What are the best alternatives to Allica Bank?

Why consider alternatives to Allica Bank?

Allica Bank has held a full UK banking licence since 2019 and was built for established SMEs, offering unsecured business loans of £25,001 to £150,000, commercial mortgages up to £10,000,000 on owner-occupied property and £15,000,000 on investment property, and a business bank account alongside. Loan decisions are typically given no later than the next working day. There are no early repayment penalties on the unsecured loans. It is a genuinely strong proposition for the businesses that qualify.

The problem is how many businesses do not qualify, and the reasons are unusually concrete.

Three years of filed accounts is required for an unsecured business loan, and two full years of financial accounts for a commercial mortgage. That is stricter than every mainstream alternative lender and stricter than most specialist banks.

£25,001 is the floor on unsecured lending. If you need £15,000 for working capital, Allica has no product for you at all.

At least 150% debt service cover must be demonstrated. A business with real turnover but thin margins can pass every other test and fail this one.

Pricing adds up. Unsecured loans run at 9.90% to 13.75% per annum with a 3% arrangement fee on top, and commercial mortgage rates are not published at all, so you cannot benchmark before applying.

Allica also lends only to limited companies and LLPs registered in England, Scotland or Wales, so sole traders and partnerships are outside its criteria entirely.

The seven lenders below each relieve one of those constraints.

Top Allica Bank alternatives

1. Funding Circle, best if you cannot produce three years of accounts

This is the direct answer to Allica’s strictest rule. Funding Circle asks for 1 year of trading and £50,000 of annual turnover, and lends from £10,000, which is well below Allica’s £25,001 floor. Rates are fixed for the term at 6.9% to 36% per annum, so the low end sits several points under Allica’s 9.90% starting point, and terms run from 6 months to 6 years against Allica’s 1 to 5 years on unsecured loans. There is no early repayment charge.

Rates and amounts: 6.9% to 36% per annum, fixed for the term; £10,000 to £500,000; 6 months to 6 years. Its representative example is £50,000 over 36 months repaying £58,750.

Eligibility: 1 year trading; £50,000 annual turnover; no unsatisfied CCJs.

Regulatory status: Funding Circle Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference number 722513.

Beats Allica on: trading history, minimum loan size and rate floor. A completion fee of 0.5% to 5% is deducted upfront, and recent CCJs are likely to end the application.

2. Aldermore Bank, best for product breadth and a 12 month trading rule

Aldermore is the closest structural comparison to Allica, a specialist bank serving established SMEs, but with a far shorter runway requirement and a much wider range. It asks for 12 months of trading rather than three years of accounts, lends from £2,000, and covers asset finance and invoice finance alongside business loans and commercial mortgages, neither of which Allica offers. Same-day decisions are available on asset finance up to £250,000.

Rates and amounts: 4.5% to 20% per annum depending on product, asset type and credit profile, with a representative APR of 9.3%; £2,000 to £10,000,000. Its representative example is £75,000 over 48 months repaying £89,000.

Eligibility: 12 months trading for most products; £100,000 turnover for most products, with lower thresholds on some asset finance.

Regulatory status: Aldermore Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority, firm reference number 204503.

Beats Allica on: trading history, minimum ticket and product range. Allica’s commercial mortgage ceiling of £15,000,000 remains higher than Aldermore’s £10,000,000.

3. Shawbrook Bank, best when you want a published commercial mortgage rate

Allica does not publish commercial mortgage pricing at all. Shawbrook does, from 5.5% per annum, and issues indicative terms within 24 hours, so you can size a deal before committing to an application. It also requires no minimum turnover on property finance and no trading history for property-backed bridging, which removes both of the tests Allica applies most rigidly. Its ceiling is £25,000,000.

Rates and amounts: commercial mortgages from 5.5% per annum, bridging 0.55% to 1.25% per month; £50,000 to £25,000,000.

Eligibility: 12 months trading preferred, none required for property-backed bridging; no turnover minimum for property finance, £200,000 or more for unsecured business loans.

Regulatory status: Shawbrook Bank Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority, firm reference number 204574.

Beats Allica on: published property pricing, indicative terms within 24 hours and no turnover test on secured lending. Shawbrook’s unsecured business lending requires £200,000 or more of turnover, so it is not the softer option across the board.

4. LendingCrowd, best for a lower rate at 2 years of trading

LendingCrowd sits precisely in the gap Allica leaves. It requires 24 months of trading rather than three years of accounts, lends £25,000 to £500,000, and prices at 6% to 18% per annum, so its floor is almost 4 percentage points below Allica’s 9.90%. It is Edinburgh-based with a relationship-led approach and dedicated loan managers, which suits businesses whose figures benefit from explanation.

Rates and amounts: 6% to 18% per annum; £25,000 to £500,000. Its representative example is £50,000 over 24 months repaying £55,700.

