Read the latest industry news, find practical advice on how to grow your business and smart tips to save for the future, all here on the OakNorth blog.
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Commercial real estate is not rebounding in the way previous cycles have conditioned us to expect. It is recalibrating.
With capital markets still adjusting, occupier behaviour evolving and asset performance under sharper scrutiny, 2026 is shaping up to be a year defined by discipline, execution and selective risk-taking.
Running a scaling business means your banking should keep up, not hold you back. In 2025, we focused on the things mid-market businesses told us mattered most: managing complexity without friction, paying at scale without manual workarounds, and keeping tighter control as teams and spend grow.
Here is what we shipped.
Over the past year, I’ve had several conversations with London-listed investment trusts that have one thing in common: they’re reassessing their banking relationships.
Not because the underlying portfolios are weak. Quite the opposite. Many are backed by transparent, mark-to-market portfolios of listed assets with strong diversification and liquidity characteristics. But as larger banks rebalance their balance sheets and refocus their strategies, smaller and mid-sized trusts can find themselves deprioritised.
From our conversations with SMEs and mid-sized businesses across the UK, one thing is clear: traditional business banking still creates too much friction. Too many silos? Too many processes. Too much time spent managing money rather than using it to grow the business.
If “save more money” is on your resolutions list again this year, you’re not alone. The good news is – you don’t need a total life overhaul. Implementing just a couple of new habits, can make saving feel like a breeze.
