The UK economy grew 0.4% in the second quarter, but the latest figures still point to a patchy recovery. Secure Trust Bank’s interim results, published on the same morning, offer a useful view of how one specialist lender is responding.
Secure Trust increased net lending by 4.9% to £3.5bn in the first half of 2026 and maintained guidance for full-year lending growth of 8% to 10%. Adjusted profit before tax rose 9.4% to £31.3mn.
More important for the commercial finance market is where that growth is coming from. The bank has originated around £40mn of bridging loans since entering the market, launched a digital bridging application portal and established a new Speciality Finance team that is building its pipeline for the second half.
Secure Trust expands as UK growth remains uneven
The latest ONS figures show GDP rising 0.4% in Q2, after growth of 0.6% in the first quarter. June was stronger, with GDP up 0.3%, helped by a 0.4% rise in services.
Services grew 0.5% across the quarter and business investment increased by an estimated 1.7%, while production was flat. Construction rose 0.3% over the quarter, but output remained 2.0% below the same period of 2025.
The construction figures are particularly relevant to Secure Trust’s move into bridging. Monthly output fell 0.1% in June, following declines in May and April, while new orders dropped 11.8% during Q2.
Against that backdrop, demand for specialist finance can persist. Refinancing, acquisitions, refurbishment and short-term property transactions continue even as wider activity slows, and many fall outside standard bank criteria.
Bridging becomes part of Secure Trust’s growth plan
Secure Trust entered bridging as an extension of its existing business finance activities, which already include Residential Investment, Development Finance and Commercial Finance.
Around £40mn of bridging originations in the first half suggests the bank has found enough demand to justify the move.
The launch of a digital application portal is also relevant for brokers. Specialist finance still depends heavily on judgement and manual underwriting, but lenders are under pressure to improve how quickly cases are submitted, assessed and communicated.
Secure Trust’s approach combines specialist credit assessment with a more digital intermediary process. We are noticing this becoming more common as lenders compete not only on price and appetite, but also on ease of access.
Speciality Finance adds a second growth channel
Secure Trust has also created a Speciality Finance division to provide funding to non-bank lenders operating across real estate, SME and consumer finance. The team, led by Mike Knox, is building its H2 pipeline.
This places Secure Trust behind other specialist lenders as well as in front of borrowers. Funding non-bank lenders gives the bank exposure to parts of the SME and property finance market without originating every underlying transaction itself.
Specialist finance is becoming more closely integrated with mainstream banking rather than sitting outside it. Banks, private credit funds and institutional investors increasingly provide wholesale capital to lenders that serve borrowers with more complex requirements.
What this means for businesses and brokers
For SMEs, lender appetite remains highly product-specific. A business may find mainstream bank credit difficult while still being suitable for asset-based lending, bridging, invoice finance or another specialist facility. Economic conditions can weaken in one sector while lenders continue to increase exposure in another.
For brokers, lender strategy matters as much as headline economic data. Secure Trust’s move into bridging and Speciality Finance shows where it is choosing to deploy capital, particularly after its exit from Vehicle Finance.
The Speciality Finance division also gives Secure Trust indirect exposure to lending originated by other specialist finance providers. When the division launched in May, its head, Mike Knox, said the specialist lending market had developed into a “multi-billion pound market”, supported by established lenders with proven origination and credit performance. He also pointed to businesses relying too heavily on a single funding line or using facilities poorly matched to their underlying assets.
That helps explain why wholesale funding has become an increasingly important part of the specialist finance market. Banks and institutional funders can provide capital to non-bank lenders, which then deploy it into property, SME and consumer finance.
Secure Trust chief executive Ian Corfield struck a similarly expansionary tone in the bank’s interim results. He said lending, profits and returns had all grown during the first half and that the performance had reinforced confidence in the group’s medium-term targets. Adjusted profit before tax increased 9.4% to £31.3mn, while the bank maintained its target of 8% to 10% net lending growth for 2026.
Those targets matter more than any general claim that lenders are becoming more confident. Secure Trust is committing capital to bridging, funding specialist lenders and expanding its Business Finance activities while parts of the economy, including construction, remain subdued.
For businesses, the implication is more practical. Credit conditions are not moving uniformly across the market. A lender withdrawing from one product can be increasing appetite elsewhere, while another may be entering a sector for the first time.
Secure Trust’s first-half figures are a useful example. The economy remains uneven, but specialist lenders are still finding transactions they want to fund. For SMEs and their advisers, knowing where that appetite sits is becoming as important as knowing the headline cost of borrowing.
