The European structured finance (ESF) market has remained resilient despite the Middle East conflict, new research from Morningstar DBRS has shown.

However, the firm’s analysts warn that an extended conflict could have a greater impact on pricing and issuance.

“In terms of European securitisation issuance volume excluding broadly syndicated loan (BSL) CLOs, expectations in early March were that issuance would come to a halt because of the uncertainty related to the war, yet nine ESF deals were announced and nine deals with issuance volume of €14.9bn (£12.9bn) were priced in the first two weeks of March,” the research said.

Read more: Software sell-off sparks credit fears, but experts say debt is safe

Furthermore, Morningstar DBRS knows of several CLO, residential mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities arrangers that plan to announce deals in the coming weeks.

While the research firm suggested “an increased tolerance for distress” in the market, it highlighted that it had already seen an adjustment in pricing – particularly in mezzanine and lower-rated tranches – to reflect the uncertainty.

“Currently, market sentiment is reflected in repricing the risk rather than a dislocation, with spread widening acting as the primary transmission channel,” it said.

“This widening is evident in recent primary issuance. Auxmoney’s German consumer ABS Fortuna priced its AAA tranche at around 70 basis points (bps), compared with 61 bps at its September 2025 issuance, while the BBB tranche widened to approximately 170 bps from 140 bps.

Read more: JP Morgan Private Bank: Private credit does not pose ‘systemic risk’

“In auto ABS, Société Générale’s Red & Black Germany 14 priced AAA notes at 52 bps versus 48 bps in September 2025, with mezzanine tranches widening by around 10 bps. Paratus’s UK BTL/OO RMBS from is Braccan mortgage Finance shelve pried AAA at 85 bps, only one bp wider than its May 2025 transaction.

“In leveraged finance, BSL CLO AAA spreads also appear roughly 10 bps wider, reinforcing the broader theme of higher risk premia across structured credit. “Unsurprisingly, across all asset classes, by widening up to 50bps, non-senior class pricing has been more affected than for senior bonds.”

Time will tell

Ultimately, the research firm predicts that a prolonged conflict resulting in persistently higher energy prices would likely affect European securitisation collateral performance due to its impact on inflation, interest rates, and growth.

However, at this stage, the firm said it sees no evidence of a systemic disruption to European securitisation markets, although pricing discipline has increased and execution windows have become more selective.

Read more: DWS makes senior hire to expand Middle East alts offering

From a credit rating standpoint, it believes the majority of ESF transactions are well positioned to navigate these renewed headwinds.

“Current market dislocations stemming from the Middle East conflict are unlikely to have a material impact on the underlying credit profiles of most ESF transactions in the near term”, said Mudasar Chaudhry, senior vice president and lead of European structured finance research. “However, a prolonged conflict would increasingly differentiate performance across asset classes, with higher beta sectors and weaker borrower profiles experiencing earlier pressure.”

US real estate investment firm EOS Investors has raised $150m (£112.5m) at first close of its inaugural hotel credit strategy.

The strategy will focus on senior whole loans, mezzanine financing and structured debt opportunities in the hospitality sector.

The firm’s specialist lending platform, EOS Credit Partners, is led by Christopher Jordan, a real estate banking veteran who joined the firm after more than 30 years at Wells Fargo in senior roles.

Read more: Arrow’s John Calvao on the lucrative hospitality opportunity

While at Wells Fargo, he launched the firm’s sector-focused hospitality finance unit in 2009 and scaled the business into one of the largest lodging and leisure balance sheet lending platforms in the US.

“EOS Credit Partners aspires to be a highly knowledgeable, relationship-oriented lender rather than a transactional capital source, capitalizing on established relationships across the lodging industry landscape and offering a partnership-driven approach,” said Jordan. “And, because EOS is a significant hotel owner and operator, we have access to expertise, capabilities, and insights which EOS believes provides differentiated insight into the lodging sector.”

Read more: Peachtree Group launches $250m commercial RE special situations fund

EOS sees opportunities in the hotel credit market for alternative funders due to reduced lending activity by traditional lenders and upcoming hotel loan maturities.

EOS owns a diversified hotel equity portfolio and operates nearly 60 hotels through EOS Hospitality, which collectively generates approximately $800m in gross annual property-level revenue.

