Southampton, September 2009 – Lombard Marine Finance is gearing up for another successful Boat Show this year and during a time when some finance providers are withdrawing from the market, Lombard continues to remain strong in the sector and reports a 6% increase in new business for the first half of this year.
According to Ian Braham, Head of Lombard Marine Finance, this year looks set to become the sixth consecutive year of continued growth in business volumes. "It is clear that the boat sales market has been through a tough time over the last year, reflecting general economic conditions. While other lenders have been scaling back or withdrawing from the marine market, Lombard has continued to lend to boat purchasers and retailers. Given market conditions, it is extremely pleasing to report that at the half year point, our core new business volume was 6% ahead of last year's recording breaking results. This really is remarkable considering the challenging times we're all living in and clearly demonstrates that more people are choosing Lombard."
Lombard continues to support the industry and will be attending the Southampton Boat Show again this year at Stand E046, where the experienced team will be happy to speak to attendees on all aspects of marine finance. Braham adds, "As boating enthusiasts ourselves, we really enjoy the show. It gives us an opportunity to speak to other enthusiasts and assist them with their boat purchases with a specifically structured finance package. We expect our LIBOR-based products, which we launched at the London show in January, will again be popular, noting how low these base rates currently are. Many of our customers are finding that the low cost of borrowing, along with some attractive boat prices, means it is a great time to buy a boat."
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 E046 or call Lombard on 02380 242171 or visit www.lombard.co.uk/marine where an instant quote can be researched.
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For further information please contact
Claire Meeghan
Media Manager
Tel: +44 (0)20 7672 1916
Email: claire.meeghan@rbs.co.uk
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 and NatWest, Ulster Bank, Coutts, Citizens and many other "household name" financial services companies.
