By Paul McGinnes, Head of Reach Commercial Finance Scotland, part of the Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group
The importance of human interaction and interpersonal relationships are the two top trends driving the financial brokerage industry. That’s according to the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB)
Recognising the importance of relationships between lenders and clients is nothing new to us at Reach Commercial Finance. In fact, with our vastly experienced team, we’ve built a leading business on the back of it and the trust it engenders.
As the bespoke brokerage division of Leonard Curtis, based on Glasgow’s Waterloo Street, Reach is now a 12-strong UK-wide team that works across all 19 Group offices, within an organisation of over 200 professional services advisers.
We make sure we fully understand clients’ requirements from the outset, that we’re close to funders and continue to strengthen ties with introducers in Scotland and across the UK. The strength of those relationships gives us, as independent advisers, the time and ability to find the most appropriate solutions, of which we have many options to choose from, due to our wealth of expertise and contacts.
At a time when brokers must diversify their offerings to meet much wider financing needs within an increasingly fast-paced and ever-changing environment, we’re constantly developing our alternative lending portfolio.
Access to funding
SME access to funding to help them grow is more important than ever. They’re the lifeblood of the Scottish economy. With numbers reaching a record high, small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Scotland stand at almost 360,000 and provide an estimated 1.2million jobs. This accounts for 99.3% of all private sector businesses, 55.4% of private sector employment, and 41.5% of private sector turnover.
Scottish companies looking to expand – whether they want to access new markets, increase production capacity or acquire competitors – invariably need to look for external finance to help them realise their ambitions. To ensure that they receive the best finance options for their business, it’s recommended to partner with a specialist professional. This saves them time, streamlines the process and ensures suitable financial solutions are put in place.
Alternative finance
While mainstream banks dominate in terms of the overall volume of small business lending, the amount of finance secured by SMEs from the alternative finance market has increased in recent years, a trend that looks set to underpin SME sector growth here in Scotland.
At Reach Commercial Finance demand for products such as invoice finance, asset finance, property finance and cashflow loans is increasing as well as becoming more deeply integrated into the Scottish SME lending infrastructure.
A business based on trust
As a commercial finance broker we have built our business on trust which helps Scottish SMEs overcome critical hurdles. The clients and lenders we work with trust our knowledge and network to secure the most flexible deals at the most cost-effective rate.
How we work
We’ve always invested a great deal of time at the outset to ensure we fully understand clients’ issues. It’s an approach that sets us apart from the majority of intermediaries out there. We don’t just issue a name and a number to a funder. Instead, we take the time to truly get to know clients and lenders so we’re able to find the most appropriate solutions for the swiftest most successful outcome. With this approach, we continue to add value and develop relationships by continuously evaluating client portfolios and industry statistics.
By thoroughly analysing client requirements and being a trusted connection between borrowers and lenders we ensure that the best links are made between the two.
That’s how we have over 500 live clients in our portfolio, expect to hit the 600-mark soon and how we’ve completed more than 500 transactions raising more than £250million in commercial finance over the last three years.
To find out more about our approach and read testimonials from some of our clients and partner lenders, go to www.reachcf.co.uk.