Bristol-based Clifton Asset Management has won a prestigious industry award just a week after helping launch a ground-breaking portal set to change the way UK businesses are funded.
The finance company, which employs 100 people at its Ham Green offices, was presented with the Business Moneyfacts Best Alternative Funding Provider 2014 award at a glittering ceremony in London.
Chairman Adam Tavener – whose idea led to alternativebusinessfunding.co.uk – said: “In a business like ours individuals don’t win awards, teams do. We have a fantastic group of dedicated, clever and committed colleagues at every part and level of our business.
“We are also very grateful for the support of our clients, who have chosen to use us to help them take control of their futures and who often remain with us for further finance deals.”
Clifton and its pensionledfunding.com product is now the second-largest provider of alternative business finance in the UK and has already helped more than 1,500 businesses find necessary funding, to the tune of around £200m.
Pensionledfunding.com is also a pivotal part in the new alternativebusinessfunding.co.uk portal. The portal, which has already garnered support from Business Secretary Vince Cable and the CBI, is a unique collaboration between the UK’s main alternative business funders and aims to make borrowing easier for the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) while aiding the main banks to support applicants they cannot fund.
The portal signposts SMEs to the most appropriate source of non-bank funding, providing a short-cut to finance options that business owners may not be fully aware of. In addition each of the seven founders will “recycle” the applicants they are not able to help to the site, to access other potential non-bank funding sources.
Pictured receiving their award, from left: Clifton Asset Management chairman Adam Tavener, managing director Neil Greenaway and group financial planning director Anthony Carty
