(31 August 2026 – United Kingdom) The UK’s corporate funding model is changing rapidly as market based funding becomes increasingly important for UK enterprises, Apollo reports.
Twenty years ago, banks provided 57 percent of UK corporate debt. Today, investors are the largest source, at 56 percent. Almost the entirety of real growth is attributed to capital markets. Adjusted for inflation, bank lending to UK companies has fallen ten percent since 2005, while market-based finance has expanded by almost 50 percent.
“The menu is also much broader. Twenty years ago, market finance meant bonds. Today, public bonds are 40 percent of UK corporate debt, with private bonds, direct and broadly syndicated loans, and other non-bank lending adding a further 16 percent. Most of it is investment grade” commented Apollo Global Management Chief Economist, Torsten Slok.
“Bank lending has gone global. Overseas banks have lifted their share of UK corporate bank lending from 17 percent before the 2008 financial crisis to 27 percent today.”
“The bottom line is that UK companies can now tap a deeper and more diverse pool of capital than at any point in two decades. More sources of funding mean more resilience, better access and less dependence on any single part of the financial system.”