Meet our Finance Conference 2023 Sponsors: CAF Bank- Tea & Coffee Sponsor

CAF Bank is proud to sponsor the SFHA Finance Conference taking place in the beautiful town of Aviemore this year.  This ever-expanding event offers the opportunity to reflect on the sector’s challenges and achievements and provides a chance to explore how we work together towards the goals and opportunities that lie ahead.

As a bank owned by a charity – the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) – we are perfectly placed to understand the challenges housing associations face and assist in finding solutions.  For the charities and social purpose enterprises we serve we know we are more than a bank.  We support them, we listen to them, and importantly we act on what they tell us.  Our tailored approach, expert guidance and genuine care allows them to focus on supporting the communities they exist to serve.

Entrenched financial challenges

The difficulties of the past few years have had a significant impact on many of the organisations we support.  The Covid-19 pandemic followed by sharply rising interest rates, the cost-of-living crisis, and geopolitical upheaval have led to rises in operating costs and falling donations while more people have been looking to charities and social purpose enterprises for help.

In the face of these challenges we have explored measures to offer support.  In the 2022/23 financial year, CAF Bank’s drawn and committed loan balances grew by £44 million, the biggest annual uplift in the history of CAF Bank lending.  We advanced £34 million in loans to 31 different entities.  This has enabled them to carry out vital work, expand their services, purchase premises, and help more people in need of a lifeline.  This year has also seen CAF Bank increase its maximum loan size to £10m and we are proud to have supported RSL’s with private finance for new building development projects, assisted them with funding to make improvements to existing stock and helped refinance existing debt on more favourable terms.

Helping charities to deliver their sustainability goals

As we all know, sustainability is becoming increasingly important against the backdrop of net zero commitments, environmental change, higher energy costs and increasing regulation.  The drive towards a more sustainable future is shaping the actions of business, charities and governments and transforming the way we live.  We recognise we can play a role here too so we are excited to have launched a green loan scheme which is designed to help charities and social purpose enterprises achieve their sustainability ambitions and direct funds to environmentally beneficial projects.  Applications for our green loans are welcome from RSL’s and can be used to finance ‘fabric first’ insultation retrofits, new developments meeting EPC A or B standards or Bream ‘Excellent’, and sustainable energy systems such as solar or air source heat pumps.

If you are attending the conference we would love to tell you more about our green loans and our wider work supporting the sector.  Please visit our stand to discuss your future plans with myself or my colleagues Richard Hunt, Danny Dickson, or Fraser McKay.  I very much hope to see you there.

Alternatively, for more information or to get in touch please visit their website.