Specialist SME lender Simply Asset Finance has announced an extension of its funding partnership with Lombard, part of NatWest Group, broadening access to finance for SMEs across the UK.
Marking the next phase in the partnership’s planned development, the lending experience is now fully integrated through its tech-enabled platform and market-leading customer experience1. This will create a unified customer journey that delivers cost and time efficiencies.
The news follows a successful initial phase, which has provided £25 million of funding to UK SMEs over five months via a wholesale facility from Lombard, supporting businesses through hire purchase and finance lease products. Approximately 90% of the funding has been deployed to businesses outside London and the South East, including 20% to SMEs in the North West, alongside strong demand across Scotland, Yorkshire and the South West.
Through the expanded model, SMEs will benefit from greater access to finance, combining Simply’s vendor relationships, market-leading technology – including AI agent Kara – and local presence with Lombard’s specialist lending expertise, scale and funding strength.
Looking ahead, the partnership aims to explore further opportunities to extend both businesses' joint capabilities. With a shared belief in the importance and potential of UK SMEs, Lombard and Simply will focus on distribution of funding solutions tailored to support entrepreneurs and expanding the reach into communities across the UK.
Ylva Oertengren, COO at Simply Asset Finance, said: “The first five months have given us a strong start and shown what is possible when the right funding structure is matched with the right customer experience. But this is only the beginning.
“Getting access to the right funding is the key to unlocking the UKs growth potential, and our focus is on doing everything we can to back the entrepreneurs and business builders who are investing, innovating and creating jobs. This next phase gives us more scope to do just that, and we want to keep pushing the boundaries of what good SME finance can look like.”
Andrew Kilheeney, Managing Director, Wholesale and Specialist Businesses at Lombard, part of NatWest Group, said: “From the outset, we saw in Simply a business that shares our belief in backing ambitious SMEs through a technology-led approach to finance. Its strong understanding of the market, customer-first mindset and ability to combine technology with specialist expertise made it a natural partner for us, complementing our own market-leading proposition.
The progress we've made together so far reinforces that shared vision, and we're delighted to be taking the relationship to the next level. I'd also like to thank the teams across both organisations whose hard work and collaboration made this complex project possible.”
1 UKCSI Business Benchmarking Survey 2026: Simply Asset Finance scored 88.3 on customer experience. This exceeded the UK all-sector average (79.4), the B2B average (80.1), and the sector in which Simply Asset Finance operates, Banks & Building Societies (82.7)
About Simply Asset Finance
Simply Asset Finance was founded in April 2017 by a team of asset finance specialists, in response to the need for innovation and disruption in the sector. It offers an alternative financial model to banks and looks beyond a balance sheet and credit rating, supported by a digitally enabled customer journey. Simply Asset Finance consider a customer’s potential and work with them to identify and implement the best solution to help them succeed. Their highly experienced sales team is made up of people with extensive knowledge of the industries they lend to. This means they understand the day-to-day challenges that businesses face and the dedicated support teams guide customers through the process, helping them every step of the way. Simply’s approach is underpinned by its proprietary AI agent, Kara, which enables operational efficiencies for its business and customers, including a new market-leading functionality supporting loan pay-out in as little as eight minutes for approved vendor partners.
Simply Asset Finance has lent more than £2bn to over 13,000 small and medium businesses across a wide range of sectors including transport, construction, manufacturing, recycling, and agriculture.
