finance business
It has been a busy 14 months for Adam Tyler since taking office
as chief executive of the National Association of Commercial
Finance Brokers (NACFB).
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From migrating to the NACFB’s new premises, to helping lenders
and brokers manage the fallout from the effects of the credit
crunch, things are abuzz at the association, even if a general mood
of gloom pervades the financial sphere.
And the pulse is unlikely to slow in the coming months. At the
time of Leasing Life’s visit to the NACFB in Exeter, Tyler
and his team had just embarked on a new campaign aimed at raising
the number of members from the leasing and asset finance broking
community. It even increased the number of board representatives
from the asset finance industry to three, representing a third of
the nine board members.
Of the NACFB’s 1,500 registered members, about 150 to 200
represent brokers in leasing and asset Finance. That’s no more than
20 per cent of the 800 to 1,000 brokers doing business in this
segment.
This under-representation may have something to do with the
genesis of NACFB in 1992 when it was established as a
self-governing trade body for commercial property brokers. It
wasn’t until the late 1990s that asset finance and vehicle finance
brokers began to form distinct segments within the NACFB. Last
year, the association ran a similar campaign to bolster the number
of vehicle finance brokers.
Tyler hopes that the advantages that come with an NACFB club
card and a little nudge from lenders will be compelling enough for
brokers to sign up. With banks taking a cautious stance towards
lending, dealing with an NACFB broker gives them added peace of
mind,Tyler says. One reason is that members are obliged to adhere
to a code of business practice.The NACFB also provides a complaints
procedure and could go as far as expelling members in serious
breach of the code.
“We haven’t had lenders say outright that they won’t deal with a
non-NACFB broker, but a lot of lenders out there are working
towards recruiting brokers as well,”Tyler says.
Cognisant of the fact that prospective members want more than
just a marginal increase in credibility, the NACFB is organising a
line-up of training and networking events this year tailored
specifically for leasing and asset finance.
It kicked this off recently with a training day for newbies in
the leasing and asset finance sector. As brokers in the commercial
mortgage business are feeling the pinch from the mortgage market,
the NACFB anticipates that the more resourceful of the lot may look
towards deals in asset finance as a way to plug the gap.
With more resources poured into the leasing and asset finance
segment this year, Tyler reckons the NACFB could drum up enough
interest and at least double the number of members from this
segment.
Maryann Tan
