Invoice Finance Annual
Analysis – 2025
Annual analysis of invoice finance debentures registered at Companies House for 2025. Headline growth of +3.7%, but after removing ABN/HSBC migrations the adjusted uplift was -1.2%, with a -1.5% net growth rate after attrition.
Headline Growth
+3.7%
uplift in IF debentures
Adjusted Growth
-1.2%
excl. ABN/HSBC migration
Net Growth
-1.5%
after attrition
Notable Mover
4SYTE
+173 charges (72 → 245)
Summary
2025 was a year of significant, and often unpredictable, change. Some lenders became brokers, others fundamentally altered broker commission structures, and the first acquisition of a technology lender by a challenger bank occurred.
On the surface, more new facilities were opened in 2025 than in 2024. However, this headline figure masks a concerning underlying trend. Two major customer migrations occurred: ABN restructured their ABL offering, resulting in significant refactoring, and HSBC transferred part of their smaller IF book to 4SYTE. Lloyds is also understood to be undertaking a similar exercise.
Net attrition is of greatest concern for traditional providers. Borrowers that would previously have used Invoice Finance are increasingly opting for alternative products, including business loans and trade/supplier finance solutions. The critical question is whether the industry will meaningfully embrace technology to reverse the trend.
Key Insights
- 4SYTE grew dramatically — from 72 to 245 charges (+173), driven largely by the HSBC book transfer, representing the standout movement of 2025.
- Apollo Business Finance surged — +70 charges to 214, with a 33% net growth rate, showing strong organic expansion.
- Lloyds fell sharply — from 475 to 335 charges (-140), the largest absolute decline among major lenders.
- Underlying market contracted — adjusted for migrations, the market fell 1.2%, with net growth of -1.5% after attrition.
- Liquid Link strong — +24 charges to 65 with a remarkable 52% net growth rate among specialists.
"Why is the number different from what I expected?"
There could be loads of reasons… we try to identify groups of companies based on location and dates of charge, but this can be inaccurate, we also ignore charges based on certain descriptions. But it's a minefield. So we expect some errors and omissions, it's a free report and I believe the kids now say 'DYOR'. We have been releasing these reports monthly for the last 2 years and, based on feedback from lenders who appear in this report, find we are always within ~5% of the "true number".
Lender Analysis
Growth rates, attrition, and book movement by lender for the full year 2025.
Banks
| Lender | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Var. | Growth Rate | Attrition | Net Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RBS Invoice Finance | 480 | 269 | 297 | +28 | 6% | 12% | -6% |
| Lloyds Commercial Finance | 402 | 475 | 335 | -140 | 5% | 15% | -10% |
| HSBC Invoice Finance | 215 | 211 | 277 | +66 | 7% | 9% | -2% |
| Metro Bank IF | 70 | 72 | 63 | -9 | 14% | 37% | -23% |
| Investec Capital | 28 | 36 | 42 | +6 | 20% | 16% | +4% |
Large Independents
| Lender | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Var. | Growth Rate | Attrition | Net Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bibby Finance | 578 | 657 | 679 | +22 | 21% | 18% | +3% |
| eCapital Commercial Finance | 404 | 410 | 366 | -44 | 23% | 18% | +5% |
| Close Brothers | 321 | 343 | 358 | +15 | 11% | 20% | -9% |
| Skipton Business Finance | 209 | 186 | 183 | -3 | 9% | 12% | -3% |
| Novuna | 187 | 185 | 166 | -19 | 11% | 12% | -1% |
| Time Finance | 103 | 110 | 142 | +32 | 45% | 21% | +24% |
| Ultimate Finance | 94 | 102 | 136 | +34 | 19% | 13% | +6% |
