Lombard Vehicle Management, owned by RBS, has pulled out of the broker market with immediate effect.
The decision to only deal direct with end-user customers follows that made by Alliance & Leicester, now part of Santander, at the start of this year.
The move will mean the loss of 85 jobs within Lombard, however, the Government-owned bank said it aimed to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies.
The statement announcing the changes said: “By exiting the introducer channel as a distribution market, Lombard Business Finance and Lombard Vehicle Management will now deal directly with customers on their asset finance requirements.
“It will mean our relationship managers in these units will spend more time directly with customers understanding and supporting their requirements and offers businesses the opportunity to deal directly with ourselves rather than through a third party. As a result of this change we will be working even closer with our colleagues in the bank’s Business, Commercial and Corporate channels to support their customers’ asset finance requirements. This change to our operating structure will also help us credit manage our book more effectively by dealing directly with the customer from the outset of a proposition.”
A spokesman for RBS added: “We are not pulling back from the market, we are changing the distribution method and dealing directly with customers moves us to a stronger customer proposition.”
The move has angered some brokers who have accused Lombard of attempting to poach their customers.
Speaking to BusinessCar, one broker who wished to remain anonymous said: “My immediate concern is that Lombard will now be actively marketing the customers that have been introduced to them.”
However, he was bullish about his chances, and added: “Let the games begin.”
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