It also launched a residential investment platform in 2023, led by Nicole Sermier. The residential strategy invests across multiple housing sub-sectors and capital stack positions and has raised about $251m in investor commitments, alongside $200m of co-investment capital.

Read more: King Street closes European real estate special sits fund with $950m

For years, technology in private credit was synonymous with a single question: What accounting system do you use? That choice became shorthand for operational sophistication. Today, that choice is obsolete, writes Kevin Hogan and Andrew Tully from Aztec Group. 

The most advanced private credit fund operations are not defined by a system of record but by an integrated digital ecosystem, a platform that spans onboarding, loan servicing, banking, reporting, analytics, workflow automation, and data delivery. As private credit has expanded in scale, complexity, and investor expectations, the operational model has undergone a fundamental shift. Technology is no longer a functional necessity. It is the infrastructure that shapes the end-to-end lifecycle of the fund.

The friction point: When investor onboarding breaks the experience

Investor onboarding remains one of the most critical, and historically painful, events in private credit operations. LPs often encounter repetitive information requests, lengthy email chains, fragmented communication, and uncertainty over what is required and when. For deal-driven strategies, these inefficiencies can be more than inconvenient: they can delay fund launches, extend closings, and create avoidable stress for both investors and managers.

But more importantly, onboarding is the first impression. Investors do not differentiate between administrative workflows and the manager’s overall professionalism – the experience is one and the same. A clunky process signals disorder. A smooth, structured, guided onboarding journey signals competence.

When onboarding is digitised, built around workflows, transparency, and data reuse, the impact is immediate: fewer delays, fewer emails, less investor frustration, and a relationship that begins with confidence instead of friction. For an asset class built on trust and long-term capital commitments, that early experience matters.

Loan engines and accounting: The core of the modern ecosystem

Private credit portfolios are inherently operationally intensive. Loans amortise, draw, reset, toggle between cash and payment-in-kind interest; covenants must be tracked; fees accrue in multiple dimensions. Historically, much of this complexity was managed outside the accounting system, in spreadsheets, emails, and disconnected loan tools, forcing teams to reconcile the world manually each quarter.

Modern operations are built on event driven loan engines tightly integrated with the general ledger, ensuring:

• Loan events are captured once and flow seamlessly into accounting
• Net asset value (NAV) is a real-time reflection of economic reality
• Waterfalls and distributions are accurate because the underlying data is accurate
• Audit trails are inherent rather than constructed

As strategies diversify into specialty finance, asset-based lending, NAV lending, and structured credit, the need for this unified core becomes even more pressing. It is the foundation for operational quality.

Banking portals: The new centre of cashflow control

Treasury operations in private credit require precision and control. Funds often work with multiple banks across currencies, structures, geographies, and vehicles. Without the right technology, operations teams must jump between portals, coping with inconsistent interfaces, varied controls, and limited visibility. The result is increased operational risk, slower processing, and reduced transparency.

A unified banking portal environment solves this fragmentation. Instead of navigating disparate bank systems, teams operate through a single, secure digital interface that centralises:

• Payment initiation
• Approvals and segregation of duties
• Cash position visibility
• Standardised controls across all banks
• Stronger protection against error and fraud

This centralised treasury capability becomes indispensable as private credit grows more complex and transaction volumes rise. It enables operational resilience while reducing the cognitive load on teams.

Automation: Driving middle and back-office efficiency

Digital transformation has reshaped the middle and back office more than any other area.

Invoice and accounts payable automation now leverage AI to read, code, validate, and route invoices with minimal human intervention. This dramatically reduces manual effort, cycle times, and exceptions – especially valuable in multi-fund, multi-jurisdiction environments.

Data integration and analytics tools harmonise loan, cash, accounting, investor, and operational datasets. What once required hours of reconciliation now runs automatically, allowing teams to focus on exceptions, insights, and strategic tasks rather than administrative toil.

Combined, these tools free capacity, reduce errors, and strengthen the accuracy of downstream reporting.

Reporting and data on demand: From documents to dynamic insight

Reporting in private credit used to mean static, backward-looking, and slow-to-produce quarterly PDFs. But investors now expect something fundamentally different: timely, contextual insight available whenever they need it, not when the quarter allows it.

This is where dynamic data and reporting platforms have changed the game.

