Brexit didn't bank on this: OakNorth successfully lends £710m to startups

Despite the unsettling economy due to Brexit, OakNorth Bank has lent over £430m to its clients since the beginning of the year.

Dealing with small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs, OakNorth has successfully made over 80 transactions since January, with its total loan book now standing at over £710m with a further £700m in the pipeline.

These loans have contributed to the creation of over 3,000 new jobs and the development of 2,000 new houses in the UK, and because of such a high demand, the bank has made two new hires to its debt finance team: Hemesh Patel, formerly of Investec, and Eamonn O’Rourke, formerly of Titlestone Property Finance.

The debt finance team’s leader and Santander’s former head of business development, Ben Barbanel, commented: “We said we would lend £500m to SMEs based on our pipeline at the beginning of the year, so to reach £430m with another four months left to go in the year, is an amazing accomplishment.

“In addition, we’ve had over £100m in repayments, demonstrating the quality of the businesses we’ve lent to, and a quarter of our deal flow now comes from existing clients.”

Since the company launched in September 2015, it has established itself in the industry with a client list including Z Hotels, Brasserie Bar Company - lending £20m enabled the business to open 24 new sites and create 700 new jobs, Notes Coffee and Frogmore to name a few. It has also grown its loan book to over £710m achieving breakeven within 11 months.

So as bigger lenders are tending to steer further away from the SME lending market due to economic uncertainty, OakNorth continues it surge in clients and growth. The bank’s total headcount is now 140 people, up from 110 in January.

Barbanel continued: “If we want to maintain the speed and service that has helped set us apart from other lenders so far, we need to continue developing and scaling the team in line with this.

“Hemesh and Eamonn have both demonstrated that they have the drive required to replicate the success of the past two years and propel us even further.”