LendingCrowd Recognised Among Scotland's Fastest Growing Businesses

LendingCrowd has added another major accolade to its growing list of achievements after being named in the inaugural Sunday Times Scotland Fast 50, which celebrates the fastest growing businesses in Scotland.

The Edinburgh-based financial technology (fintech) lender earned its place alongside some of the country's most innovative companies after demonstrating exceptional growth over the past two years. To qualify for the list, businesses were required to achieve average annual revenue growth of at least 20%, before a judging panel selected the final 50 companies.

The recognition follows another milestone for LendingCrowd, which was recently named Scotland's fastest growing technology company in The Sunday Times 100 Tech 2026. Together, the awards underline the company's continued expansion as it strengthens its position in the UK's SME lending market.

Founder and Chief Executive Stuart Lunn welcomed the latest recognition, telling That's Buisiness: "This is a fantastic result for LendingCrowd as we continue on our mission to be the trusted source of affordable finance for SMEs across Britain."

LendingCrowd has built its reputation by providing straightforward, affordable finance to established small and medium-sized enterprises that can often struggle to secure funding through traditional high street banks. By combining modern financial technology with experienced credit decision-making, the company aims to make business borrowing faster, simpler and more accessible.

Since its launch in 2014, the lender has expanded significantly. Originally established as a peer-to-peer lending platform, LendingCrowd completed its transition to institutional funding in 2022. The move enabled the business to increase its lending capacity and support a greater number of growing companies across Britain.

Today, LendingCrowd offers business loans ranging from £75,000 to £500,000, with repayment terms of up to five years. Fixed interest rates and the flexibility to make early repayments or overpayments without penalties are designed to provide businesses with a more predictable and affordable alternative to short-term borrowing.

The company has now delivered more than £600 million in loans to British SMEs, highlighting both the scale of its operations and its long-term commitment to supporting business growth.

Recognition in the Sunday Times Scotland Fast 50 also builds on LendingCrowd's impressive track record in other industry rankings. 

The company has appeared several times in the annual Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50, most recently in 2025 when it was named Scotland's fastest growing technology business. 

It also secured 28th place in Deloitte's EMEA Technology Fast 500, ranking it among the fastest growing technology companies across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

For Britain's SMEs, the continued success of companies such as LendingCrowd demonstrates how fintech innovation is helping to broaden access to business finance while supporting economic growth across the UK.

https://www.lendingcrowd.com

Digital Oversight Becomes the New Standard for Motor Finance Compliance

The pressure on lenders across the UK motor finance sector is continuing to intensify as regulatory expectations rise, particularly around Consumer Duty, governance and intermediary oversight. 

For many firms, traditional compliance processes built around spreadsheets, emails and manual audits are no longer sustainable at scale.

That shift is now driving a major move towards technology-enabled oversight models, with firms increasingly looking for more agile, transparent and defensible ways to manage broker relationships.

One company helping lead that transition is Oodle Car Finance, which has overhauled its intermediary oversight framework using a digital oversight platform developed in partnership with Auxiga and jaam automation.

Six months after implementing the Auxiga Oversight Portal, Oodle says it has transformed what was previously a highly manual, resource-heavy process into a scalable and standardised governance framework capable of evolving alongside regulation.

Before adopting the platform, intermediary oversight relied heavily on account managers handling individual emails, spreadsheets, Word documents and on-site broker visits. While workable, the process became increasingly difficult to maintain efficiently as oversight demands grew more complex.

Gethin Down, Senior Intermediary Oversight Manager at Oodle Car Finance, told That's Business that the growing demands of Consumer Duty made it clear a more agile system was needed.

The Oversight Portal combines regulatory oversight expertise with automation and AI-enabled workflows, giving lenders a more structured approach to broker compliance management while improving audit visibility and operational consistency.

For Oodle, the rollout has already seen almost 70 brokers onboarded through the platform. The business has replaced fragmented processes with digital attestations, structured audit workflows and clearer board-level reporting visibility.

According to Lisa Attenborrow, Intermediary Onboarding Oversight Manager at Oodle Car Finance, the impact on administration time has been significant, removing much of the manual chasing and document checking previously required.

But beyond operational efficiency, the company believes the platform is changing the relationship between lenders and brokers themselves.

Rather than oversight being viewed as a disruptive or punitive process, the digital model is helping create a more collaborative environment built around transparency, accountability and shared governance standards.

That wider industry shift is something Auxiga believes will accelerate rapidly as lenders continue facing mounting compliance obligations alongside growing intermediary networks.

Paul Neal, Managing Director at Auxiga, said intermediary oversight is increasingly evolving into a strategic control framework rather than a standalone compliance exercise.

Future developments for the Oversight Portal are expected to include enhanced management information dashboards, expanded on-site audit functionality and deeper CRM integration capabilities.

