The alternative finance market may be in need of a new name. Now worth over £1bn in the UK, the industry is no longer a secondary route to finance. Instead, it’s fast becoming a serious challenger to traditional bank loans. Last year, the Bank of England’s own figures showed that lending by high street banks fell sharply, by around £400m, while new approaches, such as peer-to-peer lending, ballooned. According to Louise Beaumont, founder of major alternative lending provider Platform Black, the industry has been growing by 90% year-on-year.