Unity Trust Bank’s lending to the dental sector has increased more than fivefold with almost half of lending reaching areas of high deprivation.
The bank’s annual results show its financing for dental practices grew to £17.2 million in 2025 (2024: £2.6 million).
87.6% of this financing was classified as ‘B – Benefit Stakeholders’* within Unity’s classifications and 47.8% of lending went to high deprivation areas where it is needed most.
Of the treatments/services offered by dental practices that bank with Unity, 35.4% are funded through NHS payments or local authorities.
Furthermore, 60% of Unity’s lending in 2025 helped dentistry customers to grow their business.
In 2025 a family-run dental group secured seven-figure refinancing from Unity to support its continued growth.
After buying their first practice in 2004, chartered accountant Dipen Shah and his wife Bindi Shah, a dentist, have steadily grown their portfolio and now own seven practices across Cambridgeshire and the Home Counties serving more than 70,000 active patients.
Dipen said: “We like buying practices to turn them around — practices that have suffered from missed opportunities.
“At our previous bank, we were a small fish in a big pond. Unity’s business banking rates were just as competitive, but what really made the difference was the relationship.
“Our relationship manager, Martin Leake, was the big pull. We’d worked with him at a previous bank — he’s seen our business grow and understands it inside out.
“We’re a family-run business and we like the way Unity looks after customers like us. We have an open-door policy, and so does Unity. Being able to pick up the phone and speak to Martin whenever we need to is incredibly refreshing.”
Unity’s overall support of frontline healthcare providers in 2025 includes:
- Over £20 million in loans deployed in the pharmacy sector, supporting the provision of more than three million prescriptions
- 73.4% of lending helped pharmacy customers expand their operations
- Lending to the care home sector increased by 74% to £60.3 million (2024: £34.6 million) helping 34 customers to provide over 1,600 bed spaces
- 63% of bed spaces funded by Unity are occupied through local authority funding or concessionary rates.
- 49% of funding in the care home sector were classified as ‘C – Contribute to Solutions’* within Unity’s classifications for organisations that deliver dedicated service to vulnerable or marginalised communities.
Colin Fyfe, CEO at Unity, said: “Unity Trust Bank is committed to supporting organisations that make a positive difference to people’s lives and contribute to a better society for all.
“Communities across the UK rely on the services of frontline healthcare providers like dentists, pharmacies and care homes and we’re committed to supporting these sectors.
“Unity’s ‘double bottom line’ strategy is to deliver positive social impact as well as sustainable returns. I’m proud to say that we deliver this year after year.”
In 2025 Unity’s overall lending grew by 12% to over £1.1 billion (2024: 1 billion).
New lending more than doubled to over £333 million (2024: £137 million).
A record £165 million of new lending (53.7%) went to customers delivering services in areas of high deprivation.
Customer balances rose by 8% to a record £1.9 billion (2024: £1.8 billion), as more organisations seek assurance that their savings will only be used in a way that supports communities and wider society.
Unity also achieved a number of milestones in 2025.
- Unity was awarded an Investment Grade credit rating from Fitch Ratings. This landmark accreditation strengthens its position as a robust and resilient bank.
- Unity became one of a small number of banks globally to be independently verified by the Good Economy as meeting the Global Impact Investing Network’s ‘Operating Principles for Impact Management’ standards. This underscores the bank’s drive for positive change and is a benchmark for quality impact management.
- Unity became the first UK bank to invest in Local Climate Bonds, supporting local councils to deliver on their Net Zero objectives. It committed an initial £15m towards councils’ environmental projects with more to come in 2026.
The bank’s values as a social impact bank are also embedded in its culture.
A record £140,500 in grants and donations was distributed to good causes throughout the year from staff salary sacrifice and fundraising endeavours alongside the bank’s match-funding. This included £50,000 for the Unity Impact Grants programme and £35,000 support for the King’s Trust partnership.
Colin Fyfe added: “At the core of everything we do at Unity is our customers. They are at the fore of every decision we make.
“Our ambition is to be the bank of choice for all socially-minded organisations in the UK and I’m delighted that more than 11,300 values-aligned customers choose our business banking services.”
*This is an adaptation made by Unity Trust Bank based on the ABCs of Enterprise Impact: ABC of Enterprise Impact | Impact Frontiers – https://impactfrontiers.org/norms/abc-of-enterprise-impact