For the wider motor finance sector, the direction of travel now appears increasingly clear: scalable, collaborative and technology-enabled governance is quickly becoming essential rather than optional.

https://vehicleassetsolutions.eu

Staff want financial education from employers, but few have access

The vast majority of employees believe that they'd benefit from financial education and guidance from their employers, but only a third have access to it, according to new data released by CloudPay.

The data, sourced by the global employee pay company, revealed 91% of employees believe they or colleagues would benefit from employer-led financial education, support and advice, however, only 34% currently have access to it.

CloudPay’s data also showed that the number of people using Earned Wage Access (EWA) to pay for household bills grew between January and July 2023, highlighting the ongoing challenges that many are facing due to the cost-of-living crisis and other inflationary pressures. Employers are being encouraged to modernise pay and payroll processes in order to better support their staff in light of the challenges many are facing in the current economic climate.

Judith Lamb, who is VP of Global HR at CloudPay, said: "There's no secret many people are facing significant difficulties managing their finances, especially in the challenging conditions we’re currently experiencing. 

"But it’s also clear staff are seeking out additional financial education from their employers to help them navigate this tough period. There’s very little resources for education around money management in the UK school system and the onus is falling on employers to provide information that can help professionals to tackle conditions that they have never faced before.”

She went on to say: “Providing this sort of education isn’t only just the right thing to do, it can also prevent staff attrition levels from increasing as employees move to source better paid jobs.

"Few organisations can afford to continue offering higher salaries at present, but providing education around how employees can better manage their available resources can help salaries go further. The onus is on employers to lead this charge as there’s currently a major gap in the market for this sort of expertise."

She concluded: "Being able to access earned wages as and when they are needed can obviously provide a huge helping hand, however, there’s clearly a demand for greater degrees of financial education on top of this.”

https://www.cloudpay.com

(Image courtesy of Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)

Corporate responsibility. Is it part of your firm's DNA? Provident Personal Credit 'Good Neighbour' programme reaches milestone

Provident Personal Credit's 'Good Neighbour' programme reached a milestone at the end of last year, with the firm having provided support to over 500 organisations over the past three years, highlighting their commitment to corporate responsibility.

In addition, 'Good Neighbour' has provided backing and support to in excess of 30 three year projects, with over 20,000 people benefitting from project and volunteering support.

Peter Crook, CEO at Provident Financial, said: "When asked, as I often am, about how we manage our Corporate Responsibility programme, I say it's part of our DNA. It's a fundamental part of our business strategy and plays a key role in our long-term success."

Established in 2009, Good Neighbour is Provident Financial’s flagship community programme. It helps fulfil Provident's ambition to be the UK's leading community-based lender by creating opportunities for people to work side by side with its community partners. 'Good Neighbour' has three component strands:

- Supporting local projects: working in partnership with local community organisations, the 'Good Neighbour' programme delivers projects which are tailored to meet the needs of local residents. Most projects run over a three-year period, with opportunities available to deliver smaller, one-off projects too.

- Employee volunteering: 'Good Neighbour' supports employees participating in company-led volunteering projects, including one-to-one mentoring projects, the Provident Reading Scheme and team challenges.

- Employee matched giving: Provident wants to help its employees to support the causes they care about the most. Employees taking part in fundraising activities or volunteering in their local communities can apply for matched giving and volunteering grants to make their contribution go even further. Over 1,750 employees have been involved so far and community partners have reported more people are now accessing their services.

Each community partner is selected carefully to ensure that every project is delivered to a high standard and provides real benefits for the community. Provident wants to work with a wide range of organisations, including youth clubs, community groups and schools, so that it can reach people of all ages, from toddlers to pensioners, and address their specific needs.

FACTFILE:
Provident Personal Credit is a  financial services company operating in the non-standard loans market. It specialises in offering cash loans of small amounts, typically from £50 - £500 over terms from 14 weeks up to 106 weeks. Its short term loans are unsecured and all of the costs are included up front which means that customers will never be charged for a missed or late payment. When assessing loan applications, Provident Personal Credit look at the applicants ability to repay now rather than their payment history.

This means that people could still be accepted for a loan even if they think they may have bad credit.

Repayments are collected by agents who visit their customers' homes on a weekly basis. The company has a good reputation with 95% of their customers saying that they are satisfied with their service.

What's more, it is a great alternative to payday loans with small and manageable weekly repayments.

Provident Personal Credit Ltd is a part of the Provident Financial Group. It is licensed by the Office of Fair Trading.

(EDITOR: Whilst most businesses are not in a position to offer the levels of support that Provident Personal Credit can offer, any firm will be able to provide some sort of help, even if it means just buying a copy of The big Issue every time it is published, or having a stall at local village fêtes, or the like.)