| Cynergy Business Finance | 121 | 95 | 97 | +2 | 35% | 12% | +23% |
| IGF | 38 | 40 | 42 | +2 | 14% | 19% | -5% |
| Praetura | 44 | 40 | 21 | -19 | 14% | 10% | +4% |
| Secure Trust Bank | 28 | 30 | 33 | +3 | 7% | 8% | -1% |
| Leumi ABL | 25 | 28 | 32 | +4 | 6% | 18% | -12% |
| Pulse Cashflow Finance | 21 | 17 | 26 | +9 | 10% | 31% | -21% |
| FGI Finance | 2 | 5 | 3 | -2 | 16% | 16% | – |
Mid-tier Independents
| Lender | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Var. | Growth Rate | Attrition | Net Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Factors | 134 | 181 | 155 | -26 | 35% | 9% | +26% |
| Apollo Business Finance | 160 | 144 | 214 | +70 | 54% | 21% | +33% |
| Optimum SME Finance | 95 | 125 | 148 | +23 | 53% | 27% | +26% |
| 4SYTE | 45 | 72 | 245 | +173 | 81% | 19% | +62% |
| Paragon Business Finance | 79 | 62 | 88 | +26 | 18% | 15% | +3% |
| Wedo Finance | 53 | 47 | 40 | -7 | 22% | 46% | -24% |
| Peak Cashflow | 47 | 42 | 38 | -4 | 22% | 10% | +12% |
| TP24 | 26 | 35 | 8 | -27 | 7% | 30% | -23% |
| GRENKE | 16 | 30 | 33 | +3 | 34% | 21% | +13% |
| Castlebridge Finance | 28 | 29 | 28 | -1 | 32% | 19% | +13% |
| Sallyport Commercial Finance | 16 | 28 | 35 | +7 | 103% | 22% | +81% |
| Shire Invoice Finance | 23 | 24 | 32 | +8 | 49% | 15% | +34% |
| FI Capital | 12 | 16 | 10 | -6 | 38% | 25% | +13% |
| Partnership Invoice Finance | 13 | 16 | 15 | -1 | 20% | 13% | +7% |
| Flex ABL | 20 | 14 | 20 | +6 | 34% | 19% | +15% |
| Regency Factors | 35 | 11 | 9 | -2 | 11% | 15% | -4% |
| Simplicity Finance | 20 | 11 | 26 | +15 | 21% | 7% | +14% |
Specialists
| Lender | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Var. | Growth Rate | Attrition | Net Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zodeq | 99 | 157 | 124 | -33 | 29% | 21% | +8% |
| Quba Solutions | 92 | 144 | 147 | +3 | 36% | 11% | +25% |
| Sonovate | 88 | 136 | 83 | -53 | 24% | 14% | +10% |
| Liquid Link | 25 | 41 | 65 | +24 | 59% | 7% | +52% |
| Giant Finance | 28 | 18 | 31 | +13 | 30% | 5% | +25% |
Debtor Book Analysis
Distribution of new IF charges by debtor book size for 2025. Shows how each lender segment serves different market tiers based on disclosed trade debtor values.
Banks
| Lender | New Inc. | Not Disc. | 1–50k | 50–100k | 100–250k | 250–500k | 500k–1m | £1m+ | Total | >£250k | >£1m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RBS Invoice Finance | 21 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 25 | 43 | 49 | 127 | 297 | 74% | 43% |
| Lloyds Commercial Finance | 51 | 46 | 29 | 11 | 43 | 56 | 44 | 55 | 335 | 46% | 16% |
| HSBC Invoice Finance | 14 | 16 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 26 | 44 | 151 | 277 | 80% | 55% |
| Metro Bank IF | 20 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 63 | 35% | 17% |
| Investec Capital | 2 | — | 3 | — | 3 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 42 | 69% | 19% |
| Bank subtotal | 108 | 85 | 53 | 31 | 91 | 140 | 154 | 352 | 1,014 | 64% | 35% |
Large Independents
| Lender | New Inc. | Not Disc. | 1–50k | 50–100k | 100–250k | 250–500k | 500k–1m | £1m+ | Total | >£250k | >£1m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bibby Finance | 131 | 175 | 59 | 46 | 86 | 69 | 54 | 59 | 679 | 27% | 9% |
| eCapital Commercial Finance | 112 | 84 | 38 | 24 | 37 | 36 | 22 | 13 | 366 | 19% | 4% |
| Close Brothers | 65 | 47 | 17 | 14 | 43 | 54 | 49 | 69 | 358 | 48% | 19% |
| Skipton Business Finance | 40 | 38 | 12 | 6 | 36 | 26 | 15 | 10 | 183 | 28% | 5% |
| Novuna | 38 | 44 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 15 | 8 | 10 | 166 | 20% | 6% |
| Time Finance | 38 | 27 | 17 | 10 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 4 | 142 | 22% | 3% |
| Ultimate Finance | 21 | 23 | 11 | 5 | 20 | 25 | 14 | 17 | 136 | 41% | 13% |
