UK-based Allica Bank launches £100 mn funding round

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UK-based business bank Allica Bank today announced the launch of a £100 million funding round in a bid to help it meet the current high levels of demand for finance it is experiencing from British businesses, and continue broadening services and product lines. The new funding is expected to enable the Bank to speed up its lending to the British businesses and strengthen its position in the non-bank lending market.

Richard Davies, Chief Executive Officer, Allica Bank, said, “Established small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be vital to the recovery and health of the UK economy, but it is clear that the supply of finance has been very badly damaged by Covid-19 outside of the government schemes. The time is now for Allica to scale up its operations to meet this business funding gap, bringing a blend of human relationships, deep lending expertise, and digital disruption. Together with potential acquisition opportunities of non-bank lenders impacted by the pandemic, we intend to create the leading SME challenger bank for the decade ahead.”

A recent survey of commercial finance brokers, conducted by Allica Bank, revealed that 63% had seen a significant reduction to the supply of business lending following on from the COVID pandemic. Additionally, 98% of commercial finance brokers are concerned about business lenders’ credit appetite and liquidity over the next two years.

The Bank stated that of the lending it has provided to date, the vast majority has been to businesses outside the capital (95% of loans by value, and 97% by volume).

Recently, a new report from Allica Bank has analysed the performance of over 1k UK SMBs in a bid to provide a roadmap for successfully recovering their businesses post-COVID-19. The ‘rules for success’ have been compiled from the research data for supporting British businesses as well as to figure a course out to lead them to the post-COVID-recovery era.