Britain’s largest commercial broker trade body has launched an online platform to help business raise finance.

Companies can raise up to £2 million or more to grow their businesses, anything from buying another business to investing in new infrastructure and exporting overseas.

Findsmefinance enables businesses to plug in their funding requirements by loan size, type and location and are then presented with a range of commercial brokers to approach.

The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) represents 1,650 commercial finance brokers.

The platform offers an alternative route to finance for businesses that may have been turned away elsewhere.

Yesterday, the British Business Bank announced that although smaller businesses are more aware of external finance, they are increasingly reluctant to access it. One in three small businesses say that access to funding will become harder post Brexit.

NAFCB chairman Paul Goodman called out the government’s unimpressive performance when it comes to business lending. