Note from Norman Chambers

Norman’s Note

Norman Chambers Managing Director|NACFB

Since the onset of the pandemic, the mental and physical wellbeing of the workforce has been in the spotlight like never before. So, the fact that Christmas Day and BoxingDay fell on a weekend was, I think, good for everyone here at NACFB HQ. The ensuing public holidays meant that the team was able toreally rest, recharge and catch up with loved ones.

I’m glad to say that we’ve returned to the virtual office with a spring in our step and we’re looking forward to meeting head on any challenges that arise. One of the first tasks on my desk, was to review the results of the annual broker survey which we ran at the end of last year. To my mind, there were several standout findings…

In 2021, NACFB Members introduced a whopping £40.9 billion to commercial finance lenders, up 50% on 2020 when the figure was £26.7 billion. The average loan size facilitated by Members in 2021 was £458,582, up 17% on the year before.

Members welcomed a phenomenal 146,885 new clients last year. This is not a question we’ve asked before and with 1,003 Member firms, that’s approximately 146 new clients each. Bear in mind that some brokerages are larger than others so they will naturally acquire many more new clients than brokers who work as sole traders. Nonetheless, it’s a staggering figure and as it’s often easier to extract business from existing clients, it bodes well for the future.

Last but by no means least, 41% of Members told us that they diversified their offering in 2021, i.e., they expanded the types of products they source for clients. I take from this that like their SME clients, Members are not afraid of adapting their business models to survive and grow. Only 5% elected to specialise, and the rest stayed the same. It will be interesting to see how this new question is answered in the coming years.

The full results of the survey can be found within these pages. I think you’ll agree it makes fascinating reading. Happy New Year to you all.

4 | NACFB

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