Bought, not broken: a motor-finance bill is redrawing who owns SME credit

UK B2B credit and lending news digest, 16–22 August 2026

Summary

New in the week to 22 August: two UK SME lenders moved toward new ownership, and neither move came from their credit books. On 17 August Time Finance agreed a ~£55.1m takeover by Bentley Park (UK) Limited at a 12.6% premium to its 14 August close. On 20 August Sky News reported that CVC Capital Partners has joined the auction for Aldermore, with Lloyds Banking Group also expected to bid ahead of a September deadline, and bidders potentially able to split the SME bank from its MotoNovo motor-finance arm. Aldermore is for sale because its parent FirstRand has calculated roughly £750m of liability under the FCA’s proposed motor-finance redress scheme. A consumer-conduct bill is now an ownership event in business lending.

Two other threads run underneath it.

The real economy those buyers are buying into is losing volume, not price. The Builders Merchants Federation and the Construction Products Association wrote jointly to the Housing Secretary on 19 August warning that weak demand risks hollowing out supply-chain capacity — “the industry does not have a supply problem, it has a demand and confidence problem.” The BMBI numbers behind that letter show merchant like-for-like value essentially flat at −0.1% year on year while like-for-like volumes fell 5.8%. Construction recorded 3,841 insolvencies in the twelve months to June, 17% of all cases and the highest of any sector.

The labour and pricing backdrop turned less forgiving in the same days. CPI rose to 2.9% in July (from 2.6%), the first increase in the annual rate since March, driven by the energy cap. Vacancies fell to 707,000, the lowest outside the pandemic since late 2014, and wholesale and retail shed 75,000 payrolled employees over the year — the largest fall of any sector.

The consequence of the combination: the specialist end of UK SME lending is being repriced and reassembled by buyers on the strength of loan books whose underlying trade is contracting in volume while holding steady in value. A book that looks stable in pounds can be thinning in transactions, and a due-diligence snapshot taken in August will not show that on its own.

1. Key developments

• Time Finance agreed a ~£55.1m takeover by Bentley Park (UK) Limited on 17 August, a 12.6% premium to the 14 August close of 52.5p; the shares rose about 10.5% on the announcement. A profitable, growing SME lender taken private, not a distressed exit.
• CVC Capital Partners entered the Aldermore auction (reported 20 August), joining Lloyds Banking Group as an expected bidder ahead of a September deadline. Metro Bank is now seen as unlikely to bid. Advisers may allow bidders to split Aldermore’s banking business from MotoNovo. FirstRand bought Aldermore for £1.1bn in 2017.
• Company insolvencies in England and Wales rose 5% month on month to 1,931 in July (18 August, Insolvency Service), including 288 compulsory liquidations, but remained 5% below July 2025. Construction accounted for 343 of them, up 3% on both June and July 2025.
• The BMF and CPA escalated to government on 19 August, warning the Housing Secretary that prolonged weak demand could trigger investment and recruitment freezes and capacity reduction that is hard to restore. The CPA’s summer forecast has total construction output falling 3.3% in 2026 and private housing output down 10%.
• CPI rose to 2.9% in July (19 August, ONS), the first increase in the annual rate since March 2026, driven by a 14.7% annual rise in gas prices after the Ofgem cap moved to £1,862. Core CPI was unchanged at 2.6%.
• Three independent builders’ merchants — Bradfords, Lords and JT Atkinson — formed a collaborative procurement “Alliance” (18 August), having left the h&b and FORTIS buying groups. Margin defence rather than distress, but it is a response to the same demand picture.
• Regency Factors Limited is confirmed in administration on the Companies House register, with FRP Advisory appointed and the registered office moved to FRP’s London address. The sister entity Regency Factors Invoice Finance Limited is still shown as active. This closes a signal that had been single-source and unverified for several editions.

2. Market signals

Credit quality and risk

• Company insolvencies rose month on month but continued to fall year on year. 1,931 in July against 1,847 in June and 2,031 in July 2025. That is a fourth month in which the annual comparison has stayed negative while the monthly series stayed choppy — the level is elevated, the trend is not deteriorating. Scotland’s 83 business insolvencies were 28% below July 2025.
• The sector composition is where the risk sits, not the headline. Construction recorded 3,841 insolvencies in the twelve months to June, 17% of all cases and the largest share of any industry. Construction PMI for July was 44.7 — a slower contraction, not a recovery.
• Regional insolvency activity diverged for the first time in several quarters. R3’s Q2 Business Health Reports, published across 19–20 August, show national insolvency-related activity down 6% year on year to 6,854 cases, with the South East down 12% and the West Midlands down 12% — but the North East up 5%. New company registrations fell 6% nationally to 184,873, and by 9% in the North East. Fewer new companies forming and rising insolvency activity in the same region is the combination worth watching.
• Personal insolvencies were flat month on month at 11,926 but 14% above July 2025. Relevant to B2B credit only as propagation: sole traders and directors of small trading companies sit inside that number.

