Our Key Takeaways from the Asset Finance Connect Summer Conference 2025

This week, the AFS team had the pleasure of attending the Asset Finance Connect Summer Conference in London. The event brought together a broad spectrum of industry professionals to explore how we can drive better outcomes by rethinking our go-to-market strategies across both the auto and asset finance sectors.

From strategic partnerships to transformative technologies, the day was full of insight and discussion. Here’s our round-up of the key takeaways from this year’s conference.

Improving Access to Funding for SMEs

Access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses remains one of the most pressing issues in the UK lending landscape. Discussions at the conference underscored just how complex the challenges are and how multi-layered the solutions must be.

The Challenge

Allica Bank’s recent whitepaper was cited, which highlights a profound shift in SME borrowing. Key trends include:

• Structural economic change: 81% of UK GDP now comes from the service sector. As these businesses tend to have fewer tangible assets, they present a higher lending risk.

• Market contraction: While challenger banks have grown in recent years, the economic climate has prompted many to retreat from unsecured lending impacting soft assets and cashflow lending specifically.

• Loss of local knowledge: The centralisation of banking and closure of high street branches have stripped away valuable on-the-ground insight into regional businesses which was useful in supporting lending decisions.

• Confidence: Many early-stage business owners lack awareness of the lending process. Half go straight to their main bank for their first funds and face a 40% rejection rate. After being referred via the Bank Referral Scheme, only 5% successfully obtain funding. This double rejection means they form the opinion that they are a lost cause and deters them from future applications.

• Low awareness of alternatives: Many SMEs remain unaware of the breadth of funding sources available. Others are drawn to slick, “frictionless” digital journeys that, while convenient, may offer limited choice of product or rate.

 The Solution

There was broad consensus that changes are required. These include:

• Regulatory balance: Regulation should continue to ensure transparency without becoming a barrier for borrowers or a hurdle for lenders.

• Strategic use of government schemes: Lenders should make use of things like the Growth Guarantee Scheme, particularly to support soft asset and cashflow lending.

• Reskilling the workforce: As automation has grown, some real-life skills have waned. To make better lending decisions, organisations must invest in both education and intelligent technologies to free up staff time for deeper customer understanding.

• Improving diversity and inclusion: By embracing greater diversity within their teams, lenders can more effectively support underserved groups, particularly female and minority-led businesses by reducing any residual unconscious bias.

• Elevating the role of brokers: Brokers play a critical role in SME education. Early engagement, especially with first-time business borrowers, can make a real difference. However, there’s also a call for brokers to broaden their own understanding of available finance solutions, moving beyond specialisation to offer a more holistic approach.

Rethinking the Go-to-Market Model

A second hot top was how the industry can evolve its go-to-market approach. The days of a one-size-fits-all strategy are behind us. Customers are increasingly expecting tailored, transparent and responsive services, often with a strong digital element, but not at the expense of personal understanding.

The Application of AI in Asset Finance

Artificial Intelligence is no longer just a futuristic concept, it is reshaping how decisions are made, data is used, and customers are served. AI refers to machines replicating human-like thinking. It spans four core areas:

• Data Analysis: Organising and structuring datasets.
• Machine Learning: Using data to make or inform decisions.
• Generative AI: Creating content and conversations
• Agentic AI: Acting independently to plan, predict or execute tasks.

While some of these technologies are well-established, others are rapidly evolving and must be handled responsibly. The EU’s AI regulation set important principles: AI must be safe, fair, transparent and accountable. The UK has adopted similar principles, encouraging innovation whilst maintaining robust governance and ethical standards.

For those exploring AI solutions, three key questions were offered:

• Why AI? Is it the best answer, or are there simpler, faster or more cost-effective solutions? Will it genuinely improve the customer experience? Just because something can be automated, doesn’t mean it should be.

• Scalability and fit: Should you choose an off-the-shelf model or bespoke solution? Consider costs, integration and long-term value especially when integrating AI into core systems and processes, are you able to pay on a cost per action model if it scales?

• Data quality and safety: How will your data be used? Will it be incorporated into future learning models? How secure is it?

Ultimately, AI should be deployed to enhance human productivity. That means building in human oversight, maintaining transparency, and carefully designing how machines and people interact throughout the customer journey.

Looking Ahead

On the more futuristic front a concept that was discussed was digital twinning, the creation of a digital clone of a physical asset. This could revolutionise finance modelling by helping lenders forecast maintenance needs, asset lifecycles, or even prompt the offering of intelligent finance linked to these needs.

It was stated that by 2030, we can expect AI to competently manage discrete tasks. By 2045, the integration of the four AI types may enable end-to-end automation of complex processes. But to get there, we must remain focused on governance, safety, and customer benefit.

Final Thoughts

The conference made it clear: we are at a turning point. Whether it’s navigating economic uncertainty, evolving our approach to underserved SMEs, or embedding AI responsibly, our industry is being challenged to do more, think differently, and keep the customer at the heart of it all. We look forward to playing our part in shaping a more inclusive, responsive and intelligent finance ecosystem.

We would like to credit Asset Finance Connect and all the organisers, speakers, sponsors, practitioners and attendees that gave up their time to share their views at this event.