Broker-led SME lending reaches £33bn, NACFB report finds

Broker-led lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) reached £33bn in 2025, up 25% year on year, according to new research published by the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB).

The figures are contained in the trade body’s inaugural Intermediary Market Outlook 2025/26, which provides an overview of activity in the UK’s broker-led SME finance market.

NACFB said its member brokers accounted for nearly two-thirds of broker-facilitated SME lending, placing the total size of the intermediary-led market at around £50bn a year.

The report found that NACFB members arranged approximately 180,000 loans for UK businesses in 2025. This activity generated an estimated £12bn in direct gross value added (GVA), rising to £19.2bn when wider economic effects are included. Lending supported by brokers was also associated with an estimated 185,000 jobs.

Regional data showed that 62% of broker-facilitated lending was delivered outside London and the South East, highlighting the role of intermediaries in supporting business finance across the UK’s regions.

The 92-page report draws on NACFB internal data alongside surveys of brokers and lenders. It examines transaction volumes, market conditions, operational challenges, regulatory considerations and expectations for the year ahead, with additional input from independent third-party analysis.

Jim Higginbotham, CEO of the NACFB, said the findings provided data-backed evidence of the scale of broker involvement in SME finance.

“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. 

 Higginbotham added: “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.” 

Kieran Jones, head of communications and advocacy at the NACFB, said the data showed brokers typically considered multiple lenders for each transaction.

“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,” Jones added. 

For the first time, the NACFB combined internal CRM data with broker and lender surveys to produce a demographic and economic profile of its membership. The association said its membership now comprises around 1,400 broker firms and more than 3,000 individual brokers.

The NACFB said the report would inform its policy engagement and representation of the intermediary market, and support professional standards.