Guarantee scheme and has also expressed interest in the additional funding for small business lending from the European Investment Bank.

John Maltby, managing director, Lloyds TSB Commercial, said: "This is a Charter to inject much needed business confidence.

"Lloyds TSB is one of the few banks that has been able to continue lending to small businesses through these more difficult times and our lending to SMEs has grown 18 per cent over the past year.

"As the economic environment becomes even more challenging, we're committed to continuing to support our customers by doing everything possible to ease the pressure small firms are now under.

"The measures in our new Charter announced today take our existing approach a step further and mean that businesses that bank with Lloyds TSB have the best possible support for the challenges to come."