Allica Bank, the challenger business bank, is set to nearly triple the size of its network of relationship managers across the UK.
he move comes in response to growing demand for expertise from businesses to help them grow, and at a time when high street banks have been increasingly removing personal support for their established business customers.
Bucking the trend, Allica has invested in building a proprietary technology platform specifically to support its relationship manager model as it grows, allowing its customers to receive insight and help tailored to their business. As one of the UK’s fastest-growing fintechs, this development reflects Allica Bank’s continued focus on bringing back the relationship manager for established businesses (those firms with 5-250 employees) as a core part of its strategy.
Expanding to 60 people from the 22 it started the year with, Allica Bank is deepening its relationship manager footprint in existing locations and branching into new ones. The hires will be made in locations including Bristol, the North East, Newcastle, Norwich, Cambridgeshire, South Wales, Oxford and Scotland.
Allica’s success has seen it named the fastest-growing UK company in 2024 in The Sunday Times 100, and the fastest-growing fintech ever, according to Deloitte UK’s Fast 50 rankings. It announced late last year that it has now lent over £3 billion to established businesses, and is seeing rapid take-up of its business current account, the Business Rewards Account.
Ovais Ahmed, the owner of Kinder City Nursery in Luton and an Allica Bank customer, commented, “there can be a lot of anxiety as a business owner, especially when making big decisions about the future of your business and how you’re going to finance it. The people you employ and, in our case, the parents and their children we serve, rely on you. With my relationship manager Wahid’s support, I have someone I can call and talk things through with. It puts my mind at rest that I’m making the most informed decision I can.”
Wahid Nawaz, Ovais’s relationship manager at Allica Bank, said, “A relationship manager can make a world of difference for a business. Thanks to our technology, we’re able to offer tailored expertise and guidance to business owners who often don’t have that banking and finance expertise in-house. At Allica, we also like to think of ourselves as connectors; bringing business people together and exploring how we can help our customers beyond just their banking.”
Stephen Aucott, owner of Knebworth-based Odyssey Health Club & Spa, who Wahid also supports as a relationship manager, said, “Having a personal point of contact is a clear departure from how the other banks are now operating. Under Wahid’s guidance, I have been able to complete a management-buy-out of my business after many years of trying. Wahid helped me through the process in a simple, common sense way, which I have really appreciated. He made the impersonal, personal.
“It is always frustrating to have to chase emails and calls, but this has never been how Wahid operates. He’s always been available when I need him.”
Speaking about the expansion of Allica’s relationship management team, John Harrison, Head of Relationship Management at Allica Bank, commented, “Established businesses are such crucial parts of our local communities as employers, service providers, and community hubs. They in fact make up a third of the UK economy and employ a third of our workforce. It’s therefore so important that banks give them the support they need to thrive. Sadly, in most cases, this is rarely the case, with these relationship managers often being replaced by chatbots or call centres.”
“Allica Bank’s Relationship Managers are core to our strategy. They are our brand ambassadors, our connection to our customers and the beating heart of the bank. They quickly become more than just a banking partner to their customers, often acting as a go-to resource for support, guidance and local business connections.”
“The expansion of our team is a signal to the market that Allica is doubling down on our commitment to give our established business customers that relationship-based support that is lacking elsewhere. Central to this will be the continued development of our technology platform, which empowers our relationship managers to provide tailored insight and connect with our customers in ways they have never been able to before. Combined with our business current account, which actually rewards customers for using it, it’s proving to be a powerful combination.”