Secure Trust Bank (STB) Business Finance has revealed a 5.3% increase in lending across its real estate finance and asset-based lending arms in the first half of 2026, rising to £1.9 billion.
The bank attributes the growth to continued momentum in residential investment lending and its entry into bridging finance, which has generated £40 million in originations during the period.
It has also reported new lending activity of £314.3 million. This comes despite various macroeconomic pressures facing SME and real estate lending markets.
Net revenue margin rose to 3.3%, with real estate finance lending continuing to perform strongly, while improved asset quality reduced the cost of risk to 0.5%, driving the risk-adjusted margin up from 2.5% to 2.9% year-on-year.
Luke Jooste, managing director of business finance at STB, said: "The first half of 2026 saw us roll out new bridging and speciality finance propositions. These initiatives, combined with a robust pipeline across both core and emerging products, have positioned the business well to deliver even more growth in the remainder of the year and beyond."
The period also brought the launch of a new digital broker application portal built to improve efficiency and enhance the broker experience, strengthening the business's capacity to support intermediaries and future growth at scale.
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