NatWest has surpassed its headline commitment to lend £2 billion to women-led businesses by the end of 2025, announcing that it has already delivered £2.84 billion in funding across more than 55,900 loans.
The achievement comes a full year ahead of schedule and reinforces the bank’s role as one of the UK’s largest backers of female entrepreneurship.
The average loan size stood at around £50,700, with high demand seen across a wide variety of sectors. Health-related enterprises received the most support, followed by leisure, commercial real estate, retail and professional services. Regionally, London led the way in total lending, closely trailed by the South East, North West, Scotland and the South West — signalling the breadth of economic activity driven by women-run companies nationwide.
Robert Begbie, CEO of NatWest Commercial & Institutional, described the milestone as proof of the scale and ambition of female-led firms: “Surpassing our £2bn investment target ahead of schedule shows the strength and ambition of female-led companies. Our commitment is long-standing, with over 1,000 Women in Business specialists, more than half of our accelerator founders being women, and the launch of the first ever €500 million social bond for female-led businesses.”
NatWest’s work to support women in business stretches back more than a decade. Since launching its Women in Business programme in 2012, the bank has invested heavily in specialist support, mentoring, networks and access to finance. Early partnerships with Everywoman and schemes such as Inspiring Women into Enterprise created the foundation for what has become a national support ecosystem.
By 2023, over half of the entrepreneurs supported by NatWest accelerators were women — a significant shift in a sector where female founders typically receive only a fraction of available funding. The bank’s regional outreach, strategic partnerships and policy-based initiatives such as the Rose Review and the Economic Blueprint for Women have helped bring visibility and momentum to the UK’s gender funding gap.
During the pandemic, NatWest tailored its support with resilience workshops, repayment holidays and virtual training to help female founders navigate volatility. As a founding member of the Investing in Women Code, it has also played a pivotal role in driving transparency and accountability around lending practices.
More recently, collaborations with Meta, Buy Women Built and Getty Images’ Female Focus Campaign have equipped female-led businesses with digital marketing capabilities, greater visibility and improved representation in business imagery. New ring-fenced finance for female entrepreneurs and early-stage programmes such as the Begin initiative are helping women establish and scale ventures in high-growth sectors.
As NatWest reflects on exceeding its flagship pledge, the bank says it remains committed to expanding both funding and opportunity for women-led businesses, working with industry and government partners to close the UK’s gender entrepreneurship gap and support long-term economic growth.
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NatWest surpasses £2bn pledge, lending £2.84bn to more than 55,000 women-led businesses