The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) has been described as a benchmark for other self-regulatory bodies after confirming its decision to freeze membership fees for 2021.
The association comprises commercial finance brokers covering the whole of the UK. To drive standards all broker members are required to have full or limited consumer credit permission, professional indemnity insurance, a data protection licence, and a strong track record with nationally recognised lenders.
Launched in 1992, the NACFB is the nation's largest independent trade body for commercial finance brokers with more than 2,000 members who are supported by a complement of more than 140 lender patrons. The NACFB facilitates engagement between members and patrons, with the sole aim of helping to fund business.
Praise for the NACFB’s latest initiative on membership fees has been widespread with Ryan Ewen, founder of Bridging.com, pointing out how the NACFB is once again showing great leadership in very difficult times by freezing all 2021 membership fees at 2020 rates.
This follows a decision by the association earlier this year to completely waive all broker membership fees for four months from April to July after the disruption caused as the Covid-19 pandemic swept the nation and the globe.
Both broker members and lender patrons will benefit from the latest decision which was approved by the association’s members at last week’s first ever fully virtual AGM.
The AGM also saw a series of measures passed which will result in a significant restructuring of the NACFB board of directors. These progressive changes will see the creation of both a Members Advisory Group (MAG) and a Patrons Engagement Group (PEG). More details on both these new steering groups will be announced early next month.
Ewen has been quick to praise the work undertaken by the NACFB, highlighting the leadership of managing director Norman Chambers as an instrumental factor in the continued growth of grow of the organisation:
He said:
“The NACFB’s rapid growth over recent years should come as a surprise to no one. Membership numbers recently surpassed the landmark figure of 2,000 for the first time in the association’s long and successful history. Growing substantially in 2020 of all years says everything you need to know about the amazing job Norman Chambers, his team and the board of directors are doing. Put simply, they are the benchmark for other self-regulatory bodies.”
The success of the NACFB’s first ever virtual AGM followed hard on the heels of October’s second Virtual Commercial Finance Expo of the year with the association switching seamlessly to the digital world since March and in doing so impressively living up to its strapline of “Moving Britain Forward.”
To further underline these successes, yesterday saw over 450 Members and Patrons once again gather on-line to celebrate the NACFB’s Annual Awards. Recognising industry excellence in this toughest of years, 31 awards were handed out to the associations brokers and lenders in a ceremony hosted by husband and wife comics, Marcus Brigstocke and Rachel Parris. Whilst many remote toasts were raised its probably fair to say that everyone in attendance looks forward to congratulating each other in person at the 2021 Awards!!