A Masterclass in Business Lending from NatWest TMT boss, Neil Bellamy

Update: 2025-10-10

Description

£25bn of UK Tech Funding with British Banking Giant NatWest

In this episode we interview Neil Bellamy, the Head of Technology Media and Telecoms [TMT] at NatWest. He set up a sector-specific lending team that has now lent £25 billion to over 25,000 UK technology businesses. This sector approach has now been copied into many other industries. Neil appreciates that many TMT businesses want the 3 B’s – get Backing, get Big and get Bought.

We ask the UK’s largest bank – how do you decide which companies to lend to, and what is the new concept of lending against Intellectual Property? If you want to understand how business lending works, this interview is a great place to start.

At the end, in the section called ‘Ian and Chris’s Takeaway’, the hosts discuss the key lessons to learn from this interview and how it shows that the UK’s largest bank is constantly seeking new companies to lend money to.

Neil explains:

▪️ How much money is he trying to lend each year?

▪️ What proportion of applications for loans are approved and why?

▪️ How big does a company need to be before they can get a loan approved?

▪️ What does he mean by Intellectual Property?

▪️ How many loans are not repaid, and what happens then?

Follow Neil Bellamy:

LinkedIn - com/in/neilbellamy

Email – bellamy@natwest.com

Website - https://www.natwest.com/business/sector-expertise/technology-media-telecoms.html

Billionaire Business:

Website: billionairebusiness.net

Buy the book “The Street-Smart MBA – Mastering Business Acumen Without Going to School” by Ian Fishwick

There is a chapter in The Street-Smart MBA specifically devoted to Banks. The chapter on bank borrowing is for people who are serious about setting up a business and want to know how to deal with banks. Lessons that you rarely see elsewhere.