The leasing industry, in 2025, found itself at the intersection of economic pressure, shifting customer behaviour, and a growing demand for smarter, more flexible finance solutions. And while the sector has long been key to unlocking business growth, this year highlighted challenges and opportunities in equal measure – particularly for core SME customers navigating complex and uncertain business conditions.
From fluctuating confidence to rising expectations around efficiency and technology, 2025 has reshaped not just how customers lease, but how the industry needs to keep innovating to best serve the businesses that need us most.
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A cautious confidence?
A defining feature of 2025 was the shift in SME sentiment. Leasing providers across the UK saw a marked change in customer confidence as the year progressed following the previous year’s “survive till 25” mindset driven by the potential of a change in government.
Regional teams – grenke has 10 in the UK – consistently reported that SMEs were increasingly cautious and less optimistic compared with the start of the year. Several themes drove this:
- Economic uncertainty, driven by inflation trends, taxation changes, and unpredictable government policy
- Rising overheads, squeezed margins and reduced appetite for investment
- Cashflow pressures, prompting SMEs to hold onto outdated assets longer accompanied by painfully slow sales cycles
- Recruitment and retention challenges, particularly in technical sectors compounded by employment costs
Unlike the findings in grenke’s New Lease of Life Report – which pointed to emerging optimism – 2025 revealed low sentiment, with some regions reporting mild confidence and others highlighting deep hesitation.
For the leasing industry, this changing customer mindset required:
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By GlobalData- Effective and empathic communication
- Clearer value propositions
- More education around financing benefits
Access to finance: A barrier that continued to define the year
Despite our established role as a finance partner, funding access remained one of the biggest challenges for SMEs. Our New Lease of Life Report shows that:
- 69% of SMEs cite access to finance as a key business challenge
- 75% believe new equipment would help re-energise their business
- Yet only 44% currently lease equipment
Speaking to our regional leaders, we saw the following barriers impacting customer adoption of leasing:
- Awareness remains low – A significant number of SMEs still misunderstand leasing, often confusing it with hire purchase or assuming it applies only to vehicles or heavy machinery.
- Trust barriers persist – Smaller businesses remain wary of perceived contract “catches,” termination concerns, and complexity.
- Paperwork and compliance challenges – For time-poor SME decision-makers, the perceived administrative burden, worry about hidden clauses, media scaremongering all deter engagement.
For leasing providers, 2025 showed us how essential continued education, clearer communication, and simplified processes are if we’re going to shift customer perception and drive new engagement.
The hidden efficiency crisis: Suboptimal equipment across the SME landscape
A key insight shaping the current leasing landscape came from the New Lease of Life Report:
53% of SMEs are operating with suboptimal equipment.
Breaking this down:
- 36% use equipment that is “adequate but not optimal”
- 17% rely on equipment that is broken or unused
This means that over half the UK’s SMEs are using sub-par equipment, looking to grow with equipment that isn’t fit for purpose – and that can’t support their people, processes or productivity.
For sectors like surveying, manufacturing, packaging, and technology, this inefficiency has immense consequences – from reduced precision and productivity to increased downtime and client dissatisfaction. For the leasing industry, this revealed a critical truth: businesses sticking with suboptimal equipment are inadvertently capping their own potential.
This leaves leasing providers asking how do we demonstrate the cost of not upgrading? And how do we turn efficiency challenges into compelling investment cases?
What 2025 taught the leasing industry
- Education is key – As industry we need to address awareness gaps, challenge misconceptions, and over- communicate the business benefits – from cash flow through to staying technologically competitive. Showing businesses the cost of inefficiency is now as important as showcasing the benefits of leasing.
- Simplicity drives adoption – Reducing paperwork, streamlining compliance, and giving customers transparency at every sales touchpoint removes concerns and breaks down barriers, supporting customer confidence. We need to make leasing solutions more accessible and adaptive.
- Earn trust through leadership – This means clearer, plain English contractual language, proactive communication, and regional relationship-building together with real customer dialogue. We need to show customers we’re strategic growth partners, delivering guidance, and support as much as access to funding.
2025 saw the industry consolidate its position as a partner for business growth as we continue to drive efficiency, innovation, and business resilience, empowering businesses for growth into 2026 and beyond.
