Lack of lending is a 20 year-old problem, says lender

Lack of lending is a 20 year-old problem, says lender




2013 marks the 20th anniversary of market-leading lender Alternative Bridging Corporation (ABC) in short term finance. Yet, despite enormous changes that have taken place since the.

2013 marks the 20th anniversary of market-leading lender Alternative Bridging Corporation (ABC) in short term finance. Yet, despite enormous changes that have taken place since the firm entered the market, Managing Director of ABC, Jonathan Rubins, explains that the business is fundamentally back where it started…

The previous recession was well-established by 1993 when we commenced lending; there had been an enormous retraction of established lenders from the market, with some transactions being undertaken reluctantly by clearing banks, and once again cash was king. Into this cold climate came a few intrepid souls who saw the need to lend money to borrowers who, now displaced from their usual sources, still had opportunities only hindered by lack of liquidity.

It was a cottage industry, in which several lenders operated on a selective basis. These lenders were usually advancing their own money with a short line of communication allowing very personal and swift decisions to be made. During this time the emphasis was far less broker-led; borrowers called direct or clients were introduced by frustrated advisers who watched deals stagnate and die. As a result, the traditional market found more and more reasons not to lend.

Today, against a similar lack of mainstream liquidity, we find ourselves in a comparable place to those pre-email days. Entrepreneurial spirit has once again led to a number of new short term lenders funding a market starved of liquidity, despite Government platitudes and empty threats to its state-owned banks. In the interim the void has been filled by a new breed of short term lenders.

As we continue to race down the digital highway against a backdrop of intransigent and scared high street lenders, the message from the ‘90’s is still much the same: if you have a deal that makes sense, there is an alternative lender to make sure your ambitions are achieved.

This is the era of short term lenders like ABC, not the high street banks! At ABC we have an advantage, we were there in the ‘90s and we are here 20 years later; it is our plan to be here for a long time yet.

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