Business funding in Cardiff
Cardiff has 22,000 trading companies. 3,582 of them (16.3%) have secured borrowing registered at Companies House, below Wales at 16.8% and the UK at 14.0%.
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Check what you can getHow Cardiff's sectors borrow
The biggest sectors in Cardiff, and the share of companies in each with a lender's charge registered against them. Real estate & lettings borrows most against its assets here, at 50%.
Older businesses borrow more
Lenders like a track record. In Cardiff, the share of companies with secured borrowing climbs with age, which is why a young business often starts with asset finance or a smaller unsecured loan.
Who's lending in Wales
The 122 new lender charges we tracked against Wales companies in Q3 2026, by type of lender. Property, bridging & buy-to-let made up the largest share, as most mortgages on company-owned property are registered as charges.
Funding that fits Cardiff businesses
Plain-English guides to the kinds of funding that suit Cardiff's biggest sectors.
Elsewhere in Wales
Source: every live company on the Companies House register at 2026-10-01, analysed by DueLead for its Q3 2026 Pulse report on Cardiff. "Secured borrowing" means at least one outstanding charge, a lender's security registered at Companies House, so unsecured loans and overdrafts don't show. Trading companies means active limited companies, LLPs and PLCs, excluding dormant companies, financial services firms and public bodies. Sole traders aren't on the register, so they aren't counted.