Credit supply and lending conditions

• Pricing moved in both directions at the specialist end, mostly downward. Atom bank cut Prime mortgage rates by 0.20pp and Near Prime by 0.10pp on 14 August; Molo Finance cut buy-to-let rates 0.12% on 13 August; ModaMortgages cut up to 0.10% on its limited-edition five-year fixes on 14 August. Principality moved the other way, raising product-transfer rates 0.1pp on 19 August.
• Credit boxes widened at the margin rather than prices falling further. CHL Mortgages expanded its bridging proposition on 21 August to borrowers with CCJs, defaults and arrears and introduced AVMs; Landbay extended criteria to first-time landlords with no residential property on 20 August; Foundation streamlined its residential credit criteria to three tiers on 20 August and now considers unsatisfied CCJs and defaults registered more than six months ago, with LTI stretched to 5.99x for higher-income applicants on 21 August. Widening criteria while holding price is a competitive response, and it moves risk into acceptance rather than pricing.
• No new FLA monthly statistics landed. The Finance & Leasing Association’s asset, consumer and motor finance pages still carry May 2026 data published on 17 July. On a normal six-week cycle June data would have been out by mid-August. Treat the absence as a data gap rather than as evidence about June volumes.
• Bank Rate held at 3.75%, unchanged since the 30 July decision, with the next MPC vote on 17 September. Allianz Trade’s published Q3 UK view expects the Bank to move to 4.0%.

3. Where risk is building

• Trade-account providers in construction materials are losing transactions while holding revenue. The BMBI reading behind the BMF and CPA letter shows like-for-like merchant value at −0.1% year on year and like-for-like volumes at −5.8%; on an unadjusted basis, with one fewer trading day, value fell 5.1%, volumes fell 10.5% and prices rose 6.1%. For a merchant extending trade accounts, that combination is the awkward one: the receivables book does not shrink, so exposure per customer holds, while the underlying trading activity that services those accounts thins. Ledger size is a poor proxy for ledger quality when price is doing the work.
• Construction remains the single largest source of corporate failure and is not improving. 343 insolvencies in July, up 3% on both the prior month and the prior year, against a national figure that fell 5% year on year. Over twelve months to June, construction was 17% of all cases. Suppliers on 45- to 60-day terms into that sector are carrying the concentration whether or not they have priced for it.
• Wholesale and retail is shedding employment faster than any other sector. Payrolled employees in wholesale and retail fell 75,000 over the year to July, the largest sector decline in the ONS data published on 18 August, against a total payrolled fall of 94,000. Headcount reduction of that scale in a distribution-heavy sector usually shows up in supplier payment behaviour before it shows up in insolvency statistics.
• Energy costs re-entered the cost base as a live pressure. ONS Business Insights published on 20 August found 61% of businesses expressing concern about energy prices in early August, up four points on late July, and 25% considering price rises because of energy costs, up eight points year on year. Gas prices were up 14.7% year on year in the July CPI print. Input-cost pressure that firms intend to pass on is a leading indicator of disputed invoices and stretched terms further down the chain.

4. Friction signals and where credit is failing

• An invoice financier’s administration is now confirmed on the public register. Regency Factors Limited is shown in administration at Companies House, with FRP Advisory appointed and the registered office moved to FRP’s Cannon Street address. The related Regency Factors Invoice Finance Limited entity is still shown as active, so the group position is not uniform. Receivables-backed lenders failing is a different signal from balance-sheet lenders failing: the collateral is the customer’s customers.
• No named public tightening surfaced in the flow we track during the week, but constraint remains selective. The visible moves were criteria widening at the specialist and bridging end rather than withdrawal. The constraint shows instead in what did not happen: no UK securitisation priced in the flow we track, no FLA monthly release, and no NACFB broker-channel data since 29 July. Three consecutive weeks without broker rejection or placement data is itself a gap in the evidence base credit teams rely on.
• The Aldermore sale is a supply event dressed as an M&A story. A £1.1bn SME bank is changing hands because of a consumer motor-finance liability calculated at roughly £750m, with the possibility that the banking business and MotoNovo are sold to different owners. Whoever wins, SME lending appetite at that franchise is being set by an ownership process for the next several months rather than by credit conditions. Borrowers and brokers relying on that panel should expect decision latency before they see any change in criteria.
• Data lag is now a friction of its own. The FLA gap, the NACFB silence and the stale payment-practices filings visible in the Build UK table (one major merchant’s most recent statutory submission dates from March) mean the operator view of the market is running on older evidence than usual heading into September.

