The UK business finance market in 2026

UK SMEs drew over £60 billion in non-bank business finance in 2025 across asset finance, invoice finance, commercial property lending and merchant cash advance. With mainstream bank lending to small business declining in real terms over the past decade, specialist intermediaries have become the primary route to capital for most growing UK businesses.

Unlike consumer lending, business finance is largely unregulated at the borrower level (B2B contracts are exempt from much of the Consumer Credit Act). This increases — rather than decreases — the value of working with an intermediary that operates transparently.

What defines a firm on The Desk

A business finance broker on The Desk is a UK-incorporated firm whose Companies House status, trading history and — where the firm conducts any regulated activity — FCA authorisation have been independently confirmed. We verify declared professional body memberships including NACFB and FIBA where applicable.

Profiling is editorial. We report. We do not regulate.

Core disciplines we cover

• Asset finance — hire purchase, finance lease, operating lease, refinance, sale and leaseback
• Invoice finance — factoring, invoice discounting, confidential and disclosed, single invoice
• Commercial mortgages — owner-occupier, investment, semi-commercial, trading businesses
• Bridging finance — residential, commercial, auction, refurbishment, chain-break
• Business loans — unsecured, government-backed, revenue-based finance, working capital

In business finance, the broker's real skill is knowing which lender will say yes to your specific situation — and structuring the application so they do. Access alone is not enough.