April 2018 Edition
Chairman's Foreword
By Adam Tyler, executive chairman at FIBA
Following the Access to Finance event that I chaired in the House of Lords at the end of March, we are in the process of completing the paper - due to be delivered to parliament later this year - on the state of SME funding in the UK, and how it can be improved. The breadth of this report covers all aspects of specialist finance, including short-term and development lending.
FIBA will work to benefit the borrower
By Liz Syms, founder and director at Connect for Intermediaries
It is rare to find a mortgage broker today who has a complete understanding of all the lenders and criteria across the different product ranges of residential, buy-to-let, commercial, second charges, bridging etc.
Five reasons why we might turn down a borrower client
By Fiona Callaghan and Nick Mann, associate solicitors at Seddons
The current economic climate and slow property market has led to expansion and creation of new opportunities in the specialist finance space. Healthy competition and a greater variety of products can only benefit the industry and attract more borrowers to the market. Greater demand, on the other hand, leads to increased pressure on the legal side, not only to ensure we can act for the borrower client but also to get the job done. However, there are some instances where that might not be possible.
How far can a solicitor go for the specialist finance borrower?
By Daniel Fireman, head of banking and real estate finance at Howard Kennedy
Borrowers' expectations of solicitors arise from their reliance on the solicitors - representing all parties to a secured loan transaction - to co-operate and act as necessary, so as to properly facilitate said transaction.
A refresher on complaints recording
By Mark Greenwood, group regulatory policy manager at SimplyBiz Group
We all hope we never receive complaints from our clients, but as a reminder, we thought it would be useful to recap the FCA complaints recording and reporting rules to ensure that if you do, you have a suitable process in place.