GB Bank
A Teesside-based specialist bank funding property development and commercial mortgages from £500k to £20m, sized on the real estate rather than on trading cashflow.
What they do
GB Bank is a deposit-funded specialist that lends against UK real estate: development finance for residential and mixed-use schemes, and commercial mortgages for owner-occupiers and investors, from £500k to £20m. It works through brokers and relationship managers, prices bespoke rather than to a published grid, and positions on speed of approval. Headquartered in Middlesbrough with a stated regional regeneration purpose, it lends across England, Scotland and Wales.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
Where the requirement is real-estate-backed, a development scheme, a site purchase, a freehold acquisition or a refinance of investment property, GB Bank sits in the size range that a £3–15m raise occupies and can fund the whole of it. Its regional focus makes it a natural first call on schemes in the North East and the wider North, where a national lender's interest thins.
Where they are not the fit
This is not a trading-company lender. There is no cashflow or EBITDA-based product, and no appetite for a buyout of an operating business unless the security is the property itself. A borrower whose value sits in contracts, receivables and earnings rather than in land will find nothing to pledge here, and should be looking at the banks and funds that underwrite those.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Not published
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Neither (property borrowers: developers/investors) - not a trading-co lender
- Where they lend
- (England/Scotland/Wales); HQ Middlesbrough/Teesside
- How they decide
- Relationship-manager + credit; intermediary/broker channel
- Covenants
- Maintenance covenants, tested every period
- Personal guarantee
- Typically required
- Search funds and ETA
- No published route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers
As published by the lender and last reviewed June 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
The desks that lend
GB Bank lends through 2 separate books. Which one reads a deal decides the security, the covenant package and the band, so the question is rarely whether GB Bank lends, but which of these would own it.
Property development finance
- Facility
- £500k to £20m
- Security
- First legal charge over property; up to 75% loan to value residential or ~65% commercial
- Covenants
- Maintenance covenants, tested every period
- Funds
- Growth · Refinance
- Rules out
- Property-secured only; Not a trading-company cashflow/EBITDA lender; No acquisition/LBO/MBO of trading companies
Commercial owner-occupier / investment mortgage
- Facility
- £1m to £20m
- Security
- First charge over property; up to 75% loan to value
- Covenants
- Maintenance covenants, tested every period
- Funds
- Acquisition · Refinance
- Rules out
- Property collateral required; England/Scotland/Wales
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling is £20m; 20 of the 42 challenger and specialist banks here go at least as high.
- Like 24 of the 42, it publishes no indicative price — a margin comes from a conversation, not a page.
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 GB Bank write?
Published facilities run £500k to £20m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
Does GB Bank require a personal guarantee?
On GB Bank's published terms, a personal guarantee is typically required. What a lender asks for on a given credit is settled in the documents, not by a published stance.
Does GB Bank lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Not on the published evidence. GB 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 GB Bank lend?
GB Bank lends (England/Scotland/Wales); HQ Middlesbrough/Teesside.
What covenants does GB Bank set?
Maintenance covenants, tested every period. A covenant package is negotiated on the facility; the published style is where the negotiation starts.
What does GB Bank lend?
The published product set is property development finance, commercial owner-occupier / investment mortgage. Published sector focus is property development, real estate.
On the record
May 2024: Secured £85m investment to fuel lending growth (Mortgage Solutions.
Sources: gbbank.co.uk
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.