Supreme Finance increases lending budget for commercial loans

A successful bridging finance company, Supreme Finance has announced that it will be extending their lending limit to £5 million per borrower. This increases the amount of opportunities available for the commercial borrower drastically. 

 

The specialist bridging lender has secured a separate funding line with Blue water Corporation which offers an initial facility of £50 million pounds which will grow over the course of the next 12 months to £100M.

As bridging loans become increasingly popular in this modern age of recession, Supreme are once again leading the way for others to follow suit. Unlike brokers, Supreme Finance only lend money which is their own, making them one of the largest and reputable principal lenders in the nation.

The loans available for commercial borrowers and developers are ideal for an individual or company whom wishes to purchase property to sell or rent out at an auction. Such terms of auction finance involve a staggering 24 hour decision time, with the money being transferred at 48 hours.

Other benefits of attaining property finance from Supreme Finance are that this process is a very quick and easy one. They give people and companies a like the potential to become cash buyers with the financial backing and support necessary.

This becomes the ideal short-term solution to funding projects such as refurbishments and enhancements and provides borrowers with quick decisions and timely payments. As this is much faster than mortgage lenders, Supreme Finance are demonstrating why obtaining a bridging loan is a much more viable option for many.

The increased lending limit gives property developers an extended amount of commercial finance, (helping them to secure large property portfolio’s) aiding them in the implementation of large scale housing, such as a block of flats or apartments.

The standard of excellence that is set by Supreme Finance is renowned across the UK and parts of Europe. This organisation of expert investors has been assisting the build and restoration of many homes, in Great Britain and have been driven towards a goal of changing the financial and property market to be adaptable around this modern day. Few principle lenders have as much understanding with their clients as Supreme Finance, which is why they are continuously seeking to create innovative methods of aiding developments and the financial budget.

The darkened days of the recession has forced bankers to refuse the financial aid that so many companies need, and this has created a flux in the development market. Without Supreme Finance, many enhancement projects would become moribund and dwindle until the idea is merely a dream. Fortunately, Supreme has been established and are currently leading the way for other lenders to follow suit. The increasingly high lending limit has brought with it a surge of development projects and hope for people and companies that they may not otherwise have had.

Supreme Finance Ltd
58 Swan Street
Manchester,
M4 5JU
t: +44 (0) 161 834 2288
 f: +44 (0) 161 832 6067
e: enquiries@supreme-finance.com|
www.supreme-finance.com

Cost & credit problems forcing SMEs to ‘raid the family silver’

Rising business costs are adversely impacting the private lives and personal finances of many SME owners, so says a new study by Make It Cheaper and the Centre for Economic and Business Research (Cebr).

The research reveals nearly half of small businesses (47%) have had no choice but to inject additional cash into their company from personal sources within the last year.

Jonathan Elliott, MD of Make It Cheaper, csays: “The effects of squeezed margins and cost increases are not only threatening businesses, but the financial security of their owners and families.”

The study is based on independent research among owners and MDs of 750 UK small businesses with twenty employees or fewer, commissioned by business saving advisor Make It Cheaper and supported by macroeconomic modeling by Cebr.

SMEs take desperate measures

The vast majority (89%) of small businesses currently view the UK as an ‘unbearably expensive’ place to do business and many are finding they can only survive by supplementing the company with personal finances.

Nearly one third of small businesses (27%) have found it necessary to turn to family or friends for a loan to cover spiralling costs while a quarter (26%) have taken out a personal overdraft, bank loan (22%) or credit card (25%) for cash injections.

Some small business owners have been pushed into even more extreme measures, with 13% going so far as re-mortgaging their homes.

According to the Make It Cheaper research, the average amount raised from all personal channels stands at a little over £20,400 per business. But it points out that this figure is much higher in some sectors, like as dental and medical surgeries, where borrowing averages at £120,000.

Cebr and Make It Cheaper have modelled an inflation tracker for small business overheads – the Business Cost Index. The Index exposes the areas which will exert the most financial pressure on SMEs this year, including transport costs, which are expected to rise 20.5%, energy bills, forecast to grow 8.5% and insurance premiums, set to rise 7.1% in 2011.

Jonathan Elliott, the MD of Make It Cheaper points out: “It is extremely concerning that small business owners have been compelled to take the drastic step of placing their own financial stability in jeopardy to keep the company afloat.

“However, many small businesses feel they have no alternative, as costs rise and traditional lines of credit remain cut off. The situation is particularly pronounced in sectors like hospitality, where businesses are red flagged as far as banks are concerned. It is no surprise so many are turning to personal loans and credit cards to survive.

“These businesses are having to box clever with their borrowing, but for an SME, saving £1 is like making £1 without having to take £10 in turnover first. So it’s time to think about switching suppliers and cutting costs.”

For further information, advice and free tools to help manage overheads and tightening credit from Make It Cheaper, please go to http://www.businessfit.makeitcheaper.com/family-silver.