Allica Bank eyes profitability as it hits £1bn of lending

Allica Bank, which lends to UK SMEs, has hit £1bn of lending just two years after its launch. 

The company has had particularly strong growth in its asset finance lending, with £100m lent since it began last year. This figure is expected to double by the end of 2022.

Richard Davies, CEO of Allica, says its lending will make a critical difference to helping SMEs strengthen and scale their businesses as they face a period of growing economic uncertainty.

“The £100m in funding we have completed so far is a huge achievement, not least as over 70 per cent of this took place in the first half of 2022. And we’ve only just got started; our newly strengthened teams are looking forward to accelerating this progress in the second half of this year," he said.

Davies says the bank will continue to grow its lending book at a fast rate in the medium term.

“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.”

The company has scaled quickly since its March 2020 launch despite not being involved in any of the government-backed lending schemes that helped rival fintech challengers quickly grow their SME customer base and loan book.

Allica did acquire AIB’s UK SME lending portfolio as well as move into new areas such as asset finance. 

The company has raised fresh capital in a £55m deal in April but is driving toward monthly profitability in 2022, it said a media statement.

Allica saw its annual net operating income increase to £7.8m in 2021, and in April year to date net operating income has already exceeded this at £10.1m.