| Cynergy Business Finance | 23 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 31 | 97 | 54% | 32% |
| IGF | 6 | — | 2 | — | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 42 | 69% | 57% |
| Praetura | 5 | — | 2 | — | 1 | — | 1 | 2 | 21 | 57% | 48% |
| Secure Trust Bank | 8 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 33 | 30% | 21% |
| Leumi ABL | 7 | — | 4 | — | 1 | — | 1 | 3 | 32 | 59% | 50% |
| Pulse Cashflow Finance | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 1 | — | 3 | 26 | 46% | 12% |
| FGI Finance | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | 3 | 100% | 100% |
| Large ind. subtotal | 494 | 472 | 182 | 127 | 276 | 258 | 199 | 276 | 2,284 | 32% | 12% |
Mid-tier Independents
| Lender | New Inc. | Not Disc. | 1–50k | 50–100k | 100–250k | 250–500k | 500k–1m | £1m+ | Total | >£250k | >£1m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Factors | 66 | 51 | 23 | 5 | 9 | 1 | — | — | 155 | 1% | 0% |
| Apollo Business Finance | 76 | 85 | 35 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 1 | — | 214 | 2% | 0% |
| Optimum SME Finance | 36 | 44 | 17 | 10 | 17 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 148 | 16% | 3% |
| 4SYTE | 15 | 41 | 27 | 22 | 66 | 46 | 21 | 7 | 245 | 30% | 3% |
| Paragon Business Finance | 20 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 13 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 88 | 24% | 8% |
| Wedo Finance | 15 | 6 | 4 | — | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 40 | 28% | 23% |
| Peak Cashflow | 12 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 2 | — | — | 38 | 5% | 0% |
| TP24 | — | 1 | — | — | 2 | 4 | 1 | — | 8 | 88% | 13% |
| GRENKE | 3 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 33 | 12% | 3% |
| Castlebridge Finance | 9 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | — | — | 28 | 4% | 0% |
| Sallyport Commercial Finance | 13 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | — | — | 35 | 9% | 0% |
| Shire Invoice Finance | 5 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | 32 | 3% | 0% |
| FI Capital | 1 | — | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | — | 1 | 10 | 40% | 10% |
| Partnership Invoice Finance | 5 | 3 | 1 | — | 2 | 2 | 2 | — | 15 | 27% | 0% |
| Simplicity Finance | 7 | 11 | 6 | 2 | — | — | — | — | 26 | 0% | 0% |
| Mid-tier subtotal | 283 | 313 | 150 | 65 | 144 | 84 | 47 | 30 | 1,116 | 14% | 3% |
Specialists
| Lender | New Inc. | Not Disc. | 1–50k | 50–100k | 100–250k | 250–500k | 500k–1m | £1m+ | Total | >£250k | >£1m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zodeq | 57 | 31 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 124 | 6% | 2% |
| Quba Solutions | 103 | 27 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 147 | 1% | 0% |
| Sonovate | 22 | 26 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 83 | 17% | 7% |
| Liquid Link | 28 | 26 | 9 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | 65 | 0% | 0% |
| Giant Finance | 19 | 10 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | 31 | 0% | 0% |
| Specialist subtotal | 229 | 120 | 53 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 450 | 5% | 2% |
Refactoring Channels
Where borrowers moved when switching lender in 2025. The table below shows the top recipients of refactored facilities and their primary source providers. The two major migration events — ABN restructuring and the HSBC/4SYTE transfer — are clearly visible.
Lloyds was the largest refactoring source, with 259 facilities leaving for competitors — significantly higher than any other lender. This aligns with the understood book restructuring exercise, with Bibby Finance (57), Close Brothers (23), and HSBC (15) among the main beneficiaries.