Managers increasingly rely on dashboards that provide real-time operational visibility across the fund: loan performance, cash forecasting, borrower exposure, covenant headroom, capital activity, and more. These dashboards are governed following best practice modelling, standardised metrics, consistent definitions, and secure access roles, ensuring that all stakeholders see a single version of the truth.

Beyond the quality of reporting outputs, safe, secure and on-demand accessibility to reporting is now the expectation for investors. Portals are no longer just static libraries; they serve as gateways to timely insights, empowering investors to engage with information whenever and however they choose.

The evolving role of the fund administrator

In this new ecosystem, fund administrators have become far more than accounting providers. The best administrators today act as technology partners, integrators, and operational stewards, bringing three distinct strengths:

1. In-house technology experts

Specialists who configure systems, maintain integrations, build workflows, optimise reporting environments, and design data architecture tailored to each client.

2. Ongoing investment in platforms

Administrators invest in obtaining, maintaining, and upgrading best-in-class tools so their clients do not have to. This includes loan engines, reporting platforms, workflow systems, investor portals, and analytics tools.

3. A scalable operating model

They ensure operational quality across jurisdictions, fund structures and strategies by harmonising people, processes, and technology.

The right administrator continuously improves the operating ecosystem, helping managers adapt to regulatory changes, industry standards, and evolving investor expectations.

A new definition of operational excellence

Private credit’s operational transformation is about designing and orchestrating a connected digital platform that supports every stage of the lifecycle – from onboarding to reporting, from loan servicing to treasury, from workflow automation to investor engagement.

Technology has become the infrastructure through which private credit managers demonstrate professionalism, scale confidently, protect investor relationships, and deliver operational excellence.

Those who embrace this ecosystem mindset, supported by administrators who bring expertise and sustained investment, are the ones defining the next era of private credit.

Sponsored content created in partnership with Aztec Group. 

Evolving technology is helping to open up private credit to a wider pool of investors. Aysha Gilmore reports…

The use of technology and in particular artificial intelligence (AI) have become wrapped up in a new wave of hype in business, finance and investment. Since the rise, much of the discussion around AI specifically focuses on efficiency, but does it have more to offer the private credit space?

As general partners (GPs) in private credit try to unlock more capital from limited partners (LPs) and the wealth market, technology could play a vital role in expanding access to the asset class.

Reshaping portfolios

Yuriy Shterk, Clearwater Analytics’ global head of alternatives, says the key lies in AI helping LPs with total portfolio construction. For many LPs, private credit is only part of their portfolio and understanding how it fits in and what it contributes to overall performance is an area where technology and business innovation are making a difference.

“If I am able to track my portfolio as a whole and understand my performance, I have more money available as I no longer need to reserve cash to cover side effects. I can use this cash and deploy it into additional assets,” says Shterk.

If the technology is in place to enable this, he asks, can it expand the size of the market?

“The answer to that question is yes, it will. If you have an accurate representation of your portfolio as a whole, that will free up additional capital. This capital cannot be deployed in public markets because that space is limited, so where is it going to go? It is going to go into private.”

In the past, technology and innovation have already helped to open the asset class to LPs and, in turn, allowed the industry to grow. Areas that were traditionally not considered investable, such as mortgages, have become more accessible through improved data and systems.

Five years ago, mortgages were rarely viewed as a core LP allocation, but technology has enabled that asset type to become, in Shterk’s words, a “hot and sexy asset type in private credit portfolios”. Clearwater Analytics works with a range of LPs, the majority being insurance companies and pension funds, while endowments are increasingly exploring the private credit space.

“Nowadays, the vast majority of institutional investors either have mortgages as part of their portfolio or are seriously considering it,” he says. “The challenge was the amount of loans. There are no longer 20, now there are hundreds and thousands, and now with them in play, AI helps with that.”

Construction process

However, beyond freeing up capital through better portfolio construction, AI and technology tools are making it easier for investors to interrogate data across private credit managers and strategies which is likely to reshape the entire process.

The changes to LPs’ portfolio construction processes are where technology is likely to have “meaningful disruption”, according to Kevin Hogan, global head of private credit at Aztec Group.

As more private markets data becomes structured, these tools make it easier for LPs to compare opportunities and assess managers, an area that has traditionally relied on relationships and static reporting, explains Hogan.

Technology is sharpening comparisons around performance, risk, sector exposure and underwriting quality and overtime is likely to reshape portfolio construction processes as adoption increases, he adds.

