HNW Lending has seen a flurry of demand for its short-term loans with a 20% increase in enquiries in December compared to the average month.

The alternative lender offers between £60,000 and £1m secured on property and other assets such as jewellery, wine collections, art, classic cars, yachts and private jets.

Ben Shaw, founder and director of HNW Lending, said: “We are seeing a growing number of high net worth individuals approaching us for loans and with the expense of Christmas, enquiries have peaked.

“The main assets people are looking to secure loans against are jewellery, wine collections, property and art.”

The process normally takes no longer than a week to complete, with HNW arranging for the valuable items to be moved into storage.