DECTA and SAPI launch payment-linked finance for UK SMEs

DECTA and SAPI announced on 24 September 2026 that they are launching DECTA Capital, a payment-linked finance product built into DECTA's existing merchant payments service for eligible UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Instead of directing merchants to a separate lender, DECTA is embedding the application inside the payments experience its merchants already use, while SAPI supplies the underlying financing infrastructure and says it handles underwriting, servicing, collections and compliance.

The move matters because of how large the UK SME segment is. At the start of 2025, the UK had an estimated 5,681,930 private-sector SMEs with 0–249 employees, according to the Department for Business and Trade's business population estimates, published 2 October 2025. Those businesses employed 16.882 million people and generated an estimated £2.829tn in annual turnover (a measure that excludes financial and insurance activities), representing 99.85% of private-sector businesses, 60% of private-sector employment and 51% of private-sector turnover.

What UK merchants using DECTA need to understand before applying is that DECTA Capital is not a conventional business loan. SAPI's published general terms describe the product as a purchase of future business receivables, with repayment collected as a share of sales rather than fixed instalments, a one-off fixed fee instead of interest, a possible minimum monthly payment, a 12-month repayment requirement, and at least one director's personal guarantee.

How DECTA Capital works

According to the launch report, eligible merchants will be able to seek funding from within their existing DECTA payment experience rather than applying to a separate lender. SAPI provides the financing infrastructure behind that experience and, according to the announcement, handles underwriting, servicing and compliance; SAPI's own description of its partner model also covers collections operations. SAPI says on its eligibility page that it checks a merchant's platform trading data, open-banking information, business and director credit data, and existing financial commitments before deciding whether to make an offer, and that a valid bank account and open-banking connection are required to apply.

Financial IT's report on the launch says offers are typically available within around 24 hours, a figure SAPI also uses on its own site. This is a company-reported metric, not an independently verified service standard, and it describes the time to an offer, not necessarily to funds landing in a merchant's account.

Not a conventional business loan

SAPI's general terms and its compliance materials describe payment-linked financing as a purchase of future business receivables rather than a loan or a regulated consumer-credit agreement. In practice, this means the legal mechanism is a sale of a slice of future card or account-to-account payment revenue, not a borrowing arrangement in the conventional sense.

The practical difference for a merchant is in how repayment is collected. SAPI says repayments are normally a fixed share of sales, typically 10%–30%, deducted automatically until the advance and a one-off fixed fee have been repaid in full. Because the amount collected is proportional to sales, a slower trading period should, in principle, mean a smaller deduction that week than a busier one.

That flexibility has limits that a merchant should weigh carefully. SAPI says it can require a minimum monthly payment equal to one-twelfth of the initial advance if sales-linked deductions fall short, and it requires the advance to be repaid in full within 12 months regardless of trading performance. A merchant experiencing a sustained downturn should not assume repayments will simply track sales down to a negligible level; SAPI may still require the minimum monthly payment, and the 12-month deadline applies regardless of trading performance.

Costs and eligibility to check

SAPI says the product carries no interest and no early-repayment fee, but a one-off fixed fee is agreed upfront. The size of that fee depends on factors including card processing history, credit history and the amount financed. No DECTA Capital-specific fee schedule, worked example, total amount repayable or annualised cost equivalent has been published in the sources reviewed for this article, so a merchant considering the product should ask for the cash amount advanced, the total amount repayable and the expected repayment period in writing before agreeing to anything. It is also unclear whether repaying early reduces the fixed fee itself, or only avoids a separate early-repayment charge; SAPI's published material addresses only the latter.

These figures come from SAPI's general eligibility page, accessed 25 September 2026, and have not been confirmed as the specific terms that will apply to DECTA Capital. Meeting the published criteria does not guarantee an offer, and SAPI says applications are also subject to affordability, policy and credit approval.

A contradiction worth flagging: "no credit-score hurdles"

The launch material describes DECTA Capital as avoiding credit-score hurdles. That framing sits awkwardly against SAPI's own eligibility page, which says it checks both business and director personal credit files and may decline an application after significant adverse events or excessive county court judgments. Readers should treat the "no credit-score hurdles" description with caution rather than take it at face value.

A second gap concerns security. The launch framing emphasises funding without collateral, but SAPI requires at least one director's personal guarantee, and may ask for guarantees from more than one owner. A personal guarantee is not the same as pledging business assets as collateral, but it does mean a director can be personally pursued if the business does not meet its obligations. The scope of that exposure, the events that trigger enforcement and any cap on liability are not set out on the pages reviewed for this article; a merchant and any guarantor should obtain and read the actual agreement before signing.

Regulatory status and what redress may not apply

SAPI Group Limited and SAPI Origination Limited say they are registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as Annex I firms for anti-money-laundering supervision under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. That registration is not the same as FCA authorisation to carry out consumer-credit or other regulated activities, and SAPI explicitly says neither entity is authorised or regulated for those activities. Financial IT's report describes SAPI as handling "compliance" for DECTA Capital; readers should understand this as SAPI's operational compliance function, not as evidence that the advance itself is an FCA-regulated credit product.

This has practical consequences for a merchant who runs into a dispute. SAPI says the Financial Ombudsman Service may not be able to consider complaints about the advance, and that the arrangement is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The Ombudsman's own published guidance notes that complainant eligibility is only one part of whether it can consider a case; it must also be able to consider the specific business and activity involved, so the position may depend on the detail of an individual dispute rather than being an absolute bar.

What is still not known

Several details that would materially affect a merchant's decision have not been published in the sources available for this article: the exact date DECTA Capital becomes available to merchants, which DECTA merchant segments or UK regions are covered at launch, whether SAPI's general £10,000–£500,000 advance range and eligibility thresholds apply unchanged to DECTA Capital, and whether DECTA receives an introduction commission from SAPI on advances arranged through its platform (SAPI says introducers and partners generally receive such a commission, without disclosing DECTA's specific arrangement). The FCA register entries for the two SAPI entities were not directly checked in the course of this research, so any merchant considering the product should verify current Annex I status on the FCA register before proceeding.

Where to check the detail

A merchant considering DECTA Capital should ask DECTA and SAPI directly for the specific fixed fee, total repayable amount, expected duration and any minimum-payment terms that apply to their own offer, rather than relying on the general figures published on SAPI's site. The FCA's Financial Services Register is the primary source for confirming a firm's current regulatory status, and the Financial Ombudsman Service's own guidance sets out when it can and cannot consider a complaint involving a small business.