Allica Bank lends £1bn to Britain’s SMEs

Allica Bank has today announced that it has lent over £1bn to Britain’s SMEs as of the end of June 2022.

Allica, a fintech bank serving Britain’s established small and medium sized businesses now forecasts to complete £3bn of lending to established SMEs in the next three years - far exceeding targets, which were set £500m in 2021, and exceeded that year by £60m.

As set out in its recent end of year financial review, the bank has scaled at pace in its first two years of operation. Notably in November 2021, Allica welcomed c2,000 SME customers when it acquired AIB’s GB SME lending portfolio.

Allica is fast becoming the leading SME challenger to the previously dominant high street banks, most recently demonstrated with its recent competitive repricing in commercial mortgages which now compete with rates offered from high street banks, while still providing market leading customer service.

The bank is also announcing today that it has now completed over £100m of asset finance funding since launching in 2021. This figure is expected to double by the end of 2022.

Richard Davies, chief executive officer of Allica Bank, commented: “Allica was created with the aim of empowering Britain’s established small and medium sized businesses, which have long been overlooked and underserved by the banking sector.

“Everybody at Allica is therefore very proud of achieving this momentous milestone of lending £1bnn to SMEs – this is lending that will make a critical difference to helping established SMEs up and down the country to significantly strengthen and scale their businesses.

“We are also thrilled by the progress of our asset finance proposition, which has grown impressively since its launch early last year. The £100m in funding we have completed so far is a huge achievement, not least as over 70% of this took place in the first half of 2022.

“Our ambitious, yet achievable, target of lending £3bn to SMEs over the next three years will enable us to support even more SMEs to finance their ambitions as they bounce back from the pandemic and deal with the current challenging economic climate.”

Today’s announcement follows on quickly from Allica’s recent publication of its strong performance in 2021 across all aspects of the business.

The bank has built strong financial momentum alongside its lending to SMEs. Annual net operating income increased to £7.8m in 2021, and April year to date net operating income has already exceeded this at £10.1m, driving the bank towards monthly profitability in 2022.