While tighter banking restrictions have forced more small and medium enterprise (SME) borrowers towards non-bank lenders, a lack of awareness is still hindering real growth within the sector. The Disruption Index, which has been jointly developed by small business lender Moula and research and consulting firm Digital Finance Analytics (DFA), puts the score for Q1 2017 at 38.39, which is 6.1% higher than the score of 36.18 recorded in the same time period a year ago. Despite this, only gradual change has been made to grow awareness amongst SMEs about these alternatives. Looking at evidence on small business knowledge about non-bank lending – such as payments received to non-bank lenders, credit enquiries at credit bureaus, etc – 11% of all data sets reviewed showed use of these lending options. This is the first time the level has risen above 10% since the index was started.