Broker-arranged SME lending reached £33bn in 2025 according to the inaugural Intermediary Market Outlook 2025/26 published by National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB).
The trade body said lending originated by its member brokers increased 25% year-on-year, reinforcing the intermediary channel’s position within UK business finance.
NACFB analysis suggests its members now account for nearly two-thirds of broker-facilitated SME lending nationally, putting the total broker-led market at around £50bn a year.
NACFB brokers arranged 180,000 loans for UK businesses
During 2025, NACFB brokers arranged 180,000 loans for UK businesses, generating an estimated £12bn in direct gross value added (GVA).
Including wider economic effects, the total impact rises to £19.2bn, with lending activity supporting an estimated 185,000 additional jobs.
The report also found that 62% of broker-facilitated lending was delivered outside London and the South East.
The 92-page report combines internal CRM data, broker surveys and lender insight to examine transaction volumes, market trends, regulatory considerations and expectations for the year ahead.
NACFB membership now stands at 1,400 broker firms and more than 3,000 individual brokers, the largest in its history.
EXPERIENCE MATTERS
Jim Higginbotham (main picture), CEO of the NACFB, says: “For most within our industry, the central role of brokers in SME finance has long been understood through experience.
“What this report does is provide external, data-backed evidence of that reality. The scale is unmistakable. £33 billion arranged by NACFB brokers alone. A 25% year-on-year increase. Lending that supports jobs, regional growth and economic output across the UK.”
“Intermediaries are a structural component of how funding flows to small businesses.”
He adds: “This is no longer a peripheral channel within SME finance. Intermediaries are a structural component of how funding flows to small businesses. As complexity in the market increases, so too does the value of informed, professional guidance.
“The evidence shows a mature, resilient and increasingly influential intermediary market – one that policymakers, lenders and stakeholders cannot afford to overlook.”
BEHAVIOURAL SHIFT
Kieran Jones, head of communications and advocacy at the NACFB, adds: “The £33 billion headline understandably draws attention, but the real substance of this report sits beneath that number.
“When you look closely at the data, you see brokers considering an average of six lenders per deal, a quarter of clients having been declined elsewhere before being successfully funded, and nearly two-thirds of lending delivered outside London and the South East.
“Those details reveal how this market actually operates – through careful structuring, regional reach and problem-solving capability.
“We also see a shift in behaviour. Relationships are increasingly ongoing rather than transactional, core lender panels are deepening, and a growing proportion of lender portfolios are now broker-originated.
“That speaks to maturity and consolidation, not fragmentation.”
The full Intermediary Market Outlook 2025/26 is available to download and read online HERE.
