NACFB makes landmark move for unregulated brokers

NACFB makes landmark move for unregulated brokers




The NACFB passed all 10 resolutions presented to members at its recent extraordinary general meeting, including the approval of an Unregulated Member Policy.

The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) passed all 10 resolutions presented to members at its recent extraordinary general meeting (EGM), including the approval of an Unregulated Member Policy…

The EGM, held by the NACFB in Birmingham at the end of last month, discussed the renewal of the Association’s Code of Practice to reflect the fact that over 97% of its members will be fully authorised by the end of 2016, and to insure that the organisation protects its members and prepares the broking industry for a sustainable future.

However, because the Association needed to accommodate brokers who are unable to gain authorisation, it created a new Unregulated Members Policy, which was passed by a majority vote.

The new policy, which will represent unregulated members who cannot get authorised by the FCA due to their business model, was first presented at the NACFB Expo in June this year, when it caused a lot of debate because of problems raised by having both regulated and unregulated members within the Association.

However, Adam Tyler, Chief Executive of the NACFB, explained that the new policy would not allow brokers who are looking to avoid regulation from joining the Association.

“It’s not something that can be used for people to join the NACFB to escape regulation,” Adam said.

“So you are not voting for something that people are using as a back door to escape FCA regulation.” 

Andy Bishop, National Director of Business Development SME Banking at Lloyds TSB, who attended the EGM, explained that the new Unregulated Members Policy was “massively important” from a funder’s perspective.

“This is absolutely an enabler for the funders to be able to continue to support the industry, and that is absolutely what we want to do,” Andy said.

The EGM also held three panel discussions throughout the day, including how government intervention in small business borrowing through high street bank referral is helping the market, what is next for FCA regulation and whether there are record levels of business through the broker channel asset finance market.

Reaction to the NACFB’s annual broker survey, which was released last month and revealed that bridging finance grew by only 1.2% this year, can be viewed here

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