Momenta Finance Secures £200 Million Lloyds Facility to Boost UK SME Lending

UK alternative lender Momenta Finance has secured a £100 million senior warehouse facility from Lloyds to bolster its unsecured SME lending capacity. For the fintech sector, this deal highlights the growing reliance on institutional partnerships to bridge the funding gap for small businesses, providing the liquidity necessary to scale high-volume, tech-driven credit platforms.

What was announced

Momenta Finance, a specialist in UK small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending, has established a new funding line with Lloyds. The £100 million senior warehouse facility includes an accordion option for an additional £100 million, potentially bringing the total funding capacity to £200 million. This capital is specifically earmarked for Momenta’s unsecured business loan products, which are designed to support UK SMEs with working capital, expansion projects, and general investment.

The facility is intended to provide Momenta with the headroom required to meet rising demand from its broker network. By increasing its capital base, the lender aims to fund a higher volume of opportunities introduced by its partners across the UK. This latest agreement follows a period of significant capital raising for the firm; since 2023, Momenta Finance has secured more than £500 million in facilities from various banking and institutional partners.

Established in 2013, the lender has already deployed over £250 million to more than 2,500 businesses. As an accredited partner of the government-owned British Business Bank, Momenta focuses on providing fast, tailored funding solutions. The addition of Lloyds to its funding panel adds further depth and diversification to its platform, allowing the business to scale its underwriting operations and maintain deployment momentum in the competitive alternative finance space.

"Securing a facility of this scale with Lloyds is an important step in supporting our growth plans, giving us the capacity to build on our underwriting and our platform. It means we can back many more ambitious UK businesses through our broker partners and look ahead with confidence and certainty."

Tim Boag, CEO of Momenta Finance.

The companies involved

Momenta Finance is a UK-based direct lender that specialises in providing alternative finance solutions to the SME market. Its core product offering includes unsecured business loans and real estate-backed lending, positioning it as a key player for firms that may struggle to access traditional bank credit. The company operates as an independent entity and has built its market position through a combination of proprietary technology and a strong broker-led distribution model. Since its inception in 2013, the firm has focused on speed and flexibility, eventually gaining accreditation from the government-owned British Business Bank.

Lloyds Banking Group is one of the UK’s "Big Four" clearing banks and a dominant force in the domestic financial services landscape. Through its Securitised Products Group, the bank provides specialist financing to non-bank lenders, acting as a critical liquidity provider for the alternative finance ecosystem. Lloyds has been increasingly active in the securitisation space, leveraging its balance sheet to support established lenders that serve specific niches of the UK economy. The group’s involvement in this facility underscores its strategy of supporting the wider economy by enabling specialist lenders to reach businesses that require more flexible or faster credit assessments than traditional retail banking models typically allow.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has extensively tracked the digital transformation and strategic shifts at Lloyds Banking Group. Recent coverage includes the bank's exploration of cutting-edge technology, such as the Lloyds Banking Group Explores Quantum Computing and AI in New 'No Ordinary Tech' Podcast Series. The bank has also focused on practical applications for trade, recently launching the Lloyds Bank Launches AI Tool to Recover 500,000 Trading Days for UK Exporters.

On the leadership front, the group recently strengthened its technical expertise by Lloyds Banking Group Appoints HSBC’s Jane Gilmour as Chief Technology Officer. Additionally, the bank’s research into regional economic trends was highlighted in the Lloyds Banking Group Unveils UK Digital Money Map: AI Adoption and Regional Financial Trends, which analysed AI adoption and regional financial progress across the UK.

What this means

This deal reflects a maturing UK alternative lending market where the "alternative" label is becoming increasingly synonymous with "institutionally backed." As traditional banks face high capital requirements for direct SME lending, they are pivoting toward acting as wholesalers of capital to agile, tech-enabled lenders like Momenta. This shift puts pressure on smaller non-bank lenders that lack the scale or track record to secure similar warehouse facilities, potentially leading to further consolidation in the sector. The central question for the industry now is whether this influx of institutional liquidity will lead to a price war in the unsecured space or if risk appetites will remain disciplined as economic uncertainty persists.