Lombard Loan Rates in 2026: What Private Banks Actually Charge

How a Lombard loan rate is built

Every Lombard quote has the same two components: a floating reference rate and a credit margin. In euros the reference is typically €STR or 1–3 month EURIBOR, in dollars SOFR, in sterling SONIA, and in Swiss francs SARON. The bank adds a margin expressed in basis points and resets the total at each interest period, usually monthly or quarterly.

Because the reference rate floats, your cost moves with policy rates. A facility drawn at €STR + 120bp is not a fixed-cost loan: if the ECB moves, your interest expense moves with it at the next reset. Some banks will fix the all-in rate for 3, 6 or 12 months at a small premium, which is worth taking when the facility funds a fixed investment commitment such as a golden visa fund subscription.

Arrangement fees on Lombard facilities are low compared with mortgages — frequently zero for existing clients, and 0.10–0.50% of the facility limit for new relationships. Commitment fees on undrawn balances are uncommon but do appear on large committed lines.

Indicative Lombard margins by currency, 2026

The figures below reflect margins quoted to internationally mobile private clients on diversified, liquid collateral in the first half of 2026. They are indicative ranges, not offers, and every bank prices the individual relationship.

What moves your margin

• Facility size — margins compress materially above €1m and again above €5m; sub-€250k facilities are often declined outright rather than priced.
• Collateral quality — investment-grade bonds and broad ETFs attract the tightest margins; single stocks, small caps and structured notes attract the widest.
• Concentration — a portfolio with one line above 20% of value is priced as a riskier book even if the total value is large.
• Relationship assets — banks price the whole relationship. Custody assets well above the facility limit routinely buy 25–50bp.
• Currency match — borrowing in a currency other than your collateral's introduces FX risk the bank prices for, typically 15–40bp.
• Utilisation — a facility you draw fully and leave drawn is priced differently from a standby line used opportunistically.

All-in cost, not headline rate

Comparing banks on margin alone is the most common pricing mistake. The genuine comparison is the total annual cost of holding the facility for the period the golden visa requires you to keep capital committed — typically five years.

Build the number as: interest on the drawn amount, plus arrangement and legal fees amortised over the holding period, plus any custody or account fees the facility triggers, plus the cost of the liquidity buffer you must hold to survive a margin call. That last item is real: holding 10% of the facility in cash at a lower yield than your portfolio is a genuine drag on the spread.

A bank quoting €STR + 90bp with a 0.5% arrangement fee and a mandatory 15% cash buffer can easily be more expensive over five years than one quoting €STR + 140bp with no fee and no buffer requirement.

When the rate is the wrong question

Lombard facilities are repayable on demand. The margin you pay matters less than the advance rate applied to your collateral and the behaviour of the bank in a drawdown. A cheap facility from a lender that revalues aggressively and issues 48-hour margin calls is worse than an expensive one from a lender that negotiates.

Before optimising the last 20 basis points, confirm the advance rates by asset class in writing, the revaluation frequency, the margin call cure period, and whether the bank can unilaterally change advance rates mid-facility. Those four terms decide whether the loan survives a bad quarter.

Frequently asked questions