Spotcap find 77% of SME brokers are upbeat about Brexit

Over three-quarters of commercial finance intermediaries in the UK expect the number of loans they broker to increase after Brexit, with more than half saying the number will rise “by a lot”.

In July Berlin-based online lender Spotcap asked 132 UK brokers, accountants and advisers about the future of SME finance in the UK, the results of which it published today as part of a report entitled The State of Commercial Finance in the UK.

The report and survey were compiled with the support of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) and the Financial Intermediary & Broker Association (FIBA).

“The research chimes with our own view of the commercial finance broker’s role in supporting and advising business borrowers,” said Graham Toy, CEO of the NACFB.

“Brokers have a positive outlook partly because they remain instinctively agile, with many of them having weathered the unpredictability of a post-2008 world.”

Crucially those brokers and advisers involved in property, professional services, construction and manufacturing were among those most upbeat about business growth.

The responses weren’t overwhelmingly positive, especially around Brexit with one in four respondents naming the political situation a key challenge, while just one fifth said it would bring new business opportunities.

“Commercial finance intermediaries are an important part of the SME funding jigsaw. The survey insights show that there is a lot of potential for them to help fill the  £22 billion funding gap,” said Niels Turfboer, managing director of Spotcap.

“The more adaptable and open-minded to change intermediaries—and lenders—are, the better and faster they can compete and grow their business.”