Secure Trust Bank
A London-listed UK challenger bank whose Commercial Finance arm provides multi-asset asset-based lending and invoice finance to SMEs and larger corporates.
What they do
Secure Trust Bank plc is a PRA-authorised, FCA-regulated UK retail and commercial bank, listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its Commercial Finance division (established 2014) is a dedicated asset-based lender, offering invoice finance/discounting, stock and inventory finance, plant, machinery and vehicle finance, and property-secured commercial loans, typically blended into a single multi-asset ABL structure. Lending is predominantly against receivables, releasing up to 90% of qualifying invoices, and is most often deployed around event-driven situations — M&A, MBOs/MBIs, refinancing, private-equity-backed acquisitions, and turnaround/restructure. The division reports providing nearly £20bn to over 250 UK businesses in its first decade.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
Secure Trust suits a borrower that is asset-rich — a strong debtor book, financeable stock, or plant and machinery — and a raise that is working-capital-led rather than pure cash-flow leverage. They are well-suited to event-driven ABL: funding an acquisition, MBO or refinancing where receivables and inventory can be mobilised to release availability, and they will sit alongside other lenders in a structured package. Their stated floor of around £3–5m means a £3–15m mandate sits squarely in their range, and for the lower half of that band they are one of the more credible bank-grade ABL houses rather than a clearing bank that treats sub-£15m ABL as marginal.
Where they are not the fit
They are less suited to asset-light businesses — services or IP-led companies without a substantial debtor book, stock or hard assets to secure against — where the borrowing base will not support the quantum. They are an ABL lender, not a cash-flow/unitranche house, so a sponsor seeking leverage on EBITDA with limited collateral is better served elsewhere. At the very bottom of a 3–15m raise (sub-£3m), the live product range starts around £5m, so smaller working-capital needs may fall below their structuring threshold.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Invoice discounting service charge 'from 0.6%', advance up to 90%; full ABL margin not published. RE Finance pricing not published
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Both sponsor-backed and owner-managed borrowers
- Where they lend
- Wide via regional teams (Leeds/North East, Midlands, South West & Wales, national)
- How they decide
- Dedicated STB Commercial Finance team with regional MDs (North, Midlands, South West & Wales); Delegated authority not published
- Security
- A borrowing base over receivables, inventory and plant
- Covenants
- Springing covenant, tested only when a trigger is hit; Maintenance covenants, tested every period, by facility
As published by the lender and last reviewed July 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
The desks that lend
Secure Trust 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 Secure Trust Bank lends, but which of these would own it.
Commercial finance - multi-asset ABL
- Facility
- £3m to £50m
- Security
- A borrowing base over receivables, inventory and plant
- Covenants
- Springing covenant, tested only when a trigger is hit
- Funds
- Acquisition · Dividend recap · Growth · MBO · Refinance
- Rules out
- Borrowing-base led - needs a collateral base; asset-light service searches a weaker fit
Real estate finance (property-secured term)
- Security
- Fixed charge
- Covenants
- Maintenance covenants, tested every period
- Funds
- Acquisition · Growth · Refinance
- Rules out
- Max 70% loan to value; up to 5-year term; property-secured only
Limits that apply across the firm
Stated limits, taken from Secure Trust Bank’s own published criteria, beyond the ones each desk carries above. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- No appetite in adult, crypto, gambling or weapons
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling of £50m is among the 4 highest of the 42 challenger and specialist banks here.
- 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 Secure Trust Bank write?
Published facilities run £3m to £50m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
What security does Secure Trust Bank take?
On the published terms, a borrowing base over receivables, inventory and plant. What a lender takes on a given facility is set in the documents, not by a published stance.
Does Secure Trust Bank lend to companies without a private-equity sponsor?
Yes. Secure Trust Bank lends to owner-managed and sponsor-backed borrowers alike, so a company with no private-equity backer is not out of scope on that ground.
Where does Secure Trust Bank lend?
Wide via regional teams (Leeds/North East, Midlands, South West & Wales, national).
What covenants does Secure Trust Bank set?
Springing covenant, tested only when a trigger is hit; Maintenance covenants, tested every period, by facility. A covenant package is negotiated on the facility; the published style is where the negotiation starts.
On the record
Secure Trust Bank plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and PRA, with FCA firm reference number 204550, authorised since 01/12/2001.
Secure Trust Bank is a British retail and commercial banking group listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index.
STB Commercial Finance offers funding between £5 million and £50 million across invoice finance, stock & inventory finance, plant/machinery/vehicle finance, and property-secured commercial loans.
The Commercial Finance division provides flexible asset-based lending and invoice finance products ranging in size from £3m to £50m for SMEs and larger businesses, releasing up to 90% of qualifying invoices under invoice discounting.
STB Commercial Finance has provided nearly £20bn of funding to over 250 UK businesses since it was established ten years ago (in 2014), specialising in multi-asset ABL for M&A, refinancing, turnaround and other strategic events.
ABL deployment scenarios listed by STB include refinance, growth funding, PE/VC acquisitions, restructure and turnaround, MBOs/MBIs, cash-out/exits, and M&A, with the ability to work alongside a borrower's existing lenders.
Sources: securetrustbank.com · insidermedia.com
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.