Lowering barriers

Alongside this, private credit is opening up to a wider range of investors, including defined contribution pension funds in both the UK and US, with technology playing a role in lowering barriers to entry for these groups, Hogan says.

The role of technology is noticed through helping GPs develop semi-liquid products, which allow retail investors to enter that market while maintaining some flexibility, unlike traditional private credit investments such as direct lending which locks up capital for long periods.

“Technology is making private credit more accessible by digitising onboarding, Know Your Customer (KYC) and subscriptions, which supports semi-liquid and retail-friendly structures,” Hogan explains. “But it also demands stronger data infrastructure and real-time reporting. It’s not just widening access; it’s reshaping the operating model.”

These semi-liquid products require more frequent liquidity management, cashflow movements and tighter reporting cycles, which is overall driving a rapid build-out of data infrastructure. This includes real-time interfaces, automated reconciliation and faster, more transparent reporting for both investors and regulators.

“In short, technology is enabling broader access while reshaping private credit’s operating model to support a more diverse investor base,” Hogan adds.

Competitive edge

GPs’ technology adoption for data and information is also becoming a factor for LPs when deciding where to allocate capital, says Ivan Latanision, chief product officer at Allvue Systems.

“Competitive positioning for fundraising is a factor,” he explains. “When LPs are carrying out due diligence, they are looking at your technology infrastructure.

“If you have systems that are totally manual and it takes a month to pull everything [data] together, you will always be at a disadvantage.”

LPs increasingly want more information on performance and benchmarking, says Latanision. This was reflected in a recent GP survey conducted by Allvue, which found that firms with advanced data capabilities were twice as likely to report that their returns over the past year were well above average, compared to firms with only average data capabilities.

Latanision also raises the point that within public markets there is large amounts of data that is readily available, while “private markets are nothing like that and very opaque”. Technology has helped to lift some of the opacity in the market, which has long put off some investors from accessing the market.

“We know that LPs are hitting our GPs with all sorts of ad hoc reporting requests,” he says. “They want it more frequently, and this is an area where AI can really help. If you can get your data into a normalised, centralised repository and have the ability to apply business intelligence or standard reporting capabilities on top of it.”

Oshri Harari, chief operating officer and general counsel at the Liquidity, which is an AI-driven fintech private credit lender added that technology is speeding up investor due diligence, improving risk pricings, widening access to deal flow and allowing a broader range of qualified investors to participate in private credit.

“Combined, these advancements are creating a more transparent, data-driven and accessible marketplace, one that is progressively opening private credit to new participants without compromising rigour or governance,” he says.

Harari also points to recent advances in processing unstructured data. Natural language processing can now be used to analyse legal documents, call notes and financial models and convert them into usable intelligence.

“This creates a continuous monitoring environment where we can track covenant compliance and borrower behaviour in real time, rather than waiting for quarterly reports,” he says.

“The competitive advantage will go to those who use AI to price dynamically and execute quickly.”

It appears that technology has the potential to grow the global $3tn (£2.2tn) private credit industry even further, extending its reach to more investors’ portfolios.

Therefore, as GPs seek to unlock more capital from wealth and retail channels, the adoption of technology, and, in turn, AI, will become increasingly more critical.

Nearly half of global institutional investors plan to increase their exposure to private credit over the next two years, while more than 80 per cent expect to raise their allocations to alternatives overall, according to new research.

A survey by private markets manager Nuveen of 800 institutional investors worldwide found that 43 per cent intend to increase their exposure to private credit, while 39 per cent plan to maintain current levels. Just seven per cent said they expect to reduce allocations.

The study also found that 46 per cent of respondents view diversification within alternative credit portfolios as a top priority over the next five years, as investors look beyond traditional direct lending strategies.

Read more: Nuveen acquisition of Schroders boosts alts platform to $414bn 

Among those planning to increase allocations to private fixed income, 44 per cent said they would target private investment-grade corporate credit and private investment-grade infrastructure debt. Private asset-backed securities and private real estate debt were also highlighted as key areas of interest.

In terms of preferred investment vehicles for new private credit exposure, custom mandates and institutional separate accounts were the most popular options, cited by 60 per cent of respondents, followed by closed-ended funds at 54 per cent.

Co-investment arrangements and open-ended institutional evergreen funds were selected by 43 per cent and 39 per cent of investors respectively.

