Aldermore is carrying out a strategic review of its invoice-finance operation, with parts of its customer portfolio and an unspecified number of roles potentially affected.
City AM reported that the specialist lender is consulting on proposals to reduce substantially the number of invoice-finance customers it serves. Sources cited by the publication said facilities below a £1m financing line could be removed, cutting the client base from around 500 to approximately 100.
Those proposals have not been confirmed by Aldermore. The bank has confirmed that a strategic review is under way and said the process is expected to conclude imminently.
An Aldermore spokesperson said: “We’re carrying out a strategic review to ensure our products continue to meet our customers’ needs and align with our long-term strategic priorities.”
The bank added: “The review is in progress and will be completed imminently. We’ll work closely with impacted colleagues, customers, and intermediaries to guide them through this process.”
Invoice finance allows businesses to borrow against unpaid customer invoices, bringing cash into the company before the underlying debtor has settled. Products can include factoring and invoice discounting, with funding generally moving in line with the size and quality of the sales ledger.
The facilities are particularly useful to businesses with long customer-payment terms, rapid sales growth, or working-capital requirements that do not fit conventional term lending.
Specialist lenders therefore occupy a distinct part of the SME finance market. Their underwriting can focus on receivables, assets, or cash flows rather than relying solely on property security or a conventional corporate loan structure.
Providing invoice finance can also be operationally intensive. Lenders may need to monitor debtor concentration, sales ledgers, credit limits, fraud risks, payment behaviour, and customer performance throughout the life of a facility.
Smaller facilities can consequently produce lower fee income relative to the work required to operate them. That creates pressure on lenders to automate processes, increase minimum facility sizes, or concentrate activity on larger customers.
Aldermore’s annual report recorded statutory profit before tax of £51.2m for the year to June 2026, down from £193.5m in the previous year. Its performance was materially affected by an increased provision relating to historic motor-finance commission arrangements.
The group nevertheless reported lending balances of £18.8bn and customer deposits of £19.1bn, indicating that the invoice-finance review sits within a much larger specialist banking operation rather than reflecting a general withdrawal from lending.
City AM reported that invoice-finance fees generated £3.2m during the financial year, broadly flat with £3.3m previously. It also reported that some roles may be at risk as part of the consultation.
Any reduction in the portfolio will require careful management for customers because invoice finance is closely connected to day-to-day working capital. A business asked to move provider may need replacement funding in place before the existing facility closes to avoid pressure on payroll or supplier payments.
The review remains unfinished. Customer thresholds, redundancies, offshoring, and any eventual reduction or exit from the product should therefore remain attributed to reports and sources until Aldermore announces its final decision.
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