5. Who is doing what

Bank behaviour layer and the big four

• Lloyds Banking Group — signal in the window. Beyond the reported Aldermore interest on 20 August, Lloyds published research on 18 August finding that more than half of UK businesses say AI has created new jobs, and announced a £100m future-skills investment on 20 August. Read alongside the 12 August appointment of Fiamma Morton as MD for SME banking, the group is visibly rebuilding its SME franchise story ahead of a possible acquisition.
• Barclays — signal in the window. Barclays appointed Mike Joo and Adeel Khan as co-CEOs of Barclays Investment Bank on 17 August. Structural rather than a credit-appetite signal, but it is the second senior leadership change at the group in a quarter.
• NatWest Group — signal in the window. NatWest published a £13.5m funding deal for Coventry engineering firm NCMT on 18 August and research on 20 August showing the UK business base growing on technology start-up formation. That research reads against the R3 registration data, which shows national new company registrations down 6% year on year — the two are measuring different populations and both are worth holding.
• HSBC UK — no new signal in the window; the prior stance holds. Interim results published 4 August, with no lending-policy, SME or motor-finance update since. Three of four now carrying visible activity while the fourth stays quiet is a change from the pattern of the prior fortnight.

Lenders tightening

No named public tightening surfaced in the flow we track during the week. The nearest to a tightening signal was Principality’s 0.1pp product-transfer increase on 19 August, which is repricing rather than restriction. At the specialist end, margin compression is visible in the analyst reaction to a listed challenger’s half-year net interest margin — 223bps against 230bps — which is the kind of pressure that usually precedes selectivity rather than announced pullback.

Lenders expanding

• Castle Trust Bank widened access to light-refurbishment bridging on 19 August, following a first tranche of enhancements on 13 August that reduced refurbishment pricing and added a valuation-fee refund of up to £750.
• Fleet Mortgages reintroduced zero-fee and fixed-fee five-year HMO and MUFB products up to 75% LTV on 19 August.
• Landbay opened its criteria to first-time landlords without existing residential property on 20 August.
• CHL Mortgages expanded its bridging proposition to adverse-credit borrowers on 21 August, from 0.7% per month, £100k to £10m, up to 75% LTV.
• Glenhawk completed a £5.3m twelve-month bridging loan at 75% LTV and 0.88% per month on 18 August, refinancing a 66-room Coventry HMO portfolio into a new SPV.
• Hope Capital appointed Aberdein Considine and Carters on 17 August to extend dual legal representation into Scotland, following enhancements to its Dual+ product.
• District & County Investments funded a £390,000 below-market-value bridging acquisition at 100% of purchase price and 67% of market value in under three working days, published 21 August.
• Octopus Real Estate — Octopus Capital’s affordable housing fund exchanged contracts on a 150-home scheme at Landkey, North Devon on 21 August, its first whole-site acquisition and first Homes England-backed deal.
• The British Business Bank increased its facility with Performance Finance Limited to up to £30m on 20 August, from an original £15m committed in April 2024, under the Investment Programme. Performance Finance lends to medical, dental, veterinary, legal and accountancy practices — professional-services trade credit, and one of the few places state-backed capacity moved during the week.

6. Capital and funding

• Bank Rate held at 3.75%, unchanged since 30 July; next MPC decision 17 September. The Bank published two working papers and its weekly report during the window but no credit-conditions or lending-specific release, and no speeches.
• Wholesale funding printed tight where it printed at all. LHV Group issued €200m of four-year senior unsecured bonds on 19 August at what it described as the lowest spread it has paid. The following day, on 22 August, the UK branch business of LHV Pank formally transferred into LHV Bank, the UK-licensed entity, completing a structure begun with its May 2026 banking licence. A newly licensed UK bank funding itself at its tightest-ever spread is a useful read on where investor appetite sits for small, clean, SME-facing balance sheets.
• Private and institutional capital continued to reach non-bank lenders through facilities rather than equity. Mercia Asset Management agreed £38m of new term and revolving facilities with Metro Bank on 18 August. The British Business Bank doubled its Performance Finance commitment. No UK securitisation priced in the flow we track — the August lull, and a claim about tracked flow only.
• Equity valuation at the specialist end is being set by buyers, not by markets. Time Finance was taken out at a 12.6% premium; Aldermore is in a competitive auction with a September deadline; Paragon bought back 715,744 shares in the week ending 17 August under its £50m programme while reiterating FY2026 guidance. Buybacks, takeovers and auctions all point the same way: public-market valuations of UK specialist lenders are below what strategic and private capital will pay.

