With increasing activity within the commercial market, Business Lending Limited (BLL) argued this type of partnership would strengthen the market and encourage more brokers to take advantage of a niche they might not have previously considered.
Kevin Cooke, director of BLL, said: “I’ve a strong belief in packagers and specialist brokers and would recommend anyone in the intermediary industry to partner themselves up. The commercial market is coming of age, but it won’t ever be as simple as residential. There is a lot more paper work involved and it makes sense to go to a specialist. I would rather brokers do this than go direct, as this would dilute the strength of the market.
“A specialist packager or intermediary can spot market trends readily and respond to changes quickly, so providing the best product for a client. They can help commercial customers who do not quite fit the bill of bigger lenders and provide more options.”
Cooke added that creating partnerships would strengthen the industry and open up the opportunities available in the commercial lending market to residential mortgage intermediaries.
However, Rod Murdison, proprietor of brokerage Murdison & Browning, pointed out the problem of maintaining such a relationship. He said: “It comes back to the age old problem of getting regular commercial enquiries. For one-offs, having a partnership with a specialist packager or intermediary would be a good thing as, if you only receive a commercial enquiry every three months or so, then you can’t keep that level of expertise up yourself. But the difficulty comes with trying to maintain a rapport with them when you only contact them every quarter. Regular contact is needed to allow an intermediary to feel confident with what a specialist provides them with.”
