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

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. 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.

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 same instrument 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.

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. 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. In both cases 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 route 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