7. People moves and leadership signals

• Tandem made two credit-risk hires at once (20 August). Simon Bowen joined as chief risk officer from the same role at Hodge Bank, having previously held senior positions at Lloyds Banking Group and Principality Building Society. Natalie Trist joined as director of credit risk strategy, from a career spanning HSBC, Close Brothers, Secure Trust Bank and Vanquis Banking Group. Two senior credit-risk appointments in one announcement, tied to a new investor-backed strategy, is a build signal rather than a replacement one.
• United Trust Bank promoted Gene Clohessy to director of BTL and bridging (17 August), a newly created role combining sales and underwriting. Andrew Ferguson, who managed the previously separate divisions, has left the bank. Merging origination and underwriting under one director is a structural choice about where credit judgement sits.
• Skipton Business Finance appointed Nicki Hallett as head of securities (19 August), joining from Pulse Cashflow Finance, with earlier leadership roles at Aldermore Invoice Finance and Close Invoice Finance. A securities-specific senior hire at an invoice financier, in the same days that a competitor’s administration was confirmed, is worth noting.
• Roma Finance appointed James Parker as operations director (20 August), from chief commercial officer at Computershare Loan Services. Roma confirmed a £1bn+ loan book target by 2029, with the book up 30% year on year and headcount up 24%.
• Aldermore added Andy Porter as BDM for commercial real estate (18 August), from senior director of property development at United Trust Bank. Hiring into origination while the parent runs a sale process is a signal about the franchise’s own view of its future.
• Colenko appointed Cameron Linnell as BDM for the North (17 August), from NatWest, Avamore Capital and Albatross Lending Group. FRP Advisory’s real estate advisory arm appointed Ralph El Achkar as associate director on 21 August, from Al Rayan Bank, citing equity returning to UK real estate beyond London. Finova appointed Tom Tredwell as director of data on 20 August, from Shawbrook Bank.
• Open seats. Verified live on the firms’ own systems: Liberis is recruiting a head of credit and commercial strategy and a head of credit risk management for embedded finance, both London. Together is recruiting a head of financial crime and MLRO. Aldermore has two senior financial-crime leadership seats open — a governance, framework and regulatory lead in London and a strategy, advisory and oversight lead in Manchester — both closing 4 September, alongside a credit risk manager reporting to an existing head of credit for CRE. Shawbrook shows a head of credit distribution and a director of development and construction risk. United Trust Bank is recruiting a head of underwriting for BTL and bridging following the Clohessy restructure. No senior credit or risk seats were listed at OakNorth UK, Capital on Tap, iwoca, Allica Bank, Funding Circle or Paragon. The pattern: senior credit hiring is concentrating in two places — financial crime and MLRO leadership, and specialist-asset credit risk in development and construction. General underwriting leadership is not where the vacancies are.

8. From the industry

Broker channel. The NACFB has published no broker news since 29 July, so no fresh placement, approval or rejection data entered the picture. What did move in the broker-facing market was distribution capacity rather than credit: GB Bank joined Mortgage Advice Bureau’s lender panel on 13 August, and Hope Capital extended dual legal representation into Scotland. Asset Advantage published broker survey results on 20 August in which 53% of brokers reported a positive impact from its investment in systems, documentation and broker-facing appointments, against 5% negative — a reminder that in a flat market brokers are differentiating lenders on process, not price. With no NACFB dataset for three weeks, anyone quoting broker rejection rates in September will be quoting July.

Trade-account providers and trade credit. This is the week’s most consequential real-economy thread. On 19 August the Builders Merchants Federation and the Construction Products Association wrote jointly to the Housing Secretary, warning that prolonged weak demand risks investment freezes, recruitment freezes and capacity reduction that cannot easily be restored, and framing the position bluntly: the industry does not have a supply problem, it has a demand and confidence problem. The evidence behind the letter is the value-versus-volume split — merchant like-for-like value at −0.1% year on year against like-for-like volumes at −5.8%, with prices up 6.1% on the unadjusted measure. The CPA’s summer forecast has total construction output down 3.3% in 2026 and private housing down 10%.

Three responses were visible in the same days. Independents pooled buying power: Bradfords, Lords and JT Atkinson formed a collaborative procurement Alliance on 18 August, with Bradfords’ chief executive citing sustained pressure from employment costs, energy and business rates, and Keith Wright of JT Atkinson named as procurement director. Travis Perkins relocated its Corby branch to a larger site with hire capability on 21 August, doubling branch headcount — selective investment rather than retrenchment. And the Build UK payment-performance table, refreshed on 21 August, shows real dispersion in how materials suppliers themselves pay: average days to pay across the group runs from 30 to 63, and the proportion of invoices not paid within terms ranges from effectively nil to over 40%. Huws Gray sits at the strong end of that table, paying in an average of 45 days with 94% of invoices settled within 60 days and 1% outside terms.

