Allica Bank set to hit £1bn in committed lending offers in 2022

Allica Bank says it’s set to hit £1bn in committed lending offers this year, double what it previous expected, helped by investment in its tech offering.

The new lending target is double Allica’s £500m target for last year, which the SME challenger bank says it topped by offering over £540m to British SMEs.

Allica Bank, which undertook its largest funding raise to date of £110m last year, is looking to become a significant force in SME lending. 

Last year, Allica Bank also snapped up a £600m loan book of Irish banking giant AIB in a move to boost its revenues and is also looking hit profitablity by the middle of this year.

The SME challenger says it is increasing its exposure to asset finance and the care home sector lending to £1m and £10m respectively.

Allica Bank says its hike in committed lending is being aided by its investment in its tech offering and manpower.

It says it plans to expand its product, data and engineering teams to over a hundred by the autumn of this year.

Recent hires at Allica Bank include Ravneet Shah appointed as the bank’s new chief technology officer, and Jitse-Jan van Waterschoot as VP of data. 

Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank, said the £1bn lending commitment marked a “key milestone”.

“We are excited by Allica’s further expansion of its proposition in the care home sector,” he said.

“We understand that both SME care home operators and brokers are looking for a lender who can support not just the first acquisition but, subsequent acquisitions too. 

“We hope that by increasing our exposure to £10 million, we will support many more operators to strengthen and scale their businesses. 

“Our asset finance proposition has come on in leaps and bounds since its launch. 

“By doubling our maximum asset finance maximum customer exposure to £1 million, we will be able to support more SMEs to finance their ambitions as they look to bounce back from the pandemic. 

“Allica will also be able to play a greater part in supporting businesses towards their sustainability and net-zero goals.”

Last year, Allica Bank joined the list of accredited lenders to the government-backed Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS).

The RLS is one of a number of government-supported measures aimed at helping businesses impacted by Covid.

Launched in April, it offers loans of £25,000 to £10m to UK businesses as they recover following the pandemic.

Originally due to end in December of this year, the scheme was extended to June 2022.

Earlier this year, Allica Bank said customer deposits reached a milestone of £1bn, coming just two years after the bank launched in March 2020.

In order to reach this figure, Allica Bank has been working hard to diversify the ways in which it raises customer deposits, branching out from just offering direct savings accounts.