Specialist alternative finance firm Sancus BMS Group, with an office in Athol Street, Douglas, has supplied more than £700m in funding to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs, since it was launched four years ago.

Sancus was founded in Jersey in 2013, following the severe shortage of finance after the global financial crisis of 2008.

As traditional lenders saw an implosion of their lending capabilities, the company was formed to fulfil the borrowing needs of businesses and entrepreneurs by matching them with funders seeking diversified, risk-adjusted returns above the low interest rates available through more traditional asset categories.

The Group has since expanded rapidly and now operates in six jurisdictions including the Isle of Man.

The business employs more than 50 staff across seven offices.

Sancus has also expanded its range of financing solutions to include asset-backed loans, working capital finance and credit insured cash flow funding.

The British Business Bank is also an investor in the Sancus Group through BMS Finance (UK) SARL.

The Bank is 100 per cent government owned with the aim of making finance available to smaller businesses throughout the UK, creating a more diverse and vibrant financial market.

Chief executive officer Andrew Whelan said, ‘We have seen substantial growth and diversification of our lending solutions since we launched.

We are looking forward to announcing further initiatives in 2018, including the launch of our new online reporting platform for our offshore Co-Funders, which will complement our UK FCA regulated transactional platform.

‘We are also expanding our Irish office to include asset-backed lending, which will enable us to offer Euro denominated loans in 2018.’