Danske Bank
Danske Bank is the trading name of Northern Bank Limited, a Belfast-headquartered bank in the Danske Bank Group that lends to Northern Ireland businesses through term debt, property funding and asset, invoice and trade finance.
Why they are included
Northern Bank Limited, trading as Danske Bank, is a separately incorporated and authorised UK bank whose sole shareholder is the Danske Bank Group; it is headquartered in Belfast with its own board, and its chief executive and senior management team are based there. A corporate banking team lends to Northern Ireland companies with specialists in asset finance, invoice finance, trade finance, markets and cash management, and the published business range runs from variable-rate term loans of up to 25 years to bridging loans, including for commercial property construction or renovation, and invoice discounting or factoring. In 2025 it approved over £1bn of new lending to Northern Ireland business customers, around 35% more than in 2024, and ended the year with loans of £6.97bn and deposits of £12.4bn. Outside Northern Ireland it lends in targeted sectors in Great Britain, including around £200m of lending approvals to housing associations in 2025.
How to read them as a baseline
Danske Bank fits a Northern Ireland company raising £3–15m from a bank, particularly an owner-managed business funding an acquisition, a property purchase or an expansion that also needs invoice, asset or trade finance from the same lender. Its published record includes backing hotel group Andras House's £8.75m purchase of a Belfast Travelodge, part-financing Manfreight's £9m warehouse acquisition and part-financing Donnelly Group's £8m showroom investment, and over 99% of its loan application decisions are made in Northern Ireland.
When the market needs to move beyond them
Its asset and trade finance are offered to Northern Ireland registered businesses and its invoice finance to companies located in Northern Ireland, and the bank describes its Great Britain business as targeted sectors, with housing associations the published example, so a Great Britain trading company outside those sectors has no stated route. No private-equity or leveraged-finance proposition is published, so a sponsor-backed buyout has no stated route here either. Corporate facility sizes and pricing are not published; the only published loan bands are small-business ones, such as fixed-rate loans of £25,000 to £250,000.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Not published
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Northern Ireland trading and property companies, including a family-owned motor retailer, and housing associations on the published deal record; no private-equity sponsor proposition published
- Where they lend
- Northern Ireland; in Great Britain, targeted sectors, with housing associations the published example. Asset and trade finance are for Northern Ireland registered businesses and invoice finance for companies located in Northern Ireland
- How they decide
- Locally: over 99% of loan application decisions are made in Northern Ireland, and the chief executive and senior management team are based in Belfast
As published by the lender and last reviewed September 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
How they sit against the category
- Like 6 of the 12, it publishes no indicative price — a margin comes from a conversation, not a page.
Counted across the 12 clearing & relationship 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
Where does Danske Bank make its lending decisions?
In Northern Ireland. Danske Bank told the Assembly's Finance Committee in June 2025 that over 99% of its loan application decisions are made there, and its chief executive and senior management team are based in Belfast.
How much does Danske Bank lend to Northern Ireland businesses?
In 2025 it approved over £1bn of new lending to business customers in Northern Ireland, around 35% more than in 2024, and over £400m in the first half of 2026.
Does Danske Bank fund acquisitions?
Yes, on the published record. It supported Andras House's £8.75m purchase of the Travelodge on Brunswick Street, Belfast, in February 2025 and part-financed Manfreight's £9m acquisition of a Belfast warehouse in November 2025.
Is Danske Bank's invoice finance available outside Northern Ireland?
Not on the published terms. Its invoice finance is offered to companies located in Northern Ireland, and its asset finance and trade finance to Northern Ireland registered businesses.
Does Danske Bank lend in Great Britain?
In targeted sectors. It approved around £200m of lending to housing associations in Great Britain in 2025, and in August 2025 it agreed an £80m facility with Lancashire-based Progress Housing Group.
On the record
February 2025: Danske Bank supported hotel group Andras House's £8.75m acquisition of the 90-room Travelodge on Brunswick Street, Belfast.
June 2025: Danske Bank told the Northern Ireland Assembly's Finance Committee that over 99% of its loan application decisions are made in Northern Ireland.
August 2025: Danske Bank UK agreed an £80m hybrid revolving credit facility and term loan with Lancashire-based Progress Housing Group, refinancing and increasing a £50m revolving credit facility it first provided in 2021.
November 2025: Danske Bank part-financed logistics group Manfreight's £9m acquisition of a 100,000 sq ft warehouse on Duncrue Street, Belfast.
February 2026: Danske Bank UK reported 2025 profit before tax of £250.4m, loans of £6.97bn, deposits of £12.4bn and over £1bn of new lending approvals for Northern Ireland business customers, around 35% more than in 2024.
February 2026: Danske Bank UK announced that Julie-Ann Haines, former chief executive of Principality Building Society, would succeed Vicky Davies as chief executive on 1 July 2026.
April 2026: Danske Bank provided funding to Lotus Property for the conversion of Beaufort House on Wellington Place, Belfast, into a 98-key Staycity aparthotel, a £20m development.
June 2026: Danske Bank agreed a £20m sustainability-linked loan with Alpha Housing to help deliver 240 new social homes in Northern Ireland over five years.
July 2026: Danske Bank UK reported over £400m of business lending approvals in Northern Ireland in the first half of 2026, with loans of £7.29bn at the end of June.
Sources: danskebank.co.uk · danskebank.co.uk · danskebank.co.uk · danskebank.co.uk · danskebank.co.uk · danskebank.co.uk · danskebank.co.uk · danskebank.co.uk · danskebank.co.uk · niassembly.gov.uk
This page is a comparison baseline drawn from public sources, not financial advice, a product profile or a recommendation. A clearing bank's role in a given raise is established by testing the credit against the market, not inferred from a page.