Regulatory Readiness Snapshot: How Many Companies Could Actually Evidence Compliance Today?
Imagine a regulator, reinsurer or client asked you a question tomorrow. Across the companies you insure or source from, how many could evidence the policies and practices they say they have? For most portfolios, the answer is that nobody knows. The evidence often exists, but it is fragmented across websites, policy PDFs and annual reports […]
COP31 Opens Next Week. The Real Test Is in the SME Loan Book
Next Monday, negotiators arrive in Antalya for COP31, the UN climate summit running from 9 to 20 November. Most of the commitments made there will not be delivered in Antalya. They will be delivered, or quietly missed, in credit decisions banks make about the businesses on their books. For UK banks, that means the SME […]
The Materiality Mismatch
In mid-October, parts of England were declared in severe drought. According to ITV News, the Environment Agency will increase compliance checks on businesses that abstract water, to confirm they are only taking what their permits allow. (ITV News, 2025) For a food manufacturer, that is an operational risk. For a haulage firm, it barely registers. […]
What a Good SME Climate Data Request Looks Like
Your SME client opens an email from their bank. Inside is a long climate survey, three acronyms they have never seen and a two-week deadline. It goes to the bottom of the pile and stays there. That is not a lack of goodwill. It is a design problem, and banks can fix it. Why SME […]
The £2m–£100m Blind Spot: The Part of the UK Economy Risk Models Can’t See
According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 147,920 UK companies with turnover between £2m and £20m. That’s only the lower half of the mid-market. Add the firms between £20m and £100m, and you have a vast slice of the economy that insurers underwrite, reinsure and invest in every day. Almost none of it […]
Energy Costs as a Credit Signal: What SME Utility Data Tells You About Default Risk Before the Accounts Do
According to the Insolvency Service, one in every 200 companies in England and Wales entered insolvency in the 12 months to August 2026. Few of those failures came out of nowhere. The warning signs were there, just not in the documents lenders read. Filed accounts arrive months after the year they describe. By the time […]
Good Score, Weak Evidence: How a Strong Headline Rating Can Hide Material Risk Gaps
The FCA is due to publish its final rules on sustainability ratings providers this quarter. The reason it’s stepping in should make every underwriter pause before trusting a single number. According to the FCA’s own research, 55% of ratings users are concerned about how ratings are developed, and they point to outdated or inaccurate data […]
Smaller Lender, Same Data Gap: Why Building Societies and Challengers Can’t Buy Their Way Out of SME Climate Data
The PRA’s SS5/25 implementation deadline was four months ago, and one question keeps coming up in smaller lenders’ risk committees. What does “proportionate” actually look like when you don’t have a 40-person sustainability team? A smaller balance sheet doesn’t mean a smaller Data Gap in your SME book. Proportionate Doesn’t Mean Optional According to the […]
The £2m–£100m Blind Spot: The Part of the UK Economy Risk Models Can’t See
Picture the UK economy as a map that lights up wherever a company’s risk profile is clear to insurers. The largest businesses glow brightly, because they sit inside mandatory climate-related financial disclosure, which only applies above 500 employees and £500m turnover. Below that line, the map goes dim. Not because the companies are dark, but […]
When a Borrower Misses Its Transition Target: What Banks Do Next
The compliance certificate lands on the relationship manager’s desk. Two of the borrower’s three sustainability performance targets have been missed, and the margin step-up is already written into the facility agreement. The mechanics are settled. What happens after them usually isn’t. According to the Loan Market Association, its updated draft provisions for sustainability-linked loans, published […]