London, 8th January 2009 – Lombard Marine Finance will be exhibiting at the ExCel London International Boat Show again this year. Whereas many finance providers have had a testing few months and some are withdrawing from the market, Lombard continues to grow and reports a 14% increase in overall business in 2008.
According to Ian Braham, Head of Lombard Marine Finance, business is remaining strong for Lombard. "2008 was a challenging year for many and we did notice some rationalisation of the marine finance market, with some banks either withdrawing from the sector or reducing their activities but at Lombard, we continue to invest in the business and turnover for 2008 is up 14% on 2007.
"Although we have noticed sales at the lower end of the market slowing, larger transactions are producing far higher volumes of business. In particular, Lombard has noticed an increase in applications for business over £1m where the volume lent in 2008 increased by 36% on the previous year. Although Lombard has been funding these vessels for a considerable number of years it has seen a significant increase in the levels of demand over the last few years.
Braham adds, "We have a specialist team focussing specifically on the rising need for bespoke finance facilities across all sectors from day boats to superyachts, and we feel this investment in the business has helped contribute to our overall success in 2008".
Lombard continues to focus on the diversity of its product range, tailoring personalised packages to meet the needs of its customers. Lombard offers a wide variety of payment options and the team’s ability to be able to provide funding in Sterling, Euro, or US Dollar currencies completes this flexibility.
For more information on marine finance please visit the Lombard team at stand S21A or visit www.lombard.co.uk/marine.
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Notes to Editors:
Lombard is part of The RBS Group, one of the world's leading financial services companies providing a range of retail and corporate banking, financial markets, consumer finance, insurance, and wealth management services. RBS Group operates in over 50 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East serving more than 40 million customers and employing more than 170,000 people. The Group’s brands include RBS, NatWest, Ulster Bank, Coutts, Citizens and many other "household name" financial services companies.
For further information contact:
Nina Diringer
Media Manager
Tel: +44 (0)20 7427 9186
Email: nina.diringer@rbs.co.uk
