Private credit and the future of funding for asset finance

As wholesale bank funding becomes more constrained across Europe, private credit is emerging as a potentially important new source of capital for auto and equipment finance lenders. A dedicated session – sponsored by Alfa – at the forthcoming Finance Connect Leaders’ Summit Europe 2026 in Cologne will examine how this shift is reshaping funding models, and what it means in practice for independent lenders and their technology strategies.

Historically, private credit has played a prominent role in acquiring and building specialist finance businesses. Increasingly, however, it is being deployed alongside traditional bank funding to provide junior or risk-absorbing capital within structured facilities. This evolution reflects a changing funding environment in which banks are becoming more selective in their wholesale appetite, creating space for alternative capital providers to play a more structural role in supporting growth across the sector.

The session, titled “Private credit and the future funding of asset, auto and equipment finance”, will provide a clear view of how private credit is being integrated into funding stacks today and how funding structures are evolving across Europe. The discussion will explore where private credit fits alongside traditional bank funding, how risk is being allocated across capital structures, and what this means for the cost, flexibility and resilience of funding models for independent lenders.

A central theme of the session will be the growing importance of data, reporting and transparency as strategic enablers of access to capital. As private credit becomes more involved in wholesale funding structures, lenders will need to meet significantly higher standards of reporting, governance and systems capability. What has historically been seen as a compliance requirement is rapidly becoming a competitive differentiator, with technology, data quality and operational maturity directly influencing the availability and terms of funding.

The session will be moderated by Ian Robertson, Managing Partner at Invigors. Together, they will offer perspectives spanning capital providers, technology platforms and advisory support, grounding the discussion in the practical realities of structuring, operating and scaling private credit-backed funding models.

This session is particularly relevant for those responsible for treasury, funding, risk and technology within auto and equipment finance businesses. If private credit does become a meaningful source of wholesale funding for the industry, the firms best positioned to meet its demands will enjoy a material strategic advantage in accessing capital, scaling portfolios and navigating a more constrained banking environment.

About the Summit

Finance Connect’s Leaders’ Summit Europe, in association with Invigors, explores how the EU’s response to heightened geopolitical risk is reshaping priorities around competitiveness, industrial policy and regulation, and the direct consequences for auto and equipment finance. The agenda spans both equipment finance and automotive, with sessions examining the ICE to BEV transition as a live financing challenge, investment in AI and its delivery at scale, the growing role of private credit in wholesale funding, the emergence of circular economy models at scale, and how as-a-service partnerships are being executed in practice across the industry.

The Finance Connect Leaders’ Summit Europe 2026 will take place at KölnSKY GmbH in Cologne on 10 March. Attendance is by invitation only. Delegates can learn more about the event and register their interest via the Finance Connect website.