Insights
Insights for UK commercial finance brokers.Compliance, operations and lending.
Latest · Lending
Craig Peterson · 9 September 2026 · 8 min read
Invoice finance and working capital: when it fits, when it doesn't, and what lenders ask for
Invoice finance solves a specific problem, cash tied up in unpaid invoices, and it isn't the right answer to every working capital gap.
Read articleCRM
Choosing and running a commercial finance CRM: pipelines per product, what to track, and how to tell which deals are real.
See the commercial finance CRMCRM
Broker pipeline management: knowing which deals are actually real
Most broker pipelines are optimistic rather than accurate. Here's how to define stages properly, track conversion honestly, and stop stale deals inflating the forecast.
Craig Peterson · 9 September 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleCRM
Choosing a CRM for mortgage and commercial finance brokers
Generic sales CRMs miss most of what a broking business needs. Here's what to actually look for in a CRM built for mortgage and commercial finance pipelines.
Craig Peterson · 20 January 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleCompliance
AML, KYC and KYB checks, Consumer Duty requirements and evidence, and vulnerable-customer guidance applied to commercial broking.
See compliance software for brokersCompliance
Data protection for finance brokers: UK GDPR in day-to-day practice
A practical guide to UK GDPR for commercial finance brokers: lawful basis, retention, sharing data with lenders, subject access requests, and what to do if something goes wrong.
Craig Peterson · 9 September 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleCompliance
Broker fee agreements and disclosure: getting the paperwork right before the work starts
How to structure a broker fee agreement, disclose fees properly, and keep evidence the client understood what they were signing up to before work began.
Craig Peterson · 8 September 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleCompliance
Consumer Duty in commercial broking: what good evidence looks like
Recording the right things at the right moment turns compliance from an end-of-file scramble into a by-product of doing the work.
Craig Peterson · 2 July 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleCompliance
AML checks for commercial finance brokers: what to run, when, and how to evidence it
A practical run-through of anti-money laundering checks for UK commercial finance brokers: what to run, when to run it, and how to keep evidence a lender or the FCA will actually accept.
Craig Peterson · 11 June 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleCompliance
KYC vs KYB: verifying the person and the company behind a commercial deal
KYC verifies the individual, KYB verifies the business behind them. Here's how commercial finance brokers should run both without duplicating effort.
Craig Peterson · 22 April 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleCompliance
FCA Consumer Duty requirements explained for finance brokers
A plain-English breakdown of what the FCA Consumer Duty actually requires from finance brokers, including how it touches purely commercial business.
Craig Peterson · 10 February 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleCompliance
Vulnerable customers: applying FCA guidance in commercial broking
Commercial brokers often assume vulnerability rules are a retail concern. They aren't. Here's how to apply FCA guidance sensibly when the client is a director, not a consumer.
Craig Peterson · 18 November 2025 · 8 min read
Read articleOperations
Onboarding process, Companies House data, document collection and the operating discipline that lets a desk scale.
See how workflow software handles thisOperations
How to chase documents without chasing your clients
Chasing documents eats more broker time than almost any other task, and most of that time is avoidable. Here's how to fix the loop rather than work harder inside it.
Craig Peterson · 8 September 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleOperations
Why operational discipline is now a commercial broker's competitive edge
Deal volumes are rising and regulation is tightening at the same time. The brokerages pulling ahead are the ones treating process as product.
Craig Peterson · 19 August 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleOperations
The client onboarding process for commercial finance brokers, step by step
A workable onboarding sequence for commercial finance brokers, from first enquiry to file-ready, with the checks and checklists that stop deals stalling later.
Craig Peterson · 15 July 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleOperations
From spreadsheet to system: migrating a brokerage without losing a week
A staged migration that keeps live deals moving while the new pipeline is stood up behind them.
Craig Peterson · 27 March 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleOperations
Using Companies House data to speed up commercial applications
Companies House already holds most of the corporate detail a lender will ask for. Here's how to pull it straight into the application process instead of re-typing it for the third time this week.
Craig Peterson · 7 October 2025 · 8 min read
Read articleApplications
Packaging application packs lenders can underwrite quickly, across development, buy-to-let and portfolio cases.
See application pack softwareApplications
Packaging buy-to-let and portfolio landlord cases lenders can say yes to
Portfolio landlord cases fail on stress testing and missing schedules more often than on the underlying asset. Here's what a lender actually needs to see.
Craig Peterson · 8 September 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleApplications
What lenders actually want in an application pack
Structure, completeness and a clear narrative. The packs that get quick answers all share the same shape.
Craig Peterson · 14 May 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleApplications
Packaging development finance deals lenders can underwrite quickly
Development finance gets bogged down when the numbers behind GDV and build cost arrive piecemeal. Here's what a lender needs on day one.
Craig Peterson · 9 December 2025 · 8 min read
Read articleLending
Lender panels, bridging, asset and invoice finance, and where commercial mortgage deals stall.
See document management for deal filesLending
Proving a credible exit strategy on bridging and development deals
Short-term lenders underwrite the exit as closely as the asset. A vague sale-or-refinance line is where too many strong deals stall in credit.
Craig Peterson · 9 September 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleLending
The commercial mortgage process from enquiry to completion, and where deals stall
A commercial mortgage is a sequence of dependent stages, not one long wait. Knowing where deals usually stall is most of what makes a broker fast.
Craig Peterson · 8 September 2026 · 9 min read
Read articleLending
How to build and manage a lender panel that actually places deals
A long lender panel looks impressive on a website and helps nobody at 4pm on a Friday. Here's how to build one you can actually use.
Craig Peterson · 28 May 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleLending
Bridging finance: why speed is a process problem, not a people problem
Bridging loans are sold on speed, but most delays are process failures inside the broker's own workflow, not the lender's. Here's what actually slows deals down.
Craig Peterson · 5 March 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleLending
Asset finance broking: from enquiry to payout without the paper chase
Asset finance deals are usually smaller and faster than property lending, but the volume of documentation can drown a broker. Here's how to run the process cleanly.
Craig Peterson · 23 September 2025 · 8 min read
Read articleGrowth
Starting and growing a UK commercial finance brokerage on solid operating foundations.
See brokerage reporting and dashboardsGrowth
Scaling a broker firm past the founder
Most commercial finance brokerages stall at the point where the founder is the process. Here's how to grow past that without quality falling apart.
Craig Peterson · 9 September 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleGrowth
Getting on a lender panel, and staying on it
Panel managers see the same weak applications on repeat. Here's what actually gets a broker firm onto a lender panel, and what keeps you there once you are.
Craig Peterson · 8 September 2026 · 8 min read
Read articleGrowth
How to become a commercial finance broker in the UK: the operating side nobody explains
Plenty of guides cover FCA authorisation. Fewer explain what running a commercial finance brokerage actually involves once you're licensed. Here's the operating side.
Craig Peterson · 5 August 2026 · 8 min read
Read article