Oxbury Bank – the UK’s first and only AgTech bank – has launched a new Asset Finance product proposition at the same time as announcing the bank has broken even after rapid growth during 2022.
Oxbury’s focus to date has been on long-term lending, delivered via its expert team of on-farm relationship managers and working capital funding delivered via the principal distributors and farmer buying groups across the UK. The Asset Finance product will initially deliver hire purchase facilities to farmers through a network of professional and focussed agricultural brokers in addition to servicing existing customers’ needs directly through Oxbury relationship managers.
The new product launch will support Oxbury’s forecast growth in lending across the British farm and food sector, as farmers look for more flexible finance as they address the challenges of on-going security of the UK’s food supply and the transition to long-term sustainable production.
Oxbury’s strong performance since launch, with total committed and in progress lending now exceeding £850m means it has successfully broken-even at the end of 2022 and is now forecast for a full year of profitability in 2023 with a target of a £1bn balance sheet by 2024.
Oxbury has been lending to SMEs in the rural economy since March 2021. In its first 21 months the bank's strong performance has underlined the strong demand for a true alternative to the incumbent banks in the farming and food sector:
Oxbury’s rapid growth in its specialist sector has been achieved through leveraging decades of banking and farming experience, powered by a proprietary Oxbury Earth core banking platform, delivering rapid and bespoke product development together with data solutions that help farmers deliver improved sustainability, provenance and productivity across the farming and food supply chain.
Nick Evans, Managing Director at Oxbury Bank said: “Farmers over the past 50 years have typically funded machinery and asset purchases through specialist hire purchase facilities. But, with the increased costs of these items, that of course deliver essential enhancements in productivity and efficiency to farms, the need for competitive and cashflow matched HP has never been more relevant. Machinery and other assets that deliver labour saving automation, improved carbon efficiency and greater reliability are hugely helpful in ensuring farmers can continue to invest in a more resilient and competitive UK farming sector.
“Oxbury’s relationship-led approach, enabled by our proprietary Oxbury Earth Agtech banking platform, is essential in serving the needs of our customers that are the lifeblood of this rural economy and the food supply chain.”