Finance & Leasing Association statistics reveal that in the year to September 2007 the proportion of new business delivered to its members by brokers totalled some £3.44bn (2006: £2.95bn) or 16.4 per cent of total business written.
The increased sophistication and importance of brokers to UK
automotive lenders has recently been highlighted in an industry
report.
Finance & Leasing Association statistics reveal that in the
year to September 2007 the proportion of new business delivered to
its members by brokers totalled some £3.44bn (2006: £2.95bn) – or
16.4 per cent of total business written.
Last November Hitachi Capital carried out a survey of 103 brokers
which revealed that:
some 73 per cent believed that lenders constantly need to
improve their product offering
59 per cent confirmed that lenders need to “think outside the
box” for unorthodox proposals (see box 1)
63 per cent argued that lenders should be able to
structure complex deals (see box 1)
92 per cent said that the lenders they used were
“predictable” in terms of what business they will underwrite
61 per cent believed that lenders should make greater use
of new technology to deliver a better service.
Martin Cutbill, divisional chief executive for Finance &
Insurance Services at Hitachi Capital said that brokers themselves
recognise that there is much they need to do to increase their own
customers’ satisfaction. “The vast majority of broker respondents
agreed that they should be striving to improve their service, to
improve their product offering, to be able to offer a greater range
of products and to introduce new technology into their
organisations.”
Cutbill added: “Brokers are now acutely aware of the need to
innovate and improve performance – more so than the lenders they
use [see box 2]. They feel there is a significant need to educate
their customers which tends to reinforce a Bibby survey that shows
asset-finance understanding is poor – or very poor – amongst some
27 per cent of small to medium-sized enterprises.”
“UK lenders,” said Cutbill, “have been slow to take advantage of
new technology – which is an issue for both lenders and brokers
alike. The winners will be those brokers who add the most value by
educating their customers and helping them identify the right
solutions – and those lenders who do the most to help them achieve
this.”
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