Oxbury Bank announces breakeven and on target £1bn in lending
Oxbury Bank – the UK’s only dedicated agtech bank – has announced a major growth milestone by breaking even in December 2022 after rapid growth during the past year.
Growth has come from long-term lending, delivered via its expert team of on-farm relationship managers as well as working capital delivered via principal distributors across the UK.
Oxbury’s strong performance since launch, with total committed and in progress lending now exceeding £850m, means the agtech bank 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 depth of demand for a true alternative to the incumbent banks in the farming and food sector.
In September 2022, the bank launched Oxbury NewGen – a new first-of-its-kind initiative to provide funding for new farming ventures and the advice to give a new generation of farmers the best possible chance of success. It is just one of the ways Oxbury disrupts the market through product and service innovation.
The team behind Oxbury have decades of banking, farming and technology experience. Together, they have developed a proprietary Oxbury Earth core banking platform. This enables rapid product development together with data solutions to help farmers and the food supply chain deliver improved sustainability, provenance and productivity.
To continue its growth plans, Oxbury has launched a new asset finance product. The rapid deployment has been made possible by the Oxbury Earth core banking platform.
The platform drives substantial future revenue growth via embedded finance opportunities in the UK food supply chain as well as overseas enquires focussed on the platform’s software-as-a-service capabilities.
James Farrar, chief executive officer at Oxbury Bank said: “We are delighted to have broken even at the tail end of 2022 and are excited for the next 12 months.
“Oxbury’s personal relationship-led approach, supported by our Oxbury Earth banking platform, is essential in serving the needs of Britain’s rural economy. Our customers are the lifeblood of the UK food supply chain and we are delighted to support them in their critical endeavours.
“With the launch of our asset finance proposition, innovations in embedded finance solutions in the UK food supply chain and opportunities to deploy of the Earth platform in overseas territories, we are confident that Oxbury’s growth and profitability will accelerate even further in 2023 and beyond.”