Perspectives · Fund regulation
What a loan book is, and why managers keep one beside the entity record
A loan book is the register of the loans a business has made or holds: who borrowed, which entity lent, on what terms, against what security and what is outstanding. For a private credit manager it is the core operating record. It is also a record about entities, which is why it works best kept beside the entity record rather than apart from it. This perspective is general information, not legal advice.
Week 43, published 10 November 2026 · Fund regulation
The definition
The register of loans made and held
A loan book lists each facility and the loans under it. A typical entry records the lender, the borrower, the facility amount, what has been drawn and repaid, the interest terms, the maturity date, any security and the documents that govern it.
Banks have always kept loan books. Investment managers that lend through funds and special purpose vehicles keep them too, often across many lending entities at once.
The entities
Every loan sits between two entities
In a fund structure the lender of record is rarely the manager. It is a fund, a sub fund or a lending vehicle, each with its own directors, bank accounts and authority to sign. The borrower is a company too, often one the manager knows well because it sits in a portfolio.
That means each loan depends on facts held elsewhere: whether the lending entity was authorised to enter the facility, who signed for it, and whether the borrower's details are current. A loan book kept in a separate spreadsheet copies those facts and then loses track of them.
The security
Security is registered against the borrower
When a UK company grants a charge to secure a loan, section 859A of the Companies Act 2006 sets the period for delivering a statement of particulars to Companies House at 21 days beginning with the day after the charge is created, unless a court extends it. GOV.UK lists mortgages and loan guarantees, such as a secured loan, among the changes Companies House must be told about.
For the lender, the charge is part of the loan. For the borrower, it is part of the entity record. Keeping the two together means the registration deadline is seen by the people who need to meet it.
The governance
Decisions need a record of how they were reached
In its multi firm review of private market valuation practices, the FCA found that some valuation committees' minutes did not record how decisions were reached, and said this lack of record keeping prevented it from having confidence in the oversight of those decisions. It also listed secured borrowing among the potential valuation related conflicts firms should identify and document.
The same principle applies to the loan book. Who proposed a loan, who approved it and on what basis should be part of the record, not something reconstructed later.
In Alethia
A loan book beside the entity record
Alethia's Loan Book keeps a register of loans across the facilities you record, with a page for each facility. Each loan is approved before it is recorded, and the register sits beside the records of the entities on each side.
Questions
Loan books, answered
Is a loan book the same as a loan register?
In practice, yes. Both terms describe the record of loans made or held, with their parties, terms and balances.
How long does a UK company have to register a charge?
Section 859A of the Companies Act 2006 sets 21 days beginning with the day after the charge is created, unless a court order extends the period.
Why does the lending entity matter if the manager runs everything?
Because the lending entity is the party to the loan. Its authority to lend, its signatories and its records are what a borrower, an auditor or a court will look at.
Keep each loan with the entities on each side
Record facilities and loans beside the lending and borrowing entities, with every loan approved before it enters the register.