The proportion of commercial business placed through intermediaries will increase in the next year, according to RBS.

Presenting to delegates, Craig Leyland, head of business development at RBS Business Banking, emphasised the opportunities available to intermediaries dealing in the sector, highlighting that about £80bn worth of commercial mortgages were written in 2007, with a similar figure expected this year.

According to the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB), only 15%-20% of commercial business currently goes through intermediaries, though research from the trade body in September revealed a 16% increase in the amount of commercial mortgage business written (“Commercial deals on the rise, claims NACFB”, mortgagesolutions-online.com, 15/9/08).

Leyland said: “We will see an increase in the amount of business going through brokers due to the market conditions and the confidence in the banking sector as a whole. In the short term, we might see more and more business going through intermediaries.”

Nikki Cann, associate director of the NACFB, said that by using brokers SMEs stood a much better chance of getting their desired loan. She said: “Brokers can highlight and pull out what a lender wants to know – if a lender gets a proposition through where most of the work is done for them, it is more likely to go for it.”

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