The ASTL talks of “realignment” for brokers

The ASTL talks of “realignment” for brokers




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The chief executive of the Association of Short Term Lenders, Adrian Bloomfield has been sharing his views with us on how the slump in the housing market and ensuing economic decline has affected broker practices, saying that he expects there to be a significant “realignment” for everyone involved in financial services. 

 

Speaking from the offices of Jeffrey Green Russell, where he is a retained consultant to this well established law practice, which lists commercial and short term lending as one of its core competencies, Mr Bloomfield talked of how the landscape has changed for financial advisors.

 

“This is a new world for brokers,” Mr Bloomfield said. “The days of simple cases and collecting easy commission are gone. Brokers now have to find really good applicants. Their propositions have to make good sense and people have to borrow money for sensible reasons and prove that they can pay it back, otherwise they simply won’t get a loan.”

 

Talking about how the current difficult conditions are impacting on the industry, Mr Bloomfield said: “Right now there is a need for higher levels of competence, efficiency and professionalism. The people that traded reasonably well off the back of a booming economy will struggle in the current market.

 

“Smart people who give good service and good value for money will prosper. Out of all the businesses, broking is especially difficult and I think there will be a complete realignment of the industry: we’ve already seen more speculative players withdraw from the market and hopefully what we’ll be left with going forward are genuine people who know how to do business properly.”

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