Afin Bank lands AwR banking licence, plots 2025 launch of mortgage offering for UK’s African diaspora
UK start-up Afin Bank has been handed an authorised with restrictions (AwR) banking licence by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and is now in the mobilisation stage ahead of the 2025 launch of its mortgage and savings services designed for Africans living in the UK.
Afin Bank receives UK AwR banking licence
The company’s loan offering will include residential and buy-to-let (BTL) mortgages for people from Africa living and working in England and Wales.
BTL mortgages will also be available for real estate investors based in Ghana, Sierra Leone and The Gambia who are looking to purchase property in the UK.
Afin plans to start delivering its specialist lending services from an undefined date next year through intermediaries and its digital app, subject to regulatory approval.
These mortgages will be joined by a suite of savings products, which are to be made available to savers from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and The Gambia, or those with a UK passport.
Having now entered the mobilisation stage of its licensing journey, Afin can hold up to £50,000 in aggregated deposits at any one time.
This stage allows new banks to “secure further investment, recruit staff, invest in IT systems and commit to third-party suppliers”, per the PRA’s website, and “could take as little as a few months but cannot continue indefinitely and should take no longer than 12 months”.
In a statement, Afin cites the 1.5 million African nationals currently living in the UK as the target audience of its market debut. The lender adds that as it grows, its offering “is likely to appeal to borrowers from other under-served diaspora communities”.
Afin’s growth ambition is backed by a £60 million commitment from WAICA Reinsurance Corporation, its parent company.
Afin Bank’s CEO, Jason Oakley, who also co-founded UK-based SME lender Recognise Bank in 2021, says: “This is an important milestone for Afin Bank and demonstrates that we are well on our way to offering vital financial services to the African diaspora who are currently poorly served by mainstream providers.
“These are professionals working in vital sectors such as law, finance and health, as well as in many of our major corporate firms, or they are creating wealth and opportunities in the UK. Yet they have found it difficult to get the financial support they need until now.”
