Alternative Lenders & Challenger Banks

Operating in a tightening regulatory landscape with evolving expectations, we understand that you need legal support that understands your commercial pressures, manages regulatory risk and helps you move forward with confidence.

Whether you are adapting your offerings in response to expanded FCA oversight, enabling innovation through open banking, or structuring and managing complex relationships with your own funders, retailers, platforms and SMEs, our expert lawyers work alongside you to deliver pragmatic, commercially focused legal advice that supports your growth, protects capital and stands up to regulations.

Why Walker Morris: Supporting Alternative Lenders with their legal challenges

You need advisers who understand that alternative lending is not one‑size‑fits‑all. At Walker Morris we focus on supporting alternative lenders across their full lifecycle, from set‑up and regulatory authorisation through to the raising, deployment, management and recovery of capital.

Our team is recognised as Tier 1 by Legal500 and Chambers & Partners for banking and finance (Yorkshire region), reflecting our expertise across your complex, fast‑moving lending models.

What sets us apart

• One of the largest, full service alternative lending teams outside London, giving you access to top‑tier expertise without London overheads
• A Tier 1‑ranked banking and finance team (Legal500 and Chambers & Partners), giving you confidence that your legal advisers are recognised at the highest level
• Proven experience across the full lending lifecycle and advising established alternative lenders, funds and investors
• Our team have a commercially minded approach, tailored to how you structure products, partnerships and platforms, rather than forcing you into traditional banking frameworks

We can advise alternative lenders on a range of legal solutions including:

• Structuring compliant lending models – Helping you design and adapt lending products that meet evolving FCA requirements while supporting speed‑to‑market and commercial flexibility.
• Documentation that supports scale and automation – Drafting and refining facility agreements, customer facing terms and commercial contracts to enable automation, product evolution and consistent underwriting.
• Regulatory and governance support – Advising on authorisation, conduct requirements, governance frameworks and ongoing compliance to reduce regulatory risk and support sustainable growth.
• Enabling innovation through open banking and data use – Supporting the lawful and effective use of open banking, AI and data‑driven credit strategies, including consent, transparency and governance arrangements.
• Structuring and protecting complex partnerships – Advising on relationships to clearly allocate risk, responsibility and control across embedded and strategic lending models.
• Protecting data, systems and operations across the supply chain – Managing data protection, cyber security and outsourcing risk through robust commercial agreements and supplier controls.
• Supporting portfolio management and recoveries – Helping you manage loan books, address underperforming assets and protect recoverability through precise documentation and enforcement strategies.
• Financing and portfolio liquidity solutions – Advising on warehousing and SPV senior loan facility structures, forward‑flow arrangements, spot and portfolio sales, and loan‑on‑loan facilities to support capital efficiency, scalable funding and effective balance‑sheet management.