Folk2Folk has recently opened its third branch in Gloucestershire and plans to open another seven in 2017 starting with Harrogate in January.

The lender is currently mainly based in the West Country, but hopes the opening of new branches across the UK will help local businesses across the country.

Folk2Folk has so far introduced over £120m of loans to UK businesses and expects to help over 4,000 business owners as part of its national expansion over the next three years.

Jane Dumeresque, CEO of Folk2Folk, said it was delighted to be opening new branches across the UK.

“At Folk2Folk we think nationally but act locally in helping our local business owners and investors.

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“Our mission is to help local businesses grow by accessing the right finance they need.

“By providing a quick, simple and easy process we can enable UK businesses to get on and achieve their business goals.”

To help with the launch of its new branches, Folk2Folk has initiated a recruitment campaign as it looks to create multiple jobs in the regions to service local business owners looking for finance or customers looking to invest.

Folk2Folk hope that these plans will put them on the path to becoming a top three business lender in new loans for SMEs by 2020.

Jane conclude: “By establishing a local presence in key regions across the UK, we believe this expansion will help introduce over £1bn in finance for business owners enabling them to prosper and thrive [while] at the same time providing our investors [with] a great return.”