One in four clients had already faced rejection before a broker helped secure funding
Member brokers of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) arranged £33bn of SME lending in 2025, up 25% on the previous year. The figure comes from the trade body's inaugural Intermediary Market Outlook, published in February, and covers about 180,000 loans.
The NACFB estimates its members account for nearly two-thirds of broker-facilitated SME lending. That puts the total broker-led market at approximately £50bn a year.
The figures are the trade body's own estimates. Its membership also grew over the period, with more than 100 new broker firms joining in 2025.
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Lender landscape
The backdrop is a lender landscape that has fragmented. The British Business Bank's Small Business Finance Markets report found gross SME bank lending rose 9% to £68bn in 2025. That was the second-highest level in 13 years, after the 2020 pandemic peak.
Other key findings include:
- challenger and specialist banks provided 60% of gross SME bank lending, excluding overdrafts, up from 39% in 2012
- adding non-bank lenders, 68% of SME lending came from challenger and specialist banks or non-bank providers
- 28 new providers have entered smaller business banking since 2013
- 62% of smaller businesses knew where to find finance information, up five points on 2024
Around half of smaller businesses used external finance, with credit cards (19%) and overdrafts (16%) the most common products in Q3 2025. The bank said this suggests debt finance is being used for stability rather than growth.
Furthermore, the bank said lending markets are showing signs of positive improvement, adding that economic growth will require greater confidence to invest in new capacity.
Broker value
The NACFB's data shows what brokers do with that choice:
- they considered an average of six lenders per deal
- a quarter of clients had been declined elsewhere before a broker secured funding
- 62% of broker-facilitated lending was delivered outside London and the South East
NACFB head of communications and advocacy Kieran Jones said the headline figure is less revealing than the detail beneath it.
"Those details reveal how this market actually operates," he said.
He pointed to careful structuring, regional reach and problem-solving capability. He also said relationships are increasingly ongoing rather than transactional, core lender panels are deepening and a growing proportion of lender portfolios is broker-originated.
Commercial interest
Property investors are also turning to commercial finance. A growing number are pivoting to commercial and semi-commercial lending as a deliberate strategic choice.
In fact, TAB's Mixed-Use Mortgage Monitor recorded semi-commercial lending of £250m in Q3 2026, an annualised run rate of £1bn. It counted 30 active lenders and 99 dedicated products.
TR Commercial Finance director Sam Rose said smaller landlords coming off five-year fixes are finding they make less than expected. He said this is leading investors to focus on maximising each deal, and that lenders are more willing to lend into commercial after the post-pandemic pullback.
"Lenders seem very keen to lend," he said.
The harder question is capability. Cotterell & Cotterell director Elliot Cotterell said the move into specialist funding is held back more by confidence than regulation. His comments came in a piece on residential brokers moving into bridging and commercial finance.
"The biggest hurdle is mindset," he said.
He said clients want one firm to handle everything, from the residential mortgage to the next development.
If SME borrowers already use brokers to cut through lender choice, advisers have an opening. Those who can show clear process, lender knowledge and a record on declined cases will have the strongest pitch.