Bibby Finance was the top destination, absorbing 129 refactored clients, drawn from a broad spread of competitors. 4SYTE received 77 refactored facilities, the majority (43) sourced from the HSBC book transfer.
Close Brothers attracted 81 facilities from 20 different providers, while eCapital received 77 — indicating both lenders are well-distributed refactoring channels rather than reliant on a single source.
Top Refactoring Recipients – 2025
| New Provider | Total In | Largest Source | From | From | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bibby Finance | 129 | Lloyds | 57 | eCapital | 11 |
| Close Brothers | 81 | Lloyds | 23 | Close Brothers (internal) | 12 |
| eCapital Commercial Finance | 77 | Lloyds | 22 | Bibby | 13 |
| 4SYTE | 77 | HSBC | 43 | Lloyds | 14 |
| HSBC Invoice Finance | 64 | RBS | 15 | Lloyds | 10 |
| Novuna | 53 | Lloyds | 24 | Metro Bank | 5 |
| RBS Invoice Finance | 48 | Lloyds | 12 | Bibby | 8 |
| Lloyds Commercial Finance | 50 | Bibby | 9 | Skipton | 9 |
| Skipton Business Finance | 41 | Lloyds | 17 | Bibby | 4 |
| Time Finance | 31 | Lloyds | 10 | Apollo | 4 |
| Ultimate Finance | 31 | Bibby | 8 | Lloyds | 6 |
| Optimum SME Finance | 31 | Lloyds | 5 | eCapital | 4 |
Top Refactoring Sources – 2025
| Old Provider | Total Out | Largest Destination | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lloyds Commercial Finance | 259 | Bibby Finance | 57 |
| HSBC Invoice Finance | 109 | 4SYTE | 43 |
| Bibby Finance | 98 | eCapital | 13 |
| Skipton Business Finance | 73 | Bibby | 8 |
| Close Brothers | 58 | Bibby | 9 |
| Novuna | 44 | Lloyds | 7 |
| eCapital Commercial Finance | 34 | eCapital (internal) | 6 |
| RBS Invoice Finance | 28 | HSBC | 15 |
Debtor Size Leaders
Top lenders by debtor book size band for new charges in 2025. Shows which providers dominate at each end of the market.
New Incorporations
- 1. Bibby Finance – 131
- 2. eCapital – 112
- 3. Quba Solutions – 103
- 4. Apollo Business Finance – 76
- 5. Team Factors – 66
£100–250k Debtors
- 1. Bibby Finance – 86
- 2. 4SYTE – 66
- 3. Close Brothers – 43
- 4. Lloyds Commercial Finance – 43
- 5. eCapital – 37
£500k–£1m Debtors
- 1. Bibby Finance – 54
- 2. RBS Invoice Finance – 49
- 3. Close Brothers – 49
- 4. HSBC Invoice Finance – 44
- 5. Lloyds Commercial Finance – 44
£1m+ Debtors
- 1. HSBC Invoice Finance – 151
- 2. RBS Invoice Finance – 127
- 3. Close Brothers – 69
- 4. Bibby Finance – 59
- 5. Lloyds Commercial Finance – 55
Access the Full Report
Have questions about the analysis, want bespoke data cuts, or need lender-level research for your organisation? Get in touch with the Spark team.
Contact the Spark TeamMethodology
This analysis uses AI-driven classification to identify invoice finance charges registered at Companies House. Charges are matched based on the charge-holder name or a combination of the name and the nature of the charge description.
For some lenders (e.g. Barclays, Santander), it is not feasible to produce a strong enough pattern to reliably match charges to IF. Where a group of companies has a charge, this is counted as one event. Multiple charges registered by the same company within the reporting period are not counted separately. Refactors are based on IF charges where a previous IF charge was satisfied within 100 days of the new charge or was left open.
Growth Rate is calculated as new charges divided by opening unsatisfied charges at 1 January 2025. Attrition Rate is satisfied charges plus insolvencies divided by the same opening number. Net Growth Rate is Growth Rate minus Attrition Rate.
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