The operational implication for a trade creditor is specific. If value is flat while volume falls 5.8%, the account that looks unchanged on a ledger is transacting materially less than it did a year ago — and the credit limit set against last year’s trading pattern is now larger relative to real activity than it was when it was granted. Limits set on revenue, and onboarding checks done once at account opening, will not surface that. The place to look is order frequency and order size against limit utilisation, not turnover.

Alternative lenders and specialist credit. The specialist end was busy on criteria and quiet on capital. Castle Trust, Fleet, Landbay, CHL and Foundation all widened boxes rather than cut prices; Glenhawk, District & County and Octopus deployed; Monument Bank confirmed Persistent as the technology partner for its cloud core banking, CRM and AML architecture on 21 August. Against that, an invoice financier is in administration and no monthly FLA data landed. Growth in the shop window, thinner evidence underneath it.

Credit insurance. No insurer changed its published UK stance during the window. Allianz Trade’s standing Q3 UK view holds — growth holding, inflation biting, corporate resilience fading, and Bank Rate expected to reach 4.0%. Atradius published research on 18 August on concentration risk in the global AI supply chain, noting that AI-enabling goods reached $3.1trn of exports in 2024 and that the top fifteen exporters account for 85–90% of trade in each category. That is a long-run concentration warning rather than a UK underwriting change, but the underlying point transfers: concentrated supply chains transmit a single failure widely. Coface’s most recent UK-facing piece, on 14 August, argued the case for trade credit insurance in small businesses. For credit teams, the operational read is unchanged from the prior fortnight: insurer stance is stable, so any change in cover during September will be firm-specific rather than sector-driven, and worth escalating rather than absorbing.

Fraud and financial crime. No new UK fraud dataset landed during the window, so direction is carried by the most recent print: Cifas recorded more than 220,000 fraud-risk cases in the first half of 2026, with 59% linked to identity fraud. The exposure that matters for business credit is the identity layer at onboarding, and that layer moved on 20 August when Companies House made GOV.UK One Login the main sign-in route for its filing service. That is authentication plumbing, not a verification rule change — but it sits inside a transition that ends on 17 November 2026, and the latest official figures show 55% of directors, 50% of LLP members and 42% of PSCs verified. The consequence for underwriting is arithmetic: for the rest of 2026 a majority of PSC records on a new trade or credit application still carry an unverified identity, so registry data confirms that a company exists without confirming who controls it. Loss expectations built on the assumption that Companies House now verifies people are running ahead of the data.

Where Grand fits. Built-world businesses run on credit accounts, and the decision to open one is almost always made from a single check taken at a single moment. A credit check is a snapshot, and it starts ageing the day it’s taken. Grand keeps it live — free checks every month, no subscription. In a period where merchant volumes are down 5.8% while values hold flat, the gap between what a ledger says and what a customer is actually doing is exactly the gap a stale check leaves open. heygrand.com

9. What this means

• Ownership risk is now a credit variable in SME lending. Two lenders moved toward new owners in one week, neither because of credit performance, and one because of a consumer-conduct liability at a parent company. For anyone with a facility, panel place or referral relationship at Aldermore or Time Finance, the relevant question for the autumn is not underwriting appetite but decision latency and strategy continuity through an ownership change.
• Volume decline without value decline is the hardest kind of deterioration to see. Merchant like-for-like value at −0.1% against volumes at −5.8% means credit limits granted on last year’s turnover are now covering materially less real trade. Every monitoring process anchored on revenue or ledger size will report this account as unchanged.
• The evidence base credit teams use got thinner in the same days the market got more active. No FLA monthly release, no NACFB broker data since 29 July, no BoE credit-conditions publication, and payment-practices filings in the Build UK table dating back as far as March. Decisions taken in early September will be taken on July information.
• Criteria widening, not price cutting, is how the specialist end is competing. Five lenders opened their boxes during the window — to adverse credit, to first-time landlords, to unsatisfied CCJs more than six months old, to higher LTI. Risk is moving into acceptance rather than into pricing, which changes where losses will show up and when.
• Registry verification is not yet a control, and treating it as one is the live underwriting error. With 42% of PSCs verified and the transition running to 17 November, a Companies House record still tells you a company exists rather than who stands behind it. That gap is where identity fraud, at 59% of Cifas cases, actually operates.

