UK Agricultural Finance was set up in 2015 to provide secured loans to the rural and agricultural sector. The company funds any credible commercial purpose and target loans that the High Street banks are no longer able to do. Typically, these are loans that are more complex, that require a proper knowledge of farming businesses, or just cannot fit the low-cost, but tick-box approach required by the High Steet. UK Agricultural Finance raised their initial funds from a number of high-net-worth investors and made their first loan in 2016. Subsequently, they secured two rounds of institutional funding. Mark Thompson is one of two executive directors in the business and runs the credit committee. UK Agricultural Finance began with just three people and they all did every job in the business – from visiting the loans, doing the underwriting, loan administration, to making the coffee and painting the office. The firm’s now based on a farm in Kent, in a (very nice) converted grain store and has almost 20 members of staff, including four business development managers who are based in Devon, Gloucestershire, East Anglia and Northumbria. We hear from Mark below on recent trends in lending and what the future holds for the sector. LENDING CURRENT TRENDS IN Mark Thompson Managing Director of UK Agricultural Finance Finance Monthly. Bank i ng & F i nanc i a l Se r v i ce s 51
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