Which private banks offer Lombard loans?

Lombard loans are offered mainly by private banks — Swiss and continental European houses, UK private banks, and the wealth arms of the larger banks — and by independent specialist arrangers. They are a private-banking and specialist-credit service rather than a retail product, reached either through an existing banking relationship or by introduction through a broker, adviser, or arranger.

Swiss and continental European private banks

As a matter of well-known public fact, Swiss and continental private banks, among them Lombard Odier, Pictet, Union Bancaire Privée (UBP), Julius Baer, and UBS, offer Lombard or portfolio-backed lending to their clients as part of a standard private-banking relationship. These institutions extend credit against a pledge of a client’s custodied portfolio, with the borrower keeping ownership of the assets.

The Lombard loan is, in name and in tradition, a creature of Swiss and continental European private banking; the word “Lombard” itself is drawn from that world. It is no surprise, then, that the houses most associated with the instrument are the private banks of Geneva, Zurich, and the wider continent. The Swiss side of that tradition is set out in Lombard loans in Switzerland.

This note names such houses only to describe the market landscape. It states no terms, rates, loan-to-value figures, or product details for any of them, and it neither implies nor claims any relationship between those institutions and Lombard Financing. Each bank publishes its own terms and eligibility, and those are matters for the bank concerned.

UK private banks

In the United Kingdom the Lombard loan is offered by dedicated private banks and by the private-banking and wealth arms of larger banking groups. Private banks such as Coutts and Arbuthnot Latham, together with the private-banking or wealth divisions of groups including Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest, and HSBC, provide portfolio-backed credit to eligible clients. A point of vocabulary is worth noting: several UK institutions describe these facilities not as “Lombard loans” but as investment-backed lending — the same discipline under a different name. A borrower comparing the market will encounter both terms, and should read them as describing one instrument.

As above, the institutions are named here only to set out the landscape. No rates, minimums, loan-to-value ranges, or product terms are stated for any of them, and no relationship with Lombard Financing is implied.

US banks and brokerages

In the United States the same instrument is offered by brokerages and by the private-banking and wealth arms of large banks, usually as a securities-based line of credit rather than under the Lombard name. The US term, securities-based lending, describes the same instrument. Several firms give the facility a product name of their own, set out below as each firm describes it on its own page.

Charles Schwab offers the Pledged Asset Line through Charles Schwab Bank, SSB. Its Pledged Asset Line page describes a line of credit that allows a client to borrow against the non-retirement assets in a portfolio without having to liquidate the investments.

Fidelity offers a Securities Backed Line of Credit (SBLOC). Its line of credit page says Fidelity helps the client pledge eligible accounts as collateral, while the loan itself is made by third-party lenders, which the page names as U.S. Bank and Leader Bank.

J.P. Morgan Private Bank calls its facility securities-based lending. Its securities-based lending page says the facility enables investors to borrow using securities as collateral, and describes it as a securities-based line of credit.

Merrill offers the Loan Management Account (LMA account), a line of credit provided by Bank of America, N.A. Merrill’s LMA account page describes it as a secured line of credit that uses eligible securities, such as stocks and bonds, as collateral.

Wells Fargo’s facility is the Wells Fargo Bank Priority Credit Line, offered by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. in partnership with Wells Fargo Advisors. The Wells Fargo Advisors guide to securities-based borrowing describes securities-based lending as using eligible assets as collateral for a line of credit.

Raymond James Bank offers a Securities Based Line of Credit (SBL). Its securities-based lending page describes the line as collateralised by securities held in the client’s eligible Raymond James brokerage accounts.

Morgan Stanley offers the Liquidity Access Line (LAL). Its Liquidity Access Line page describes a flexible line of credit based on the value of the securities in a client’s brokerage account, available only to Morgan Stanley clients, with Morgan Stanley Private Bank, National Association or Morgan Stanley Bank, N.A. as the lender.

Vanguard’s own pages, checked on 27 October 2026, show margin loans from Vanguard Brokerage Services, which its margin loans page describes as similar to a line of credit for borrowing cash against the value of securities. The Vanguard pages checked do not show a separate securities-based line of credit. How a margin loan differs from a Lombard facility is set out in Lombard loan vs margin loan.

These firms are named only to set out the US landscape, and each is described from its own page. No rates, minimums, loan-to-value figures, or product terms are stated for any of them, and no relationship with Lombard Financing is implied. What banks report about the size of this lending is covered in securities-based lending market size.

Where a broker’s own line does not fit a holding, the alternatives are set out in when your broker won’t lend against your shares.

Specialist and independent arrangers

Alongside the banks sits a smaller category: independent and specialist arrangers. These are firms that do not lend from their own balance sheet but instead structure a borrower’s requirement and arrange a facility across one or more lenders by introduction.

For a client without a single deep banking relationship — or one who prefers to see terms from more than one counterparty — an arranger can widen the field. This is the category in which Lombard Financing sits: an independent Geneva arranger of Lombard facilities, engaged by introduction; not a bank and not a retail lender. Its role is to originate and structure the requirement and to introduce it to lenders, rather than to provide the credit itself.

How access usually works

There are, broadly, two routes to a Lombard facility: an existing private-banking relationship, or an introduction. The first is an existing private-banking relationship: a client who already custodies a portfolio with a private bank can typically arrange credit against it as an extension of that relationship. The second is an introduction — through a broker, an adviser, a family office, or a specialist arranger — which can reach a lender where no prior relationship exists.

Whichever route is taken, the decisive factor is the portfolio itself: its size, its liquidity, and the quality of the holdings pledged. The firm’s process page sets out how an introduction is handled from first enquiry to drawdown.

Bank vs independent arranger

Neither a private bank nor an independent arranger is inherently superior; they suit different situations. A private bank lends from its own balance sheet, usually to a client it already knows, and can fold a facility into a broader wealth relationship — convenient where that relationship already exists and the client is content with a single counterparty.

An independent arranger does not lend, but can approach several lenders on a borrower’s behalf, which is useful where there is no established relationship, where the holding is unusual, or where a borrower wants to compare terms across counterparties. The honest summary is that a bank offers depth within one relationship, while an arranger offers breadth across several; the right choice depends on the borrower’s circumstances rather than on any general rule.

Who offers Lombard loans, at a glance