Bridging lender Tuscan Capital has been fully integrated into the Allica Bank brand after being acquired by the SME challenger in August 2024.

The move comes as Allica looks to become a leading player in the bridging finance market and replicate its success in both commercial mortgages and asset finance.

Last year’s takeover marked the bank’s first entry into the bridging market, with Allica looking to combine Tuscan's specialist bridging expertise with its own funding base and distribution network.

As Allica announces the company's rebrand, it also revealed a range of of pricing and service improvements for its bridging proposition.

The bank said that this is an early signal of how it plans to use its resources to build its proposition, which includes reducing its pricing for residential bridging, further improving its FastTrack application process, and "doubling-down" on its commercial bridging proposition.

It has also expanded its newly-rebranded bridging business development, underwriting, and client services teams across the UK.

Scott McClymont joins from Signature Finance as business development manager for Scotland, Andy Reeder has been promoted to the role of business development manager for the home counties, while John Craig has been promoted to take charge of the client services department.

The rebranding follows news that the SME lender, which was named as the fastest growing company in the UK in The Sunday Times 100 list, had reached £4 billion in customer deposits and £3 billion in business lending at the end of last year.

The digital bank reached its first full year of profitability in 2023.

Allica, which will report its full year performance in April 2025, said that business loan balances increased by 64 per cent in 2024, passing £1 billion of new lending for the year in October. Total deposits were up from the £2.6 billion recorded at the end of 2023.

"The joint vision that I and the Allica team had to truly shake up the bridging market by building a bridging lender with extensive lending expertise, the ability to move fast, and provide certainty in funding is already bearing fruit," said Collin Sanders, founder of Tuscan Capital. “This rebrand is a major final step in the integration of Tuscan into Allica, but we’re still only at the beginning of what Allica’s bridging proposition will be."

Justin Trowse, who was hired as head of bridging at Allica following the takeover last year, described the initial months working with the Tuscan team as "incredibly productive".

“Allica’s ambition is to build a £500 million bridging loan book by 2027, a goal that relies on meeting genuine market needs," he said. "With our strengthened internal expertise, the knowledge gained from years in the market, and the constructive feedback we continue to receive from our outstanding broker community, we are well-positioned to achieve this ambitious target.”

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