10. Operator actions

Where the week’s signals appear to be landing for credit operators — observations on the direction of travel, not recommendations.

• On trade accounts: with merchant value flat and volume down 5.8%, the signal points toward limit utilisation and order frequency rather than turnover as the honest measure of exposure. Teams are observed weighing whether limits granted twelve months ago still match the trade behind them.
• On construction concentration: construction at 17% of all insolvencies over twelve months, with July counts still rising against a falling national total, looks less like a new risk and more like a concentration that was already priced in some books and not in others. The direction of travel favours sector-level limit review over case-by-case escalation.
• On onboarding and identity: with fewer than half of PSCs verified and the transition running to November, the signal points toward treating registry confirmation as evidence of existence rather than of control, and toward keeping an independent identity step in the process for the rest of 2026.
• On acceptance versus pricing: where five specialist lenders widened criteria in a single week without cutting price, the implication is that the risk being taken on has moved into the acceptance decision. Portfolios written in this period are likely to differ from their stated pricing tier.
• On data availability: with no FLA monthly release, no broker-channel data since late July and stale statutory payment filings, September decisions will rest on July evidence. Teams are observed weighing whether their own internal payment data now carries more weight than the published series it usually corroborates.

11. Week ahead

• Bank of England Money and Credit and Bankstats for July are due in the final days of August — the first read on SME and corporate lending flows since Bank Rate held at 3.75%.
• Nationwide house price index and the final August PMIs land at the turn of the month; construction PMI at 44.7 in July is the number to watch for whether contraction is still slowing.
• Aldermore bid deadline in September — offers from CVC, Lloyds and other financial investors are expected before the deadline reported on 20 August. Whether banking and MotoNovo are bid for separately is the detail that matters for SME lending capacity.
• FLA June and July asset finance statistics remain outstanding. A double release would be the first hard read on non-bank asset finance volumes since May.
• MPC decision on 17 September, with Bank Rate at 3.75% and CPI having turned up to 2.9%.
• Companies House identity-verification transition ends 17 November, with 42% of PSCs verified as at the latest published figures — the compliance curve between now and then is steep.

12. Upcoming events

• 9 September — CICM British Credit Awards briefing and member events (Chartered Institute of Credit Management, online and Watford). Practitioner read on collections and credit policy heading into Q4.
• 10 September — UK Credit and Collections Conference (Credit Services Association, Nottingham). Where collections capacity and vulnerability policy get set for the winter.
• 17 September — Bank of England MPC decision (Bank of England, London). Bank Rate at 3.75%; Allianz Trade’s published view expects 4.0% in due course.
• 23 September — FinTech North Lending Summit (FinTech North, Leeds). Alternative and specialist lending distribution, at a point when criteria are widening faster than pricing.
• 29–30 September — NPL Global (Smith Novak, London). Non-performing loan and portfolio trading, relevant to how the Aldermore and MotoNovo books get valued.
• 1 October — Financial Ombudsman Service instrument takes effect. Complaints-handling changes that sit directly behind the motor-finance redress arithmetic driving the Aldermore sale.
• 17 November — Companies House identity-verification transition ends. Existing directors and PSCs must have verified; enforcement follows.
• Ongoing to September — Aldermore bid deadline (FirstRand, advised by Bank of America and Rand Merchant Bank). The outcome sets SME lending ownership at a £1.1bn franchise.

