NACFB to launch new Broker Assurance Process

The NACFB today announced the launch of a new Assurance Process designed to make the process of collecting oversight data from brokers more efficient than in the past. At present individual lenders each carry out reviews with a broker, resulting in increased costs and work for both lenders and brokers.

A key element in the initiative is that governance of the Assurance Process will include patron members of the NACFB who are also members of the FLA. This collaboration is a significant step forward from previous plans developed separately by the NACFB and the FLA. AFC understands that the FLA review process launched 18 months ago has been paused.

The significance of the announcement is that efforts to increase collaboration between the FLA and NACFB finally seem to be making progress.

The news follows the appointment last year of Jim Higginbotham as CEO of the NACFB. Jim is understood to have been working closely with board members Mike Randall and John Phillipou (Chair) to get this deal across the line.

AFC research suggests that members of both trade organisations expect their associations to collaborate to make the interaction between lenders and brokers more efficient and effective, for the benefit of end-customers. The recent increased focus on commission disclosure and on fiduciary duty will have added extra urgency to the Associations work. There is a growing feeling that the two trade associations need to come together to protect an industry which has demonstrated its track record of successfully providing finance to SMEs.

Edward Peck, founder of AFC will be interviewing John Phillipou, Mike Randall and Jim Higginbotham at the NACFB conference in June – an opportunity for lenders and brokers to understand more about the Process. Brokers and lenders who want to attend can register here.

The official press release from the NACFB is below:

NACFB Broker Assurance Process: FLA supportive of NACFB efforts to drive industry best practice

The NACFB and FLA, representatives of asset finance brokers and lenders respectively, both recognise the importance of driving best practice in the asset finance market. Independently and at times together, they have done this over the last decade.

The launch of a new NACFB Broker Assurance process which shares information with lenders who are patrons of the NACFB, marks the next step in the evolution of ensuring that lenders and introducers standards are aligned as far as practical and the process of broker assurance data capture is as efficient as possible.

As part of a wider development of best practice initiatives which will be further enhanced in the coming months, governance for the NACFB Broker Assurance process will include patron members of the NACFB who are also members of the FLA sitting independently as part of a team.

Jim Higginbotham commented: “I’m delighted that both organisations have rallied behind this process, which can only serve to enhance trust in the intermediary community. While this marks a very significant first step, it also signals the intent of both our associations to continue working together to tackle common industry challenges that are better solved collectively than in isolation.”