Specialist lender Cambridge & Counties Bank, a leading provider of real estate finance to SMEs and commercial property investors, has signed a three-year agreement with Twinn by Royal HaskoninghDVH, formerly known as Ambiental Technical Solutions Ltd, to enhance its understanding of the potential impact of climate change on its UK portfolio.
Established in 2012 and headquartered in Leicester, Cambridge & Counties Bank is owned jointly by Trinity Hall, a college of the University of Cambridge, and Cambridgeshire County Council. It has grown rapidly over the past decade due to a very competitive product suite and a customer-centric market approach. It has around £1 billion in both lending and deposits and more than 200 staff serving the whole of the UK.
Twinn has used its award-winning dataset FloodScore Climate to analyse the bank’s property portfolio for climate-related flood risk. The data covers all UK addresses with ratings from 0 – 100 (100 being extremely high risk) based on average annual loss, frequency, and ¬flood depth. The bank’s portfolio results are comparable with the national average for future flood risks.
Britain experienced its hottest year ever in 2022, and the latest evidence is that climate change is transforming Europe's weather. The Met Office has recorded annual temperature records from 1884, and all the ten warmest years have occurred since 2003. The impact on the UK property market remains significant and Twinn expects continued demand for analysis and insight from all types of UK stakeholders.
Among other accolades, Cambridge & Counties Bank has received the Green Award from Investors in the Environment (iiE) for seven consecutive years since 2015. This not-for-profit accreditation scheme supports businesses in improving environmental performance.
Andy Tovey, Head of Credit Control, Cambridge & Counties Bank, said:
“It’s important for us to work with market-leading partners as a means to deliver the best possible service for our clients, and in terms of understanding the potential impact of climate change on our UK portfolio this means working with Twinn.”
Rob Carling, Channel Sales Manager, Twinn, said:
“We are delighted to partner with Cambridge & Counties Bank and to look at the climate-related risks for flood, subsidence and coastal erosion. In particular we have found it very interesting to work on a commercial property portfolio as well as residential properties. A recent report from Aviva stated that almost a third of commercial properties are currently at risk of flooding. The report says "that 57% of SMEs believe climate change will impact their business in the next ten years, and a quarter (25%) believe it will affect their livelihood within the next year."