Aldermore increases funding to SMEs by 21%

ALDERMORE, the new British bank, has increased the funding being provided to small businesses by 21% in the last quarter (Q2 2010) to £302m.
 
The bank, which has a large operation in Birmingham, also increased deposits from savers by 12% to £304m during the same quarter.
 
Aldermore was the first of the new wave of post credit crunch banks to be launched in the UK. Its lending activity is focused on small and medium sized businesses.
 
Phillip Monks, Aldermore chief executive, said: “It is a great result and we really seem to be building a lot of momentum. It is an especially strong performance as we have been careful to ensure that we are lending only to credit-worthy and robust SMEs.
 
“We have also studiously avoided taking on more in deposits than we can sensibly put to work.
 
“Even with those restraints we are growing at the kind of pace that we feel really vindicates our proposition which is to provide savers and borrowers with straightforward, transparent and fairly priced products.”
 
The bank said much of its success in attracting new business, both from SMEs looking for funding and from savers looking for a competitive interest rate, had been driven by word of mouth.

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Mr Monks said this suggested there was a major need by SMEs for financing which was not being met.

“I have worked in banking for a long time and although we know we are delivering great growth now we are going to make sure we don’t get complacent. Banks always seem to make the mistake of taking their customers for granted,” he said.

Aldermore said the key to its savings strategy was to offer consistently competitive rates.

In addition to Birmingham, Aldermore now has eight offices across the UK – Glasgow, Manchester, Cheshire (Wilmslow), West Yorkshire (Cleckheaton), Peterborough, Reading, Oxford (Abingdon) and Maidstone.
 
The bank acquired Aldermore Invoice Finance (then known as Absolute Invoice Finance) in November 2009.