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ways the NACFB has supported Members in 2021
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ince inception, the vision of the NACFB has been to be the professional association of choice for commercial finance brokers, to help them prosper and embrace the highest industry and regulatory standards. This vision still holds true, and we are working hard to keep it that way. Today the Association is proud to be the UK’s largest, independent trade body for brokers who arrange finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Never resting on our laurels, here are five ways in which we have supported our Members in 2021.
1. Events It’s been a bumper year for events with more attendees than ever before. The NACFB Commercial Finance Expo, held at the NEC Birmingham in September was probably the largest, in-person industry event of its kind with more than 130 exhibitors, 1,700 delegates and a packed programme of seminars hosted by the BBC’s Naga Munchetty. There were also two sell-out awards ceremonies celebrating excellence throughout the commercial broking and lending community, and a successful series of sector specific virtual forums designed to help brokers understand more about their clients, the sectors in which they operate, and the funding available to help them grow.
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2. Compliance One of the biggest cost-saving benefits of NACFB membership, the compliance team continues to help Members uphold the highest industry and regulatory standards to ensure that their brokerages are healthy and fit for purpose. This year the Association has overhauled its minimum standards review (MSR) process with the aim of increasing standards further whilst presenting data and feedback to Members in a more friendly format. We have also welcomed two new experts to the compliance team and absorbed costs to support Members with their KYC and AML due diligence requirements through our partnership with Red Flag Alert. In addition, the team continues to deliver daily telephone and email support, and an up-to-date library of template documents.
3. Recovery Loan Scheme On the back of facilitating £6.1 billion of CBILS loans in 2020, the NACFB supported Members through the introduction of the government’s Recovery Loan Scheme with the launch of a guidance document for intermediaries and a supporting online seminar designed to address the key features and implications of the scheme. Take-up of the RLS is expected to be somewhat lower than CBILS and details on how much NACFB Member firms helped to facilitate will be released in the NACFB Broker Survey findings published in the new year.
4. Training Following the successful roll-out of the Association’s new online training platform in 2020, the NACFB has updated content and added a whole host of new courses to keep Members abreast of industry, market, business, and regulatory developments. The latest course is a bespoke training module delivered by NACFB Patron Tuscan Capital and explores the short-term property finance market. This online videobased module covers the full application process and client journey, from the valuation to the legal processes, alongside all KYC and AML requirements. All online training is delivered in bitesized chunks and is automatically logged for CPD purposes.
5. Patronage The Association boasts an ever-growing list of Patrons made up of property and asset lenders as well as invoice finance and cashflow providers. This year so far, the NACFB has welcomed 20 new Patrons with several more in the pipeline. The number of Associate Patrons has also grown from two to five, supporting Members with a range of services including: advice – corporate, HR, legal, tax, and health and safety; personal guarantee insurance, corporate credit review, repair, and monitoring; property sales guarantees for developers; and customer verification and monitoring.
