(From tope left to bottom right) Lorenzo Satchell, divisional sales manager at Blemain Group; Martin Gilsenan, director of sales at Omni Capital; Laurence Goodman, managing director at Bridgebank Capital; Paul Brett, business development director at Borro; Adam Tyler, chief executive officer at the NACFB; Alan Cleary, managing director at Precise Mortgages; Wayne Smethurst, partner at The Finance Centre; Rob Jupp, managing director at Brighstart Financial; Malcolm Scanlon, head of lending at Niche Financial; Mel Fordham, managing director at Centrado; Lucy Hodge, director at Vantage Finance and committee member at AOBP; James Rainbird, managing director of Pink Pig Loans; Debbie Stavely, director of bClear Communications; Adrian Bloomfield, chief executive officer at the Association of Short Term Lenders.
NACFB, for those that don’t know, was instrumental in the setting up of the ASTL. I sat on the steering committee back in 2007. We had a go at setting it up in 2004 actually but we couldn’t get much interest. The NACFB is there to represent commercial mortgage brokers’ interests. The ASTL represents the bridging lenders. I think the AOBP takes the stance that it represents residential brokers that deal in bridging. So it’s clearly defined what everybody does. There are these three different sectors we represent and we do talk together. I think perhaps as trade bodies we need to say more to the press about what we do so people do understand what’s going on. Alan Cleary: There are too many trade bodies. There’s no joined up thinking. We have a lot of memberships and we had to take a cold look at it and ask ourselves which is the best one for us. I think there are too many saying different things and trying to deal with the regulator with different viewpoints which perhaps isn’t working. All we’re getting is status quo people trying to maintain the market as
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it is. That is not in the customer’s interests. Clearly there are massive inconsistencies in this market into how lenders operate. One of the things trade bodies should be doing is actually managing standards so everyone knows what stance to take. Mel Fordham: There was a speaker from the Financial Services Authority on the TV recently, his name escapes me and he was frankly dismissive of self-regulation by trade bodies. AT: Not from the NACFB’s point of view. We’re 20 years old this year and our code of practice was recognised by the Office of Fair Trading back in 1994. We have direct communication with the FSA and the Financial Ombudsman Service as well. If you look back at the Mortgage Market Review, we’re on three pages on business finance. It just goes to show the FSA are content with the work the NACFB does as a self regulator for
the commercial finance industry. Now that may include asset finance, commercial mortgages, short-term finance, vehicle finance and of course buy-to-let as well.
Would it be useful for the ASTL to have a codified set of standards that members should adhere to and how do you balance that with the interests of associate members who may or may not be lenders?
Adrian Bloomfield: Unemotionally tipping the facts as I see them, there is one trade body that represents lenders. There may be a 100 lenders, there is no reliable record. Personally I think there are 50 lenders which are eligible to join the trade body. At the moment we have 27 so we’re fairly representative. Martin eloquently said that we were the servants not the masters. ASTL is there to carry out the requirements of its members who
BRIDGING INTRODUCER MARCH 2012 23
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