Lending

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.

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. 

As we look ahead to 2026, the most important question isn’t whether markets will “bounce back”. The more relevant question is whether we’ve adjusted our expectations to reflect the environment we’re now operating in.

The economy’s shifting: costs are on the rise, margins are tighter, and regulation’s increasing. For growing businesses, that means bigger hurdles and tougher decisions. So where do entrepreneurs find confidence when making those business-critical decisions? It’s not just their optimism or a go-getter attitude. The most successful leaders surround themselves with the right partners, those […]

For ambitious SMEs, the biggest marketing challenge isn’t choosing between brand or performance, it’s finding the balance. Focus too much on short-term performance and your brand risks becoming forgettable. Invest only in brand, and growth can stall before momentum builds. That balance was the focus of our recent breakfast panel on Brand vs Performance: how […]

We recently partnered with FinTech North for their webinar, Scaling Smart: Unlocking Growth for the North. The session brought together over 40 business leaders and finance professionals to explore how scale-ups can access the right funding, attract talent, and build strong partnerships to unlock growth. We were proud to have Stewart Haworth, our Senior Director […]