Read more: Nuveen closes US Strategic Debt Fund at $650m

Overall, Nuveen’s sixth annual EQuilibrium Global Institutional Investor Survey found that 81 per cent of investors plan to increase their private markets allocations over the next five years.

Elsewhere in private markets, 43 per cent of investors said they intend to increase exposure to infrastructure, while 42 per cent plan to raise allocations to private equity.

Read more: Private credit assets to hit $4tn by 2030 as ABF drives growth

DWS has appointed Alexandre Daoud as a senior coverage specialist for alternatives in the Middle East, as it looks to expand its private markets platform in the region.

The €1.1tn (£950b) asset manager stated that Daoud will join its newly established office in Abu Dhabi, where he will focus on building relationships with institutional clients across the Middle East and Africa.

Prior to joining DWS, Daoud served as head of capital markets for the Middle East at real estate developer Panattoni. Before this, he spent 10 years at real estate company JLL, where he held several senior roles.

Read more: DWS ramps up private credit team with head of ABF

“Alexandre brings deep experience working with investors across the Middle East and a strong understanding of global capital allocation trends and alternative investment strategies,” said Joe Kiwan, senior executive officer at DWS Abu Dhabi Global Market branch and head of coverage for the Middle East and Africa. “Alexandre will play a key role in strengthening relationships with clients and strategic partners in the region, at a time when local presence, experience and long-term commitment are key differentiators for clients”.

Read more: DWS, Deutsche Bank and AI Mirqab launch €1bn German mandate

The appointment comes as the Middle East conflict enters its 19th day following the US and Israel launching strikes on Iran at the beginning of the month. 

The manager said the appointment underlines its long-term commitment to delivering investment opportunities in the Middle East.

Artificial intelligence (AI) lending marketplace Upstart has secured a $1bn (£0.74bn) forward-flow commitment with alternative asset managers Eltura Capital Management and Aperture Investors, alongside co-investors.

The investor group has agreed to purchase up to $1bn of consumer loans originated through the Upstart platform over the next 12 months, building on an existing relationship between the parties.

Read more: Blue Owl to buy $2bn of Upstart loans

“We are stoked to deepen our relationship with Eltura and welcome Aperture as a new partner,” said Sanjay Datta, president and chief capital officer at Upstart. “This agreement is a step forward in ensuring a robust and diverse funding ecosystem for Upstart’s loans. It’s a win for our platform, our partners, and the borrowers we serve.”

Eltura specialises in asset-based finance and structured credit opportunities, while Aperture Investors is a $5.8bn alternative asset manager that is part of Generali Investments.

Read more: Värde fuels YouLend US expansion with up to $225m facility

“We are excited to partner with a pioneer in AI-driven lending and believe this forward-flow arrangement reflects a strong alignment between our firms,” said Martin Ego, founder and chief investment officer at Eltura. “The Upstart platform represents a compelling opportunity for Eltura to deploy proprietary capital and source consumer loans.”

Nick Turgeon, global head of asset-based finance and portfolio manager at Aperture Investors, added: “We’re pleased to partner with Upstart and Eltura on this forward flow program.

“Upstart’s disciplined, technology-driven origination platform aligns with our investment focus of partnering with top tier originators.”

Read more: Funding Circle inks £700m forward flow agreement with Waterfall AM

It has been almost three years since Schroders launched the UK’s first long-term asset fund (LTAF), and the asset manager has firmly established itself as a leader in the market. The firm now has two LTAFs available for the wealth market in the UK and has a partnership with Hargreaves Lansdown to host them on its platform.

Alternative Credit Investor spoke to James Lowe (pictured), director, private markets, UK wealth at Schroders Capital, about how the market has changed over the past few years and where he sees it going next.

Read more: Will LTAFs boost DC scheme investment in private markets?

“The last year has been really interesting, as we’ve gone from having hypothetical conversations with the wealth market off the back of the first launches, to now seeing wealth businesses moving from hypothetical into practical implementation,” Lowe said. “It’s a super exciting time for private markets in the UK wealth market.

“We saw the first Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) access last year through our partnership with Hargreaves Lansdown, and we’re talking to other SIPP providers, so we’re hopeful we’ll see more of those in the future.”

Lowe said he sees the SIPPs as “really well-aligned” with LTAFs and as a way to drive more retail investment into private markets.

