The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) hosted the second annual Commercial Finance Expo, held on Wednesday June 29. The Commercial Finance Expo offers a networking opportunity for brokers, lenders and packagers.

All in all, 72 exhibitors displayed stands at the event, which took place at the Birmingham NEC’s Pavilion.

Chief Executive of the NACFB, Adam Tyler, said: “Clearly there is such a demand for this kind of event. We had 1200 brokers registered to attend and we could have had more exhibitors, but we kept to the planned 72 stands for this year, and crucially almost 60 of those were taken by active commercial lenders.

“In addition, 21 of these lenders had underwriters along on the day so that our brokers could talk about deals on the day. I know of a few cases where fully packaged deals were actually submitted on the stands.”

Founder and Director of Bridging Finance Solutions, Steve Barber, said of the event: “We had an excellent day and spoke with many brokers who we think that we can assist. We are already progressing five cases directly from discussions on the day.

“The atmosphere was very positive and a number of brokers commented on how the whole event had exceeded their expectations. We booked for next year on the day.”

The NACFB, which was established in 1992 in response to the growing incidence of fraud, is the national trade body for brokers who arrange finance for businesses. It works to encourage best practice in this largely unregulated sector. Mr Tyler stated: “We are thrilled with the feedback we received on the day as well as the astonishing emails I have had and tweets I have seen this morning.

“It was good that we had representation from lenders and funders of all sizes and we are also delighted that we have exhibitors from across the whole commercial finance spectrum.”

Managing Director of Alternative Bridging Corporation, Jonathan Rubins, said, “To be honest we were surprised at how busy we were at the Expo.

“Though we were launching a new product which often generates additional interest, the stand was busy throughout the day and at one stage we had three people waiting to speak to us. We have already booked up for the next show and I think that speaks volumes.”

 “The target for this event was to bring the Industry together and to do business, we achieved this and as a real bonus, it was the positive feel at the event that was commented on time and time again,” NACFB’s Chief Executive said.

Looking to the future, he concluded: “This was the event for the commercial finance industry this year, and we have already taken plenty of bookings for stands for next year.”