Why asset finance brokers should get accredited by the FLA

An online analysis of the Finance & Leasing Associations (FLA)’s new accreditation scheme for asset finance brokers with a unique opportunity for brokers and lenders to ask their questions direct to the FLA team (in-person or via Asset Finance Connect).

• John Phillipou, chair of the FLA
• Mike Randall, board member of the FLA
• Simon Goldie, head of asset finance, FLA
• David Foster, CEO, Anglo Scottish
• Moderated by David Betteley, head of content, Asset Finance Connect

21st March 2024 1pm

The broker-lender partnership is a precious industry asset which many brokers feel is under attack, as lenders and regulators focus on costly compliance, ever increasing amounts of paperwork and the progressive introduction of technology into a people-to-people business at the expense of focussing on the customer and doing business. Brokers enable the funding to SME’s that the country relies on to keep business moving – they are fuel to drive the investment and productivity improvements which are at the heart of government plans to revitalise the economy.

Over the last year Asset Finance Connect has been a fly-on-the-wall in the discussions between lenders and brokers as they separately seek to make the broker-lender channel thrive. There is clearly magic-dust in the brokering SME business, which makes it the channel of choice for lenders and a most effective touchpoint for SMEs who need funding. But there is also a tension between lenders and brokers which sometimes blocks progress on making the channel work better for everyone.

Recent sources of tension for brokers have come from the prospect of full commission disclosure, and now the focus is the FLA Broker Accreditation (Asset Finance) leading one frustrated broker to demand of Asset Finance Connect (AFC) “What are they doing to us now?”

Lenders too are facing their own set of challenges including managing the Arena crisis, and the recent historic review of discretionary commission arrangements in the motor finance industry (with its implications for future action focused on non-regulated business practice).

Despite this lenders’ and brokers’ appetites for the broker-channel has remained undiminished.

Find out more about the FLA Broker accreditation (Asset Finance)

The FLA Broker Accreditation (Asset Finance) is a single review process leading to accreditation, which in theory, offers the potential to provide at least part of the solution – providing lenders with transparency, and brokers the opportunity to reduce the burden from multiple repeated reviews by each participant in their lending panels (which are only set to increase as the regulatory risk grows).

• Hear what is being proposed direct from the FLA and why; understand the role of the trade associations in delivering it; consider the status of this service– is it an end point or just the beginning of a new and better way of working?
• Learn what value both lenders and brokers believe it can deliver; and hear the challenges both sides believe they need to overcome to make it achieve their objectives Ask the FLA team direct online to get to understand the detail of what is being proposed; and find out how this new service will affect your business whether you choose to participate in it or to ignore it
• Find out what the proposal means for your business and the likely consequences of each broker’s decision to engage

This is the first in a unique and important webinar series organised by Asset Finance Connect for the UK asset finance community focusing on how brokers and lenders can collaborate to protect the broker channel for the benefit of its customers.

Sign up free to participate in the webcast on Thursday.

Write to Edward Peck at edwardpeck@assetfinanceconnect.com with your questions for the FLA team