The NACFB has appointed for the first time an official Finance Director. David Newborough, formerly of Ashgates and OPKF before that, has stepped in to fill a gap in the Association’s make-up.
Due to our ever-growing number of member services, patrons and events, the amount of money passing through our not-for-profit organisation has always needed a lot of attention, and now we’ve got someone whose sole function will be to make sure every pound is buying at least a pound’s worth of benefit. Four years ago, our membership fee for a single broker doing more than £50,000 of business in a year was £440. Today, the fee for that same broker is £400. That’s what we mean by "not for profit organisation".
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Since January 2nd there has been a requirement for Terms of Business to offer a "cooling off period" for borrowers who haven’t been present at a face-to-face meeting. These changes are explained under section 155 of the Consumer Credit Act. We now offer our members two versions of our own template Terms of Business, depending on whether or not they have sat down with the borrower. As before, the wording is all approved by an independent firm of solicitors and our Board of Directors.
The difficulty with bringing new regulation into force is that you have to make everybody aware of the changes. The relationship the NACFB has with the FCA need not be a complex one; we’re here to spread awareness of what is required, and it’s in the FCA’s interests to carry on working with us so we can do that effectively. They’re not aiming to confuse, investigate and sanction – it’s their intention to set up adequate safeguarding rules, shift the focus a little towards protecting the rights of borrowers.
What do we ask in return? We want to ensure that the requirements don’t swing too far one way or the other, which means that when we hear of a practice that we think is unfair to brokers, we’ll make certain the FCA listens to some dissenting voices. If we can explain why a practice is unreasonable, we have the chance to nip it in the bud before it gets written into the (already weighty) rulebook. That’s why we’re having regular face-to-face meetings with our contacts, and inviting representatives of the FCA to our Workshops throughout the year, so they know precisely what challenges commercial finance brokers are facing.
Our 2015 events calendar is now up on the website; on 25th February we will be in Hull, and on 19th March, we visit The Mound in Edinburgh, taking with us a broad selection of lenders and as many brokers as we can fit into the workshops. As always, these events are free for all to attend – you don’t even need to be an NACFB member – so register now at nacfb.org.uk/events and we can bring you up to date on the industry changes that we’re seeing.
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By GlobalDataIt will be good to get the views of Scotland-based brokers, as we only get up over the border once or twice a year, and while we appreciate Edinburgh isn’t exactly local to everyone, we can at least be sure there of getting a good turnout. Plus, it’s not a bad city for a touch of sightseeing if we get to wrap up before going-home-time.
Adam Tyler, CEO, NACFB
