British Arab Commercial Bank
A trade-finance bank with a secondary UK real estate desk, lending from £2m in London and around £5m elsewhere in England against income-producing commercial property.
What they do
British Arab Commercial Bank is a PRA-authorised wholesale bank whose principal business is trade finance across some forty markets. Alongside it sits a smaller UK real estate finance line: first-charge, interest-only facilities of up to five years against tenanted commercial property, at up to 60 per cent loan to value, covering offices, industrial, retail, hotels, leisure and student accommodation. Lending starts at around £2m within the London zones and roughly £5m across the rest of England, and underwriting is relationship-driven and bespoke.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
The bank belongs on a list where the asset is a tenanted commercial building and the borrower wants a bank rather than a debt fund holding the paper. Its trade finance franchise makes it a natural counterparty for a business whose supply chain runs through the Middle East and North Africa, where a property facility and trade lines can sit with one institution. Ticket sizes clear the bottom of a £3–15m raise on the London tier.
Where they are not the fit
Lending is confined to England, to income-producing investment property, and to first charges at modest leverage. Owner-occupied premises, ground-up development and anything sized on trading cashflow are outside the box. The real estate line is a secondary business inside a trade bank, so appetite and single-facility limits are worth establishing on a call before a process depends on them.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Up to 60% loan to value, interest-only, term up to 5 years
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Neither - property investment lender; no sponsor LBO or corporate cashflow appetite
- Where they lend
- England for commercial property; London Zones 1-6 for the £2m tier; investment property only
- How they decide
- Relationship-driven bespoke underwriting; no published turnaround or delegated authority
- Search funds and ETA
- No published route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers
As published by the lender and last reviewed August 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
What rules a deal out
Stated limits, taken from British Arab Commercial Bank’s own published criteria. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- England only
- Investment property only (income-producing, tenanted)
- Max 60% loan to value
- Interest-only to 5yr
- Not a corporate cashflow/term lender
- No appetite in non-income property, owner-occupier or pure development
How they sit against the category
- 18 of the 42 publish an indicative price at all; it is one of them.
Counted across the 42 challenger & specialist banks in this directory, on what each one publishes. What a lender discloses and what it will do are different things.
Questions this page answers
How large a facility does British Arab Commercial Bank write?
Published facilities run from £2m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
Does British Arab Commercial Bank lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Not on the published evidence. British Arab Commercial Bank publishes no route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers. A searcher's route to a lender usually runs through the quality of the target and the equity behind it.
Where does British Arab Commercial Bank lend?
England for commercial property; London Zones 1-6 for the £2m tier; investment property only.
What does British Arab Commercial Bank lend?
The published product set is uk real estate finance. Published sector focus is hotel, industrial, leisure, mixed, office.
Sources
This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.