The British Business Bank has agreed to a further £100 million increase to its existing ENABLE Guarantee transaction with leading Fintech Oxbury Bank, a UK bank with a singular focus on farmers, food production and the rural economy. The ENABLE Guarantee program encourages additional lending to smaller businesses. Participating institutions are incentivized by a government-backed guarantee to support defined portfolios of debt finance in return for a fee.
This second increase brings the British Business Bank’s total transaction to £300 million and will help provide Oxbury with £150 million of additional lending capacity. The transaction continues to offer a pricing discount to Oxbury to promote additional lending that meets certain sustainability metrics. As of December 2024, around 14% of the portfolio met the criteria for this pricing discount.
Chester-based “agtech” Oxbury launched as a fully regulated bank in February 2021, offering lending and asset finance solutions tailored to the specific needs of farm businesses. It combines its own proprietary digital banking platform – Oxbury Earth – with a team of relationship managers providing agricultural experience and banking advice for clients.
In less than three years, Oxbury Bank has exceeded £1.1 billion of drawn lending and attracted £2.3 billion in savings deposits from farm businesses and consumers wanting to support the rural economy. It reached profitability in 2023. The Chester-based bank is backed by institutional agriculture and agtech investors, as well as other sector stakeholders. In total Oxbury has raised more than £162m.
“Increasing this transaction by a further £100 million demonstrates our commitment to supporting smaller businesses across the rural economy,” said Michael Strevens, managing director of structured FI solutions for British Business Bank. “We are delighted to see 14% of the portfolio meets our sustainability metrics and look forward to seeing that percentage grow. We are excited to see the further growth that this partnership can provide to the sector in 2025 and beyond.”
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with the British Business Bank to increase lending to SMEs within the farming and food sectors,” added Oxbury Bank co-founder and CEO James Farrar. “Once fully utilized, the full £300 million ENABLE Guarantee will support £150m in extra SME lending, further enhancing Oxbury’s ability to positively impact farming and the rural economy. This funding also reflects our commitment to sustainability in the sector by 2025.”