Eligibility: 24 months trading; £100,000 turnover; the business must be profitable or clearly on a profitable trajectory.

Regulatory status: Edinburgh Alternative Finance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference number 670991.

Beats Allica on: rate floor and trading history. Decisions take 5 to 7 working days against Allica’s next working day, and because it is a peer-to-peer platform, funding speed also depends on investor demand.

5. Recognise Bank, best for property-secured lending at 2 years

Recognise is a challenger bank that took its full licence in 2021 and does the secured half of what Allica does, at a shorter trading requirement. It needs 2 years of trading rather than three years of accounts, lends £250,000 to £10,000,000, and publishes an actual commercial mortgage variable rate where Allica publishes nothing. Initial contact is targeted within 24 hours and indicative terms within 48 hours. It accepts a wide range of borrower types including sole traders, partnerships, LLPs, limited companies, PLCs, trusts and SIPPs, where Allica lends only to limited companies and LLPs.

Rates and amounts: business bridging from 0.79% per month on residential security or 0.84% per month on commercial security; commercial mortgage Standard Variable Rate currently 9.50%, with fixed rates individually assessed and not published; £250,000 to £10,000,000.

Eligibility: 2 or more years trading; minimum turnover not published and assessed individually.

Regulatory status: Recognise Bank Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the PRA under firm reference number 849404. Recognise Bank’s own FAQs describe its business lending as unregulated lending products, so these loans sit outside FCA consumer credit conduct protections.

Beats Allica on: eligible borrower types and a published commercial mortgage rate. The £250,000 minimum is ten times Allica’s unsecured floor, so this only works for substantial secured deals.

6. OakNorth Bank, best for bespoke facilities above £1 million

OakNorth removes the accounts rule and replaces it with individual underwriting. It publishes no fixed minimum trading history and no minimum turnover, assessing trading history as one factor among several case by case, and it funds property development, acquisition finance, debt finance, revolving credit facilities and fund finance from £1,000,000 upward. It states it can fund partners within weeks rather than months, and in some cases within days.

Rates and amounts: no standard rate range is published; pricing is individually assessed per deal on trading history, turnover, profitability and EBITDA; from £1,000,000, with no published maximum.

Eligibility: no fixed minimum published for either trading history or turnover.

Regulatory status: OakNorth Bank plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority, Financial Services Register number 629564.

Beats Allica on: the absence of a fixed accounts requirement and the range of deal types it will fund. The £1,000,000 floor puts it out of reach for anyone comparing it with Allica’s £25,001 unsecured product.

7. ThinCats, best for acquisitions, buyouts and employee ownership deals

ThinCats funds the transactions Allica does not: mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts, employee ownership trust transitions, buy-and-build strategies and private-equity-backed growth. It lends £1,000,000 to £30,000,000 over terms of up to 7 years, using regional business development managers and human underwriting rather than an automated decision, and it publishes no fixed minimum years of trading.

Rates and amounts: no headline interest rates are published; each loan is priced individually on cashflow, security and risk profile and quoted directly to the applicant; £1,000,000 to £30,000,000; terms up to 7 years.

Eligibility: no fixed minimum years published. ThinCats states its target borrowers typically have between £0.5 million and £40 million in gross assets and employ 10 to 250 people.

Regulatory status: ThinCats’ parent company, Thincats Group Limited, states in its audited FY2024 Annual Report and Financial Statements that the Group is not a bank nor subject to PRA or FCA supervision. ThinCats lends to limited companies, which is typically unregulated business lending in the UK. ThinCats was acquired by Shawbrook Group in 2025; on that primary source, the acquisition does not itself place ThinCats’ own lending under FCA or PRA supervision.

Beats Allica on: transaction types and term length. It publishes no rates and no turnaround time, so you cannot benchmark cost or speed before speaking to the team.

Comparison table

How to choose

Choose Funding Circle if you have between one and three years of trading and Allica has told you to come back when the third set of accounts is filed.

Choose Aldermore if you want a bank with a 12 month rule and need asset finance or invoice finance that Allica does not provide.

Choose Shawbrook if the deal is property-secured and you want to see a published rate before you apply.

Choose LendingCrowd if you have 2 years of profitable accounts and want a rate that starts at 6% rather than 9.90%.

Choose Recognise Bank if you are a sole trader, partnership, trust or SIPP that Allica cannot lend to, and the deal is property-secured above £250,000.

Choose OakNorth if you need £1,000,000 or more and want an underwriter to look at the business rather than the number of accounting periods.

Choose ThinCats if you are funding an acquisition, a buyout or an employee ownership transition rather than general growth.

One thing worth doing before you accept any of these. Allica charges a flat 3% arrangement fee on unsecured loans, and most of the alternatives here either charge a variable completion fee or do not publish one at all. Ask every lender for the total amount repayable including all fees, over the exact term you intend to borrow for, and compare those figures rather than the advertised rates.