The National Association of Commercial
Finance Brokers (NACFB) has undergone a 7% dip in leasing business
written by their members, according to their end of year survey.
Leasing and asset finance in the NACFB has dropped by £88
million to £1.11bn million, compared to £1.2bn for the same period
last year. Adam Tyler, chief executive of the NACFB commented:
“Leasing business written by members has dipped lightly; however we
are looking to recruit more leasing specialists to the Association
and offer more to existing leasing members.” He added that there
are now two members of the NACFB board who come from a leasing
background. “With their assistance we will look at making sure that
all commercial finance brokers are properly represented by their
Association,” Tyler said. State Securities, who source all
their work through brokers, have noticed a clear drop in the
quantity and quality of deals sourced. Sales director Andrew
Bullard said: “It’s roughly 30 per cent less busy.” According to
Bullard, economic causes are behind the decline, and it shouldn’t
last long: “My gut feel is that this is only a short-term blip, how
long that will go on for, I’m not quite sure.” He continued:
“Brokers are certainly the way forward for the UK finance industry.
That’s where the dominant part of the finance sector will be doing
its business and therefore what’s happening to the brokers is a
reflection of what’s happening in the market, but things will turn
around.” The survey, which covered the period of June 2007
to 2008, also reported a fall in other areas of the NACFB,
resulting in a total loss of £3.7bn, dropping from £19.1bn to
£15.4bn. The sectors hit were leasing and asset finance, bridging
and short term finance, vehicle finance, and buy-to-let deals which
were hit the hardest, suffering a 58.8% decrease.
Norman Kenvyn, managing director of leasing and asset finance
company St Helen’s Finance said that although company had witnessed
a slight rise in the number of deals, the quality of the deals,
such as the type of assets financed had not improved as much as
anticipated. “I think when the banks were gradually cutting their
facilities to SMEs in general, there appeared to be a few more
deals on the horizons because customers have to look to other
sources to borrow money and therefore look to leasing deals, but
the quality of the deals isn’t increasing. There was a slight
upturn in the number of deals, but not in quality”, he said.
Factoring and invoice discounting however enjoyed a huge increase
of 276%, rising from £182 million to £687 million during the
financial year. Commercial mortgage deals also rose by 16% and the
NACFB reported membership growth of 9%.
Finance Brokers (NACFB) has undergone a 7% dip in leasing business
written by their members, according to their end of year survey.
Leasing and asset finance in the NACFB has dropped by £88
million to £1.11bn million, compared to £1.2bn for the same period
last year. Adam Tyler, chief executive of the NACFB commented:
“Leasing business written by members has dipped lightly; however we
are looking to recruit more leasing specialists to the Association
and offer more to existing leasing members.” He added that there
are now two members of the NACFB board who come from a leasing
background. “With their assistance we will look at making sure that
all commercial finance brokers are properly represented by their
Association,” Tyler said. State Securities, who source all
their work through brokers, have noticed a clear drop in the
quantity and quality of deals sourced. Sales director Andrew
Bullard said: “It’s roughly 30 per cent less busy.” According to
Bullard, economic causes are behind the decline, and it shouldn’t
last long: “My gut feel is that this is only a short-term blip, how
long that will go on for, I’m not quite sure.” He continued:
“Brokers are certainly the way forward for the UK finance industry.
That’s where the dominant part of the finance sector will be doing
its business and therefore what’s happening to the brokers is a
reflection of what’s happening in the market, but things will turn
around.” The survey, which covered the period of June 2007
to 2008, also reported a fall in other areas of the NACFB,
resulting in a total loss of £3.7bn, dropping from £19.1bn to
£15.4bn. The sectors hit were leasing and asset finance, bridging
and short term finance, vehicle finance, and buy-to-let deals which
were hit the hardest, suffering a 58.8% decrease.
Norman Kenvyn, managing director of leasing and asset finance
company St Helen’s Finance said that although company had witnessed
a slight rise in the number of deals, the quality of the deals,
such as the type of assets financed had not improved as much as
anticipated. “I think when the banks were gradually cutting their
facilities to SMEs in general, there appeared to be a few more
deals on the horizons because customers have to look to other
sources to borrow money and therefore look to leasing deals, but
the quality of the deals isn’t increasing. There was a slight
upturn in the number of deals, but not in quality”, he said.
Factoring and invoice discounting however enjoyed a huge increase
of 276%, rising from £182 million to £687 million during the
financial year. Commercial mortgage deals also rose by 16% and the
NACFB reported membership growth of 9%.
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