According to Allica Bank’s financial report, loans and advances to customers jumped by 54% annually to £3bn in 2024.
The firm noted that it had lent around £1.1bn in “organic lending products”, which covers commercial mortgages, asset finance and other deals including bridging finance and growth finance.
On the commercial finance side, lending has grown by 68% to £1.7bn, with asset finance balances growing by 41% to £427.8m.
Forward flow lending has also increased by 21%, which is supported by around £200m of new lending.
This is where Allica Bank partners with non-bank established SME lenders that originate and service loans to other established SMEs, with Allica Bank providing the funding.
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The lender’s profit before tax came to £29.9m, up 86% year-on-year.
The growth in profit was attributed to “significant investment in its digital infrastructure”, leading to an uptick in revenue and customer deposits.
Allica Bank said this was its second full year of profitability in the four years since opening.
Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank, said: “2024 has been our best year yet, with significant growth in revenue, lending and deposits demonstrating that we are offering a genuine alternative for established SMEs from the high street banks and delivering on our promise to give them the banking they deserve. We are pleased to have almost doubled our pre-tax profit to £29.9m, too, as we continue to grow sustainably.
“Allica have invested heavily in our proprietary technology capabilities to ensure we have the foundations in place to continue to scale at pace, in terms of the amount of established SMEs we’re supporting and the ways we’re supporting them.”
He continued: “Alongside giving established businesses a powerful business bank account that truly rewards them and the support to help them thrive, I’m proud that Allica also advocated for established SMEs more broadly too.
“We’ve helped drive tangible change to Basel 3.1 to support more SME lending and have pushed to improve the business savings market with our Great British Savings Squeeze campaign. We will continue to do so in 2025, including advocating for an expansion in the Growth Guarantee Scheme for SME finance, and an increase to the FSCS limit to help businesses earn better returns on their hard-earned cash.
“The pace of Allica’s growth is testament to the frustration that our customers feel with the status quo, and that Allica is offering something truly exciting and innovative. We are determined to continue championing the needs of SMEs across the country, and hopefully change business banking for good.”
In February, the bank announced a launch into the specialist buy-to-let (BTL) market.
