In a survey carried out by United Trust Bank of 160 brokers, 60% said they were expected to write more business than they had planned for the full year.
When asked how they ranked their year’s performance, some 14% of intermediaries working in property finance, asset finance and professional loans rated themselves as excellent.
Meanwhile, 32% of respondents said they expected to finish 2016 on target with just 8% predicting their performance would fall short of where they wanted to be.
Harley Kagan, group managing director of United Trust Bank, said: “UK Brokers have shown their resilience by shrugging off the challenges thrown at them and a clear majority have either performed as well, or better than they expected to. This reflects our own experience where we have seen strong performances across the lending divisions of UTB with some being outstanding.”
“With the process of exiting the EU likely to start in the spring, and an unpredictable US President being sworn into office in the New Year, 2017 will take us into uncharted waters,” added Kagan. “More uncertainty lies ahead, but if 2016 has shown anything, it’s that brokers and lenders can succeed even in the most challenging of circumstances if they work together.”
Shaun Church, director at Private Finance said here will be hurdles to overcome next year, but that conversely HSBC’s market entrance, the last bastion of the direct channel, is a great sign of the things to come next year.
“This is a huge validation that brokers provide higher quality advice than you find in branch,” he said.
“Our growth plans are underpinned by our existing clients and in buy to let, for example, by a lot more product transfer business, and a lot more new lenders arriving so we can work with them on the pound for pound transitional arrangements of landlords left high and dry by the tighter underwriting criteria. It may also be a successful period for first-time buyers next year with higher activity, but as brokers we’ll be making the most of what we’ve got by working more closely with partners to see our share of the market increase,” said Church.
