Folk2Folk exceeds half a billion in lending to regional small businesses

By Nicky Godding

21 January 2022

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Folk2Folk, a lender for regional businesses, has passed £500 million in lending with a record level of £108 million lent during 2021, almost double that of the previous year.

This represents a substantial 80 per cent increase in the total value of completed loans by the regional lender when compared to 2020.

As a result of this funding, hundreds of business-owners across regional England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been enabled to fulfil their business aspirations and contribute to the health and growth of their local and regional economies. A variety of sectors have benefitted including property development, agricultural diversification, alternative energy, as well as leisure and tourism business-owners seeking to capitalise on current and emerging opportunities by investing in their business.

Folk2Folk’s largest single loan of 2021 was for £12 million, double the size of the company’s largest loan of 2020. The five largest loans were delivered into Devon, Ayrshire in Scotland, Dorset, Kent and East Sussex respectively.

As well as regional businesses, retail investors are also beneficiaries of increased lending levels. FOLK2FOLK remains one of the few marketplace platforms still open to retail investors. Investors typically receive 6.5 per cent p.a interest which is paid monthly and secured against land/property. Of the £108m invested into loans during 2021, 20 per cent was invested via FOLK2FOLK’s Innovative Finance ISA.

Roy Warren Folk2Folk Managing Director said: “An 80 per cent uplift in the total value of completed loans in just one year is significant by anyone’s measure and, coupled with our consistent and growing profitability, signifies a very exciting future for FOLK2FOLK. We are proud to have maintained our zero capital losses record through this period of growth and maintained a controlled default rate. However, our grip remains firmly on the tiller with regards to our internal credit processes and portfolio management.

“We are inspired every day by the energy and resilience we see in the business-owners we help. Our mission is, and always has been, to help create and sustain financially successful rural and regional communities. We deeply believe that the health of these local economies is essential for the UK’s post-Brexit, post-pandemic recovery and that is why we are unwavering in our determination to channel funding into new and existing businesses in these areas.”

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.