“I think we’ll see more of that this year,” he said. “Firms are working together to solve some of the challenges that previously existed around market infrastructure. There’s quite a lot of development underway – the Platform Association is working with its membership to look at some of the challenges for platforms in offering LTAFs, the Investment Association is working with asset managers – and we’re trying to come together as an industry to solve the infrastructure challenge.”

Lowe said the next real challenge is around investor demand, although he says this is steadily improving.

“Obviously we can have the right products, policy and platforms, but you also need to have investors who want to buy the products,” he said.

“That’s definitely transformed in the last few years, I think mainly because private markets have significantly scaled and they’re a bigger portion of how the real economy is financing itself.”

In terms of clients, Lowe said business is mainly coming from high-net-worth (HNW) individuals and family offices, but he sees the partnership with Hargreaves as a stepping stone to driving more interest from retail investors. He added that the UK’s Mansion House Accord – a pledge for 17 of the largest defined contribution pension providers to invest 10 per cent into private markets by 2030 – shows retail investors should be able to access it.

“The highest amount of demand for private markets in the UK is currently through global banks or family offices, and then as you go down the scale it’s from larger advice networks and HNW discretionary managers,” he said.

“But our view is that the SIPP is a long-term pool of capital and there’s no reason why a retail investor with a SIPP shouldn’t be able to access long-term investments. The Financial Conduct Authority is to a degree trying to democratise these asset classes and I think the LTAF plays a really key role in that going forward.”

Technology-focused private credit firm Edge Focus has closed two deals worth more than $100m for new consumer loan asset-backed securitisations (ABS).

The firm has completed two pass-through deals for its third and fourth ABS, named EDGEX 2026-PT1 and EDGEX 2026-PT2, both backed by more than $100m of unsecured consumer loans.

Read more: State Street opens ABS market to ETF investors 

“The latest EDGEX deals illustrate the continued opportunity for asset backed securities in today’s market,” said Elliott Lorenz, co-founder and chief executive of Edge Focus. “There is clear demand from institutional investors for scalable, attractive capital, and our modern underwriting technology combined with disciplined credit has proven to create just that.”

Read more: Serone Capital Management hires portfolio manager from Morgan Stanley 

The transactions were co-sponsored by Nelnet Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of US loan servicer Nelnet. Investors include a multibillion-dollar hedge fund and an investment bank, Edge Focus said.

According to the firm, the transactions used Edge Focus’s underwriting platform, Origin, and its Lens platform to execute its loan origination and capital markets strategies.

Read more: Fidelity expands ETF range with twin CLO launches 

Lending to UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rose by almost 10 per cent to £68bn in 2025, with the majority of finance driven by challenger banks and non-bank lenders.

According to the British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Markets 2025/26 report, last year’s SME lending marked the second-highest level in the past 13 years, behind only the 2020 pandemic peak as credit conditions gradually eased.

The report found that the growth of non-bank lenders over the past decade means more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of SME lending in 2025 came from challenger and specialist banks or non-bank providers.

Read more: Thousands of UK SMEs miss out on credit due to ‘readily-fixable’ errors 

Challenger and specialist banks accounted for 60 per cent of gross SME bank lending, excluding overdrafts, in 2025, up from 39 per cent in 2012. Their market share has now exceeded that of the UK’s big five banks for a fifth consecutive year.

“While economic conditions in 2025 continued to provide challenges for smaller businesses, lending markets are showing signs of positive improvement,” said Louis Taylor, chief executive of the British Business Bank. “Smaller businesses continue to show great resilience and determination to succeed and thrive, creating jobs and investment across the UK, although economic growth will require greater confidence to invest in new capacity and capability.”

Read more: British Business Bank announces five-year plan for financing small UK firms

The British Business Bank, the UK government’s economic development bank, aims to help smaller firms access the finance needed to start and scale. Its programmes currently support around £23bn of finance to nearly 64,000 businesses.

The report also highlighted the growing role of challenger and specialist lenders in driving technological innovation, helping to support new entrants such as “bank-in-a-box” platforms, software-as-a-service providers and digital-only finance firms.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also capturing an increasing share of equity investment. Companies in the sector raised £2.9bn across 323 deals between the first and third quarters of 2025, the report found.

Read more: Private markets set for 2026 rebound as dealmaking activity rises