UK’s Allica Bank, the self-described full-service digital banking platform that is dedicated to established small and medium-sized enterprises, claims it has delivered its strongest financial performance to date. This past year, the bank achieved its third straight year of profitability while significantly expanding its customer base and deepening ties with business clients.
Allica Bank indicated that the results underscore steady momentum for now. Underlying profit before tax climbed 34 per cent to £43.7 million, despite £30 million invested in technology upgrades and market expansion.
Gross profit after accounting for risk rose 32 per cent to £145.3 million, and total revenue grew 27 per cent to £371.3 million.
Lending portfolios expanded 23 per cent to £3.7 billion across every major product line, while customer deposits increased 29 per cent to £5.7 billion.
Customer numbers are said to have surged as well. The count of active users of the bank’s flagship Business Reward Account more than doubled, rising 133 per cent to over 14,000.
This growth pushed Allica’s share of the established SME segment above 6 per cent, positioning the lender firmly on track to capture 10 per cent of the UK market by 2028.
Brand recognition among target businesses also doubled to 16 per cent over the past year.
New lending topped £1.3 billion for the second year running.
Commercial mortgages grew 35 per cent to £2.4 billion, asset finance rose 19 per cent to £507 million, growth finance jumped 127 per cent to £171 million, and bridging finance advanced 85 per cent to £121 million.
The bank also introduced a pioneering “Bridge-to-Term” facility, creating seamless links between short-term and long-term property lending.
Technology lies at the center of these gains. Allica has transformed its proprietary platform into a sophisticated AI-powered system designed to speed up lending decisions, enhance relationship-manager insights, and cut costs.
Engineers are now deploying AI agents built on the bank’s own data architecture—an approach the lender believes will set a new global standard for complex SME credit.
Internal metrics show AI adoption across teams climbing from roughly 50 per cent to more than 80 per cent, with software development releases exceeding 3,700 and engineering capabilities ranked in the top tenth of industry benchmarks.
Strategic moves further strengthened the bank’s position. It acquired Kriya, a specialist in embedded SME credit and payments, aiming to unlock an additional £1 billion in working capital by 2028.
The network of relationship managers nearly tripled to 60, with new offices in Bristol, Cambridgeshire, and Scotland.
Chief Executive Richard Davies highlighted the significance of the results.
He noted that while headline profits rose sharply amid heavy investment, the deeper story involves building a technology foundation that legacy banks cannot easily replicate.
With AI reshaping finance, Allica’s data systems and unified platform give it a lasting edge in serving a sector that accounts for a third of the UK economy but remains poorly served. The performance is said to have helped secure a $155 million Series D funding round in February 2026, fueling UK based growth, AI development, and initial international plans.
