Growing without waiting for the economy: UTB’s asset finance strategy

United Trust Bank’s Nathan Mollett talks to Finativ’s Christian Roelofs about building growth through new channels, underserved customers and a managed expansion of credit appetite.

Most asset finance lenders surveyed by Finance Connect in 2026 expect to outperform the market. Yet their biggest bets include an improving economy and the regulator restraining competitors. Their growth plans depend on decisions and conditions outside their control.

That leaves a gap between ambition and action. Waiting for external conditions to improve leaves opportunities in underserved segments and new distribution channels for lenders prepared to act.

Nathan Mollett, Managing Director – Asset Finance at United Trust Bank, offers a different approach: extending credit appetite into an underserved niche through Stance and opening a new dealer channel across materials handling, construction, engineering and manufacturing. Investment in proposal and underwriting technology supports those moves.

In this Asset Finance session – sponsored by Alfa – looking at UTB’s active growth strategies in asset finance, Christian Roelofs asks Nathan what makes these strategies work: the relationships needed to build business, the risk decisions behind a wider credit appetite and the technology needed to support growth. They will also address whether commercial loans belong on an asset finance lender’s road map — and why Nathan’s answer is “not yet”.

In this session you will:

See how UTB pursues growth through channels, customer segments and credit decisions it can influence.
Identify what a dealer channel needs to succeed, from establishing relationships to sustaining business flow with technology.
Know why Nathan is holding back on commercial loans, and what that means for your own product choices.

The Finance Connect UK Autumn Conference 2026 is supported by Odessa as Event Partner, with Alfa as Headline Sponsor of the Asset Finance community stream and Dancerace as Headline Sponsor of the Receivables Finance Connect Conference.

View the full Finance Connect UK Autumn Conference 2026 agenda here.

Register here: https://afcconferenceuk.com/financeconnectautumnconference2026/en/page/book-now