NatWest’s asset finance arm, Lombard, has launched a new digital service that allows businesses to receive instant agreement to fund assets such as cars, vans, machinery and technology, up to a maximum of £250,000.

An innovative new investment vehicle to provide funds to support UK property deals – commercial and residential – has been launched by one of the UK’s leading private equity firms in conjunction with a financial technology (fintech) firm.

MAVEN Bonds has been designed to provide investors with the chance to diversify their investment portfolio while earning annual tax-free returns of up to 7.75%.

Leading SME direct lender Beechbrook Capital has appointed Paul Whitehouse as investment director to head up deal origination and execution activity across the Midlands. With over 30 years’ experience, Paul joins from Lloyds Banking Group, where he spent the last two decades focusing on corporate and leveraged finance transactions across the Midlands.

Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) and Landsker Business Solutions have been appointed by the Development Bank of Wales to deliver £2 million of ring-fenced funding for social enterprises in Wales. 

When George Jones' son developed terrible eczema as a child, she was unable to find any products that didn't aggravate his condition so she set out to create her own by launching Bathing Beauty from her kitchen table in 2010.  Now, thanks to a £45,000 loan from Development Bank of Wales, the ethical skincare company is expanding to meet the ever-increasing demand for its products.

Blend Network, a leading property investment platform specialising in funding low-cost, accessible housing developments outside of London has announced its largest deal so far with a £2,335,000 loan to finance the acquisition and redevelopment of a key Stafford office building into residential departments. This milestone highlights BLEND Network’s commitment to the Midlands, with loans extended by the company to fund low-cost and accessible housing projects in the region now totaling over £3million over the past four months.

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) Debt Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners, one of the UK’s leading SME finance providers, has provided EarthSense Systems Limited, air quality monitoring and modelling data firm, with a £100,000 loan.

British Business Investments (BBI), a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has announced a new £25m commitment to Cheshire-based asset finance specialist and alternative lender, Kingsway Finance Ltd.

The commitment is a revolving credit facility provided through BBI’s Investment Programme, which is designed to increase the supply and diversity of finance for smaller businesses by boosting the lending capacity of challenger banks and non-bank lenders.

The facility will be used to support Kingsway’s growth plans for the provision of lease finance, commercial loans and professions loans to smaller businesses across the UK.

At the end of the second quarter of this year, more than 150,000 lenders were invested in 321,483 loans facilitated by Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) platforms – a record level of involvement in the sector. 

A businesswoman has achieved her dream of opening a shop in Cardiff to sell clothes that combine fashion with traditional spiritual values with the help of a loan from the Development Bank of Wales.

Ortho Solutions, a specialist orthopaedic design manufacturer, has secured a £2 million funding facility from Independent Growth Finance (IGF) to develop a new range of innovative medical solutions. Founded in 2001, the privately-owned Essex based manufacturer supplies NHS and private hospitals throughout the UK with implant systems used in foot and ankle surgery.

A new indoor climbing centre has opened in the old boathouse in Llandudno, thanks to a £50,000 loan from the Development Bank of Wales.