Simply Asset Finance and Lombard Expand Partnership to Scale UK SME Asset Finance

Simply Asset Finance and Lombard, the asset finance arm of NatWest Group, have moved to fully integrate their lending platforms following a successful pilot phase. This expansion signals a shift toward tech-enabled, regionalised credit distribution, allowing high-street capital to reach UK SMEs through specialized AI-driven interfaces and localized vendor networks.

What was announced

The partnership extension marks a transition from a standard wholesale facility to a fully integrated lending model. By embedding Simply Asset Finance’s technology-enabled platform into the workflow, the two firms aim to create a unified customer journey that reduces friction and improves time-to-funding for small and medium-sized enterprises. This integration utilizes Simply’s proprietary technology, including its AI agent, Kara, to streamline the application and underwriting process.

The announcement follows an initial five-month phase during which a £25 million wholesale facility from Lombard was successfully deployed. The funding was primarily used to support UK businesses through hire purchase and finance lease products. A key feature of this deployment was its geographic reach; approximately 90% of the total funding was allocated to businesses located outside of London and the South East. Specifically, 20% of the capital was directed toward SMEs in the North West, with further significant demand recorded across Scotland, Yorkshire, and the South West.

Under the expanded model, SMEs gain access to Lombard’s balance sheet strength and specialist lending expertise through Simply’s established vendor relationships and local presence. The partnership is designed to combine the scale of a major financial institution with the agility of a fintech specialist. Moving forward, both organizations intend to focus on the distribution of tailored funding solutions to support entrepreneurs and expand their reach into various regional communities across the UK.

"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."

Ylva Oertengren, COO at Simply Asset Finance.

The companies involved

Simply Asset Finance is a specialist SME lender that has positioned itself as a technology-first alternative to traditional banks. The firm focuses on asset-backed lending, utilizing a proprietary platform to manage the end-to-end customer journey. Beyond her role as COO at Simply, Ylva Oertengren also serves as the Chair of The Leasing Foundation, highlighting the company’s influence within the broader asset finance sector. Simply has built a reputation for combining automated AI processes with human expertise to serve sectors that are often overlooked by larger institutions.

Lombard is one of the UK’s oldest and largest asset finance providers, operating as part of the NatWest Group. It provides funding for a wide range of assets, from vehicles and technology to manufacturing equipment and renewable energy infrastructure. Led by Andrew Kilheeney, Managing Director, Wholesale and Specialist Businesses, Lombard provides the capital and scale necessary for large-scale SME support. By partnering with specialist lenders like Simply, Lombard is able to deploy its wholesale facilities more effectively into niche markets and regional hubs where smaller, tech-enabled firms often have better boots-on-the-ground intelligence and faster processing capabilities.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely followed the growth of Simply Asset Finance, having previously covered the start of this collaboration in Simply Asset Finance Announces Partnership with Lombard in April 2026. The company’s trajectory has been marked by significant financial milestones; in August 2026, we reported that Simply Asset Finance Hits £3.4M Profit and £532M Loan Book Amid AI-Driven Expansion, a period during which the firm leaned heavily into AI to drive its operational growth. Regional success has also been a recurring theme, as seen when Simply Asset Finance Hits £200m Funding Milestone for Scottish SMEs Following Five Years of Growth. Additionally, the company’s leadership has been active in policy discussions, with Innovate Finance Urges UK Action on Open Finance and AI to Secure FinTech Lead featuring industry calls for faster technological adoption.

What this means

This partnership represents a maturing of the "Fintech-as-a-Distribution-Channel" model. For Tier 1 banks like NatWest, the challenge has always been maintaining the agility required to serve small, regional businesses without the overhead of traditional branch-based underwriting. By integrating with Simply, Lombard effectively outsources the "last mile" of credit delivery to a platform that uses AI to manage risk and customer experience more efficiently than a legacy bank could alone. This puts pressure on other high-street lenders to either upgrade their internal SME stacks or find their own specialist partners. The heavy regional tilt of the funding also suggests that the next battleground for SME finance isn't in London, but in the industrial hubs of the North West and Scotland.