Updates from the Association

Association updates for February 2022

NACFB News

Events 2022: Dates for your diary

The team is busy planning and organising this yearʼs events and we can share the three main ones with you now.

First, is the NACFB Commercial Finance Expo which is taking place on Wednesday 15th June 2022, at Birmingham’s NEC. Last year’s Expo was a resounding success with more than 130 exhibitor stands and an incredible 2,500 plus attendees passing through the registration desk. More details about the conference line-up will be announced nearer the time but if you are thinking of exhibiting this year, you can find out more by contacting the events team. Already stands are selling fast and we anticipate another bumper Expo.

Recognising excellence within the intermediary community, this year’s Commercial Broker Awards is being held on Friday 23rd September, at Edgbaston Cricket Ground. Details of how Members can enter the awards will be sent out in the summer.

The NACFB Patron Awards & Gala Dinner takes place on Thursday 24th November and will be held once again at the Westminster Park Plaza. Details of how Patrons can enter the awards will be available this summer.

Lastly, the team is working on some smaller, regional webinars as well as researching other flagship, in-person events. More information will follow in the coming weeks.

MAG meets to provide strategic steering

In the first Members’ Advisory Group (MAG) meeting of 2022, the group reviewed the NACFB’s achievements last year including the work done to elevate the profile of commercial finance brokers to the government, particularly to HM Treasury and the British Business Bank. The MAG also considered the need for the industry to more widely accept electronic document signing and discussed the implications of the FCAʼs proposed changes to the Appointed Representatives regime. The MAG forms part of the NACFB’s wider internal restructuring and is designed to help steer the Association’s future direction, the group meets six times a year.

Commenting, Nicholas Murphy, who leads the group said: “The work undertaken is vital to make certain that the issues facing our Members are at the forefront of everything we do as an Association.”

Elsewhere, at the end of January, the executive board of NACFB Patron Cambridge & Counties Bank invited the Association’s Chair, Paul Goodman, to share market analysis. Paul provided an overview of the opportunities and threats facing the intermediary route to market beyond the pandemic’s peak. Paul also shared an update that outlined ongoing efforts of the NACFB to support both Members and Patrons.

Paul said: “It was a privilege to share Member insight from the coalface and I will always welcome the opportunity to provide a similar overview to any NACFB Patron.”