Metro Bank Asset Finance passes £600m as bank targets next phase of growth

Metro Bank Asset Finance has exceeded £600m in total lending, marking a major milestone for a business that has more than doubled its loan book under the leadership of its director of asset finance Nova Everidge.

For Nova, the achievement is not simply about scale. It reflects a period of disciplined, sustainable growth, underpinned by operational transformation, a clear risk framework and a leadership culture built around people, accountability and shared ambition.

“When I first took over the role, we were in the early £200 millions,” Nova reflects. “When you have been sitting at that level for a few years and suddenly you are writing a strategic plan to substantially grow the size of your loan book in a relatively short period of time, it can feel very ambitious. But you have to break it down into what that actually means.”

That discipline has been central to Metro Bank Asset Finance’s recent growth. Rather than chasing volume, Nova and her senior team focused on the fundamentals: daily proposal numbers, payout capacity, customer need, approval rates, conversion rates, average deal size and the operational capability needed to support higher levels of lending.

“There is no point saying we can do all this if the team cannot produce the numbers for the plan,” she says. “It was really important to take the team with us.”

“We have got serious ambitions. The path will not always be easy, but we have a clear plan for how we are going to get there.”

A key part of that journey was a transformation sprint across the operational teams at the end of 2024, focused not on systems, but on people, process and efficiency. The exercise created additional capacity equivalent to around three and a half full-time roles, enabling the business to scale more confidently into 2025.

The results have been significant. Metro Bank Asset Finance passed £500m last year and has now exceeded £600m.

Although strengthening existing customer relationships has been the main driver of this growth, it has also been reinforced by strategic diversification. One important development has been the business’s move into classic and prestige car finance. While Metro Bank Asset Finance had already written some business in this area, she says it had not previously been a core specialism.

At the start of 2025, the team brought together expertise from sales, credit, asset management and collections to assess the opportunity, understand the gaps and pilot the proposition with one introducer. That measured approach allowed the business to learn, refine and build the right service model before expanding further into the market.

“If you have a group of people around the table with different views and voices, you are in a much better position.”

“It worked really well because we did not go out to the market en masse and get flooded,” Nova explains. “We were able to gain a real understanding of what customers in this sector wanted from a lender, what we were doing well, what we could improve, and then grow into the opportunity.”

Classic and prestige car financing has since become an important contributor to growth, strengthening the overall portfolio alongside Metro Bank Asset Finance’s established focus areas. Nova says the sector requires a different service mindset, particularly because reputation and word of mouth are so important.

“If you deliver the right service, you create a fan,” she says. “That fan introduces more customers to you. That very much fits with how Metro Bank wants to grow.”

Alongside the commercial story is Nova’s own leadership journey. Having “fallen into” leasing in 1993, she built her career across operations, customer relations, sales, marketing, communications and transformation. Those varied roles, she says, shaped her understanding of how every part of an asset finance business contributes to delivery.

Her leadership style has also evolved. Earlier in her career, she describes herself as more directive. Today, she favours a more collaborative, coaching-led approach.

That philosophy is reflected in how she communicates with the Metro Bank Asset Finance team. Monthly town halls, regular management meetings and informal “Natter with Nova” sessions are designed to make leadership visible, accessible and open.

“For me, effective leadership is being visible, walking the walk, doing what you say and bringing the vision to life,” she says. “You need people to believe in where the business is going and want to be part of that journey.”

“For me, effective leadership is being visible, walking the walk, doing what you say and bringing the vision to life.”

Nova is also conscious of her role as a visible female leader in a sector that has traditionally been male dominated. She points to Metro Bank’s “seeing is believing” philosophy, used in its sponsorship of the England women’s cricket team, as equally relevant to asset finance.

“If there are leaders in the wider asset finance industry, it is important that we recognise them,” she says. “That helps people think, actually, that is something I could aspire to do.”

Her appointment to the NACFB board earlier this year has added another platform for representation and advocacy. Nova believes the widening of the board to include different backgrounds, sectors and perspectives is important for the industry’s future.

“If you have a group of people around the table with different views and voices, you are in a much better position,” she says. “That goes for all diversity, because until you have walked in somebody else’s shoes, you cannot really understand what they are going through.”

Mentorship is another area where Nova is active, both within Metro Bank and across the wider industry. Through Metro Bank’s mentoring circles, she works with colleagues from different functions, creating a safe space for discussion, development and networking.

“The colleagues, the people, are our magic sauce. They are what makes the difference.”

For Nova, that commitment to people is not separate from the growth story. It is central to it.

“The colleagues, the people, are our magic sauce,” she says. “They are what makes the difference.”

As Metro Bank Asset Finance looks beyond £600m, the message is clear: growth will continue to be ambitious, but it will also be deliberate. For Nova, the opportunity now is to build on the momentum, broaden the business in the right areas and keep the whole team “on the asset finance bus together”.

“We have got serious ambitions,” she says. “The path will not always be easy, but we have a clear plan for how we are going to get there.”