Fintech firm Ashman has secured a restricted banking licence from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

Ashman will use the licence to provide lending services to businesses and simple savings for consumers.

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Initially, the lender will focus on catering to small and medium-sized businesses operating in the commercial real-estate sector, while providing competitive savings rates to consumers.

Birmingham headquartered Ashman, which says it is digital by design, plans to expand its team over the course of this year. 

It plans to lend on deals between £100,000 and £5m. 

The new entrant in the SME lending space is led by James Leach, who served as a global chief operating officer at Maple Financial.

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Leach will be supported by chief risk officer Lisa Nowell, who has worked with Monzo, Barclays and Nationwide; chief commercial officer Caroline Luxmore, who brings over 25 years of industry experience; chief financial officer Matt Cowan, who has worked at Deutsche Bank, HSBC and RBS; and chief operating officer Simon Healy, who was one of the founding members of Aldermore. 

Leach said: “We are delighted to have received regulatory approval. Our banking licence is an important first step in realising our ambitions to support SME borrowers and personal savers alike, with a different approach to lending that delivers the service and range of products we know SME developers need.

“We are proud to be the first new entrant to be licenced this year and to be doing so from Birmingham, which is the perfect city for us to build a business we know can have a lasting impact on the market. Birmingham has an incredibly strong talent pool and is a hub that provides all the supporting expertise we need to deliver our ambitions.”