Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby has welcomed Allica Bank’s plans to expand into Sweden, describing the move as another sign of the strength of Britain’s fintech sector and its ability to produce companies capable of scaling internationally.
According to a press release issued by Allica Bank, the fast-growing digital business bank has submitted an application for a Swedish banking licence to Finansinspektionen, Sweden’s financial regulator, as it prepares for its first expansion outside the UK.
The bank has also established a Swedish legal entity and recruited an executive team to lead the new operation, including Rickard Westlund as chief executive of its Swedish business.
If authorised, the Swedish licence could also provide Allica with a platform for longer-term expansion into other European Union markets.
Rigby welcomed the move, saying: “It’s brilliant to see Allica building on their success here in the UK and expanding into other European markets.”
She added: “The UK is a fintech powerhouse, and I’m fully committed to ensuring it remains a jurisdiction where the world’s most innovative financial services firms choose to start, scale and stay.”
Writing separately on X, Rigby described Allica as one of Britain’s fastest-growing fintech unicorns and said it was “excellent” to see the business looking to build on its domestic success by moving into new markets.
Backing established businesses
Allica has built its business around serving established companies employing between five and 250 people — a segment the bank says accounts for around a third of UK GDP but has often been underserved by both traditional high-street banks and newer digital challengers.
Since securing its UK banking licence in 2019, Allica says it has lent more than £4 billion to established British businesses, while more than 15,000 businesses now use its current account.
Its move into Sweden follows a $155 million Series D funding round in February, which valued the company at close to $1.2 billion and was intended to support its next phase of growth and international expansion.
Allica said Sweden was selected because of its highly digital economy, established business lending market and respected regulatory system.
Chief executive Richard Davies said: “Sweden has one of Europe’s most digital economies, with a well-respected regulator, making it a natural choice for Allica’s first expansion outside the UK.”
He said established Swedish businesses face many of the same challenges as their British counterparts and argued that Allica’s UK model had demonstrated the demand for a combination of digital technology and specialist business banking expertise.
UK fintech success story
For Labour, Allica’s expansion provides an example of the kind of business growth ministers want to encourage: a UK-founded fintech scaling at home, supporting SMEs and then competing in international markets.
Rigby’s intervention also reflects the Government’s wider ambition to maintain Britain’s position as a leading centre for financial technology and ensure innovative businesses can both start and continue growing in the UK.
Allica’s application remains subject to approval by the Swedish regulator, but if successful it would mark a significant new chapter in the bank’s rapid growth.
