Ceniarth Increases Impact Investment in Ethical Lending Fintech, Salad

Ethical lender Salad has secured a 67% increase in its facility agreement with Ceniarth, a family office which funds market-based solutions to benefit underserved communities. The £2m impact investment, part-guaranteed by not-for-profit financial inclusion organisation Fair4All Finance, builds on Ceniarth’s £1.2m loan to Salad in 2023. It will enable Salad, an affordable, mid-cost lender, to meet rocketing demand, saving more workers who need to borrow hundreds of pounds in interest compared with higher-cost providers – crucial at a time when half of UK adults are defined as financially vulnerable and the use of high-cost credit is increasing . Salad, a social enterprise and community development finance institution (CDFI), serves full-time workers excluded from mainstream credit because they have a low credit score or lack a credit file. Its customers need to borrow and want to avoid high-cost and illegal loans and Salad uses Open Banking and its own human- and machine-learning technology to make lending decisions. “This means we can make a more accurate and fair assessment of whether we can serve an applicant,” says Salad’s chief executive Tim Rooney. “Many of our customers would be turned down by lenders which use credit scores, leaving them with limited, expensive options when they need credit. Each of our loans saves a typical customer hundreds of pounds in interest compared with the alternatives available to them. As valued long-term partners to Salad, Ceniarth and Fair4All Finance share our determination to build financial resilience and inclusion.” Guarantor Fair4All Finance, the not-for-profit financial inclusion organisation set up to increase the supply of fair and affordable credit for people in financially vulnerable circumstances, is already a social investor in Salad Holly Piper, Investment Director at Fair4All Finance, said: “We are delighted to play a part in the extension of this catalytic investment, which will ensure thousands more people on low incomes can access fair and affordable credit from Salad. We'd love to see more investors follow Ceniarth's lead in supporting the growth of affordable credit to those people in vulnerable financial circumstances who otherwise go without.” Salad has previously won the Open Banking for Good Award and other accolades. It is currently running its third ethical lending bond issue on Ethex.