References

1. Time Finance takeover by Bentley Park (UK) Limited, 17 August 2026 — https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/time-finance-shares-jump-on-551-million-buyout-offer-93CH-4862393
2. Aldermore auction, CVC and Lloyds bids, Sky News, 20 August 2026 — https://news.sky.com/story/aldermore-battle-heats-up-as-private-equity-giant-cvc-motors-into-auction-13574959
3. Company insolvencies July 2026, Insolvency Service via Credit Connect, 19 August 2026 — https://www.credit-connect.co.uk/news/business-insolvencies-rise-by-5/
4. R3 on July insolvency statistics, 18 August 2026 — https://www.r3.org.uk/news/company-insolvencies-rise-by-5-as-business-pressures-persist/
5. Scottish business insolvencies July 2026, 19 August 2026 — https://www.credit-connect.co.uk/news/scottish-business-insolvencies-fall-8/
6. Construction insolvencies, 12 months to June 2026, 20 August 2026 — https://www.credit-connect.co.uk/news/construction-firms-scale-back-amid-market-uncertainty/
7. Construction insolvencies July 2026, Builders Merchants News, 18 August 2026 — https://www.buildersmerchantsnews.co.uk/news/construction/insolvencies-construction-sector-slightly-july
8. BMF and CPA joint letter to the Housing Secretary, 19 August 2026 — https://www.buildersmerchantsnews.co.uk/news/construction/building-mayterials-chiefs-sound-alarm-demand-slump
9. Bradfords, Lords and JT Atkinson procurement Alliance, 18 August 2026 — https://www.buildersmerchantsnews.co.uk/news/merchants/independent-merchants-join-forces-procurement
10. Build UK payment performance, construction sector, updated 21 August 2026 — https://builduk.org/information/payment-performance-construction-sector/
11. R3 Q2 Business Health Report, North East, 20 August 2026 — https://www.r3.org.uk/news/r3-report-new-business-registrations-fall-across-north-east-while-insolvency-activity-increases/
12. R3 Q2 Business Health Report, West Midlands, 20 August 2026 — https://www.r3.org.uk/news/r3-report-new-business-registrations-fall-across-the-west-midlands/
13. R3 Q2 Business Health Report, South East, 19 August 2026 — https://www.r3.org.uk/news/new-business-registrations-fall-across-the-south-east-as-latest-insolvency-data-published/
14. ONS Consumer price inflation, July 2026, 19 August 2026 — https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/consumerpriceinflation/july2026
15. ONS Labour market overview, 18 August 2026 — https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/august2026
16. ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey, wave 162, 20 August 2026 — https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/bulletins/businessinsightsandimpactontheukeconomy/20august2026
17. ONS Retail sales, July 2026, 21 August 2026 — https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/bulletins/retailsales/july2026
18. ONS construction output, via BMBI, 18 August 2026 — https://bmbi.co.uk/news-blogs/august-construction-update-from-the-department-for-business-trade-4/
19. Regency Factors Limited, company record — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04042307
20. Regency Factors Invoice Finance Limited, company record — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04049983
21. LHV Group EUR 200m senior unsecured bond, 19–20 August 2026 — https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/08/20/3348489
22. LHV Bank UK branch transfer, 22 August 2026 — https://www.lhv.com/about/news
23. British Business Bank facility increase to Performance Finance, 20 August 2026 — https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/news-and-events/news/british-business-bank-announces-increased-facility-ps30m-performance-finance-limited
24. Castle Trust Bank widens light refurbishment bridging, 19 August 2026 — https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/specialist-lending/bridging/2026/08/19/castle-trust-bank-widens-access-for-light-refurbishment-bridging/
25. Fleet Mortgages reintroduces HMO and MUFB products, 19 August 2026 — https://theintermediary.co.uk/2026/08/fleet-mortgages-reintroduces-zero-fee-and-fixed-fee-hmo-and-mufb-products/
26. CHL Mortgages expands bridging for adverse credit, 21 August 2026 — https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/specialist-lending/bridging/2026/08/21/chl-expands-bridging-proposition-for-borrowers-with-adverse-credit/
27. Glenhawk £5.3m Coventry HMO bridging loan, 18 August 2026 — https://bridgingloandirectory.co.uk/client-stories/glenhawk-provides-5-3m-bridging-loan-to-refinance-66-room-coventry-hmo-portfolio/
28. Hope Capital appoints Scottish law firms for dual representation, 17 August 2026 — https://bridgingloandirectory.co.uk/bridging-finance/hope-capital-appoints-two-scottish-law-firms-for-dual-legal-representation/
29. District & County Investments £390,000 bridging completion, 21 August 2026 — https://bridgingloandirectory.co.uk/client-stories/dci-provides-390000-bridging-loan-at-100-of-purchase-price-and-67-of-market-value/
30. Octopus Capital acquires 150-home North Devon scheme, 21 August 2026 — https://www.estatesgazette.co.uk/news/octopus-capital-buys-150-home-north-devon-scheme/
31. Monument Bank and Persistent technology partnership, 21 August 2026 — https://financialit.net/news/banking/monument-bank-and-persistent-partner-creation-new-digital-banking-infrastructure
