- Retail Credit Licence granted by Central Bank of Ireland
- Irish specialist business lender set to grow team by over 50%
- Range of products to include car finance and buy-to-let mortgages
- Portfolio grows to €1billion
Dublin, 16th June 2025 — Capitalflow, Ireland’s largest specialist business lender, has been approved by the Central Bank of Ireland as a Retail Credit Firm. The approval of the licence allows Capitalflow to expand its product range to include consumer car finance through dealerships, buy-to-let mortgages for property investors and lending to individuals looking to invest in commercial properties, significantly enhancing its reach to a wider range of customers.
The company has advanced over €2 billion in loans since 2016, currently has a loan portfolio exceeding €1 billion, and employs almost 100 people. To meet rising demand and support its long-term growth, Capitalflow plans to expand its workforce by 50% to 150 people by 2028.
CEO of Capitalflow, Ronan Horgan, says: “We are delighted to be authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as a Retail Credit firm, a major milestone that will assist us in our plans to grow Capitalflow for the foreseeable future. This licence, and the regulations, fit very well with how we approach our customers, always putting them first in everything we do. It allows us to expand our products to meet our customers’ needs. Over the last nine years we have competed with the legacy banks by providing choice to Irish businesspeople with our current products and now with this authorisation we can meet more of our customer needs.”
The firm has experienced a strong performance in lending for H1 2025 and is on track to reach its new business target of €450 million in 2025, reflecting a 20% increase on 2024 figures. It plans to increase its new business lending to €700 million by 2028, with a focus on the intermediary market.
Capitalflow’s ability to access competitive funding terms from its parent bank, bunq, supports its ability to grow its loan portfolio to €2 billion by 2028. With a no nonsense, down-to-earth approach to lending, Capitalflow remains committed to building a sustainable business model built on an excellent governance culture, strong focus on technology innovation and supporting the long-term success of its customers.
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About Capitalflow
Established in October 2015 and founded by Ronan Horgan with private equity investment from Pollen Street Capital, Capitalflow is Ireland’s largest non-bank specialist business lender. Partnering with Irish SMEs and Property Investors, Capitalflow provides flexible finance options through nationwide network of relationship managers and partners to businesses looking to grow and scale. Headquartered in Dublin, with offices in Santry and Baggot Street, the company employs almost 100 experienced decision makers and has advanced over €2bn in the Irish market to date. In 2021 Capitalflow was acquired by Dutch fintech bunq, a fully licenced EU Bank founded in 2012 by serial entrepreneur Ali Niknam.
Capitalflow Group DAC, trading as Capitalflow Commercial Finance, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
More information can be found at www.capitalflow.ie.
About bunq
Founded in 2012 by serial entrepreneur Ali Niknam, bunq has brought lasting change to the European banking industry. By having its users at the heart of the business and building a product rooted in their wants and needs, bunq quickly scaled to become the second largest neobank in the EU. Serving digital nomads across the European Economic Area, bunq makes life easy for location-independent people and businesses starting from the way they manage money: how they spend, save, budget and invest.
Pioneering many things considered impossible, bunq was the first bank to get a European banking permit in over 35 years, raised the largest series A round ever secured by a European fintech (€193 million), and was the first EU neobank to achieve structural profitability at the end of 2022. On its mission to build the first global neobank for digital nomads, in April 2025, bunq announced it is fast-tracking its entry in the US by applying for a broker-dealer license and planning to reapply for the full banking license later the same year.
