Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
B-North plans to open a national network of small business-only bank branches across England by the end of 2020.
The start-up bank, which has raised £4.5m in seed funding so far, plans to offer small business loans of anything between £500,000 up to £5m when it opens its doors.
Manchester will be the first B-North branch (or “lending pod”) to open next door, followed by branches opening in Yorkshire, the Midlands and London in stage one. B-North has identified another four locations for stage two.
Founders of the bank – which is currently in the process of applying for a banking licence – believe there is a gap in the market for an SME lender offering loans higher than the almost-instant debt offered by fintechs and peer-to-peer lenders, while offering faster lending decisions than incumbent high-street banks.
Spotcap, for example, offers loans of up to £250,000 to small businesses, priding itself on one-day decisions, while rival Esme offers fully automated SME loans of up to £150,000.
Currently, with traditional banks, requests for loans have to be passed upward to head office and can take between three and four months to be rubber stamped.
B-North’s highly localised model will allow