Small business lending via NACFB brokers increases 31% to £15.982bn
– Commercial mortgages registered the biggest level of growth in 2015, climbing from £2.226bn to £3.448bn, a rise of 54.9%.
– For the first time in five years, not one single funding category fell in value. We saw growth across all sectors.
– Lending levels by new types of business finance such as peer to peer and crowdfunding continued to rise, from last year’s level of £624m up to £847m. This means our brokers are on target to exceed £1bn in the alternative finance field by this time next year (2016).
– Vehicle finance showed massive growth for the second year running, exceeding £1bn for the first time since 2008 and setting a new record at £1.244bn.
– Invoice Finance was also up by more than 40%, from last year’s £658m to a new high of £946m in 2015.
– Leasing and Asset Finance performed very strongly – it reached £4.017bn, up from £2.721bn in 2014.
– The number of lenders working with us has increased from 45 during the recession to a record 128 lenders in 2015.
– Total business written by NACFB members has now risen 62% in just two years.
The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) takes its annual broker survey every summer, and 2015’s results show this year’s lending total is more than double the £7bn that NACFB lenders facilitated during the depths of the financial crisis in 2009. The NACFB is on target to match the pre-recession high of £19.1bn by this time next year.
Adam Tyler, chief executive of NACFB, said: “Whilst we have seen a steady increase in Lending throughout the last 12 months this years survey has provided us with expected results, but with a swing towards traditional lending such as Commercial Mortgages and Asset Finance.
“The market continues to diversify at an incredible rate and we continue to attract high numbers of new and established lenders who see our brokers as the best and busiest in the industry. This survey data, and the written and verbal feedback we have been getting from our 1500-strong membership, certainly backs up that perception.
“Recent developments such as the acquisition of 140 new brokers from our patrons at Hitachi Capital, coupled with our findSMEfinance website’s inclusion on the final shortlist for the Government’s Bank Referral Scheme, are all helping to keep finance flowing through the best channels to the SMEs who need it the most.”
