The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) held its third ‘Meet the Patrons’ Networking Event at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull yesterday. The event attracted 37 exhibitors, including commercial mortgage lenders, lessors, bridging funders and business service providers. More than 200 NACFB members attended to meet and talk with both the exhibitors and other brokers.

Adam Tyler, Chief Executive of the NACFB, said: “This has been the most successful event of this kind we have ever run and the numbers who attended put paid to the rumours that the market has collapsed. Although times are tough at the moment we have representatives from 16 commercial mortgage lenders – including specialist lenders who are still active in the market. We also welcomed four lessors, a factor, payroll finance specialists and a buy-to-let lender. The aim of the event was to get as many lenders and funders under one roof to allow busy brokers to take a day out of their schedule to meet with as many of them as possible. And the day was a huge success – feedback from both exhibitors and members has been extremely positive.”

Graham Toy, Head of Commercial & Intermediary Lending at Norwich & Peterborough Building Society, said: “This was a quality event which was we found to be useful in two main ways. First of all, it was an excellent opportunity to meet with brokers – both those we already deal with and those who were new to us. We also found it useful as a business to business event as we looked at working with other lenders, specifically a couple of bridging lenders, to bring new business to us. The day had an atmosphere of ‘can do’ and optimism: although times are tough everyone was working together to overcome the market problems.”

Peter Caldicott, Head of Commercial Broker Proposition at HSBC Commercial Bank, said: “It was a very positive day. In today’s market, where most stories in the news are depressing, it’s very good to hear some good news for a change! It was also a good opportunity to get in front of brokers to say that we are very much open for business; we have money to lend and we are keen to get quality business from brokers through our doors.”

David Young from Barclays Bank agreed. He said: “Barclays Local Business was proud to be involved with the NACFB networking day and it was a great opportunity to meet with many brokers who were very keen to talk to us about commercial lending. Barclays is still very much “open for commercial lending business”, and we are committed to providing a fast and efficient service to brokers. We are already seeing great results from the networking day with three cases being received from brokers within three hours of the end of the event.”