It’s a tremendous event, and one that LendInvest is always proud to take part in. The NACFB is a first class organisation with a leadership genuinely committed to its members and to the task of improving British business. The Expo provides an excellent opportunity to get some valuable face-to-face time with intermediaries, whether they are brokers that we have worked with for years or those who we will hopefully be working with in the future.

This is a relationship business. Of course intermediaries want to find a deal at the right price for their clients, but there are other factors which are just as important when it comes to choosing a lender.

How quickly can you turn around the funding? Will there be someone credible to pick up the phone if there’s an issue? And how do you view the niche cases that fall a little outside the normal criteria? Chatting to intermediaries in person, addressing those questions, is a critical tool in building the trust needed to develop those new relationships.

It is clear that it’s becoming ever more challenging for lenders to differentiate themselves. Today there are 145 lender members of the NACFB, double the number of a decade ago. More and more lenders are operating in this space. In order to pick up business, lenders have to offer a more personalised, service-led proposition. Price helps, but alone it will never be enough.

Technology has a big role to play here. The term FinTech was used repeatedly during the Expo, by brokers and lenders alike. Lenders need to add value to a broker’s business, and providing the right tech, helping intermediaries to place business quickly and efficiently, is a clear way to do that. As an online lender, it’s something that LendInvest takes very seriously, as demonstrated by the launch of our dedicated intermediary website last month. Where we see opportunities to incorporate more sensible technology, to improve efficiency and help brokers, we will.

Getting to speak face-to-face to so many brokers at a show like the NACFB Expo also offers you the opportunity to benefit from the market insights intermediaries can offer. Advisers are at the coalface; you cannot pass up the chance to pick their brains on the trends they see, what the sentiment is like among their borrowers, and where they think the market is going.

Change was a word that I heard time and time again. There has been plenty of it already this year, from the new rules of the Mortgage Credit Directive to the additional Stamp Duty now charged on second homes. There may be more to come now that the nation has voted for a Brexit, while the Prudential Regulation Authority’s consultation on how lenders underwrite buy-to-let mortgages will inevitably have a knock on effect on the bridging industry too; the exit to many bridging loans is a buy-to-let mortgage and these will be harder to secure than before and require more equity from the property investor.

But this industry attracts resourceful, adaptable people. Rather than bemoan the changing circumstances, it was clear from the brokers that I spoke to that now is a time for optimism. Changing markets mean new opportunities.

In closing, I’d like to quote something that Ralph Black from the NACFB said during a presentation: “If we pull together as an organisation, we have the opportunity to demonstrate we are a strong force for good.”

He is absolutely right. Commercial finance brokers and lenders are fulfilling an important and necessary role in the commercial finance market, and that will remain the case, no matter what new challenges come our way in the years ahead.

Attributed to Matthew Tooth, Head of Distribution at LendInvest.