32. Mercia Asset Management £38m facilities with Metro Bank, 18 August 2026 — https://gowlingwlg.com/en/insights-resources/client-work/2026/banking-and-finance-team-advises-mercia-asset-management-on-new-financing-facilities
33. Asset Advantage broker survey, 20 August 2026 — https://finance-connect.com/asset-advantage-investment-in-systems-and-service-earns-positive-broker-response/
34. Tandem senior credit-risk appointments, Money Age, 20 August 2026 — https://moneyage.co.uk/news-in-brief-20-august-2026.php
35. Roma Finance appoints James Parker, 20 August 2026 — https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/specialist-lending/commercial-finance/2026/08/20/parker-joins-roma-finance-as-operations-director/
36. United Trust Bank promotes Gene Clohessy, 17 August 2026 — https://bridgingandcommercial.co.uk/utb-promotes-gene-clohessy-to-director-of-btl-and-bridging
37. Skipton Business Finance appoints Nicki Hallett, 19 August 2026 — https://www.business-money.com/announcements/skipton-business-finance-strengthens-senior-team-with-head-of-securities-appointment/
38. Aldermore appoints Andy Porter to commercial real estate, 18 August 2026 — https://bridgingandcommercial.co.uk/aldermore-appoints-new-bdm-to-commercial-real-estate-team
39. Colenko appoints Cameron Linnell, 17 August 2026 — https://theintermediary.co.uk/2026/08/colenko-appoints-cameron-linnell-as-bdm-for-the-north/
40. FRP Real Estate Advisory appoints Ralph El Achkar, Money Age, 21 August 2026 — https://moneyage.co.uk/news-in-brief-21-august-2026.php
41. Atom bank cuts Prime and Near Prime rates, 14 August 2026 — https://mortgagesoup.co.uk/atom-bank-cuts-prime-and-near-prime-mortgage-rates/
42. Molo Finance buy-to-let rate reductions, 13 August 2026 — https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/specialist-lending/complex-buy-to-let/2026/08/13/molo-reduces-btl-rates-paragon-reintroduces-tracker-to-fix-round-up/
43. ModaMortgages rate cuts, 14 August 2026 — https://theintermediary.co.uk/2026/08/modamortgages-cuts-rates-across-limited-edition-5-year-fixed-range/
44. Principality product-transfer rate increases, 19 August 2026 — https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/mortgage-news/2026/08/19/principality-makes-increases-in-pt-range-hsbc-announces-reductions-round-up/
45. GB Bank added to Mortgage Advice Bureau panel, 13 August 2026 — https://www.gbbank.co.uk/gb-bank-added-to-mortgage-advice-bureau-lender-panel/
46. Paragon Banking Group share buyback, week ending 17 August 2026 — https://kalkinemedia.com/uk/news/announcements/paragon-banking-group-pag-acquires-715744-shares-at-prices-up-to-838p-during-week-ending-17-august-2026
47. Lloyds Banking Group £100m future skills investment, 20 August 2026 — https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/press-releases/2026/lloyds-banking-group/lloyds-banking-group-to-invest-100-million-in-future-skills.html
48. Lloyds Banking Group UK business AI research, 18 August 2026 — https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/press-releases/2026/lloyds/more-than-half-of-uk-businesses-say-ai-has-created-new-jobs.html
49. Barclays appoints co-CEOs of the investment bank, 17 August 2026 — https://home.barclays/news/press-releases/
50. NatWest £13.5m funding for NCMT, 18 August 2026 — https://www.natwestgroup.com/news-and-insights.html
51. UK Finance payment markets report, 19 August 2026 — https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/news-and-insight/press-release/digital-payments-continue-grow-mobile-wallets-become-more-popular
52. CICM corporate partnership announcement, 19 August 2026 — https://www.cicm.com/resource/paraglide-becomes-cicm-corporate-partner-as-credit-prepares-for-agentic-ai.html
53. Atradius, concentration risks in the global AI supply chain, 18 August 2026 — https://atradius.co.uk/knowledge-and-research/reports/economic-research-ai-supply-chain-concentration-risks-august-2026
54. Cifas fraud-risk case data, H1 2026, 4 August 2026 — https://www.cifas.org.uk/newsroom
55. Companies House sign-in change, GOV.UK, 20 August 2026 — https://www.gov.uk/government/news
56. Companies House identity verification guidance and transition timetable — https://changestoukcompanylaw.campaign.gov.uk/
57. FCA news and enforcement, 17–20 August 2026 — https://www.fca.org.uk/news
58. FCA bans senior manager of debt management firm, 19 August 2026 — https://www.credit-connect.co.uk/news/fca-bans-senior-manager-of-debt-management-firm/
59. Finance & Leasing Association statistics, latest release May 2026 — https://www.fla.org.uk/statistics/
60. Bank of England, Bank Rate and monetary policy — https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/the-interest-rate-bank-rate
61. Liberis open roles, credit and credit risk leadership — https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/liberis/jobs/8055054
62. Together head of financial crime and MLRO — https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Together/744000134744079-head-of-financial-crime-and-mlro
63. Aldermore financial crime leadership vacancies — https://aldermore.current-vacancies.com
64. Travis Perkins Corby branch relocation, 21 August 2026 — https://buildersmerchantsjournal.net/travis-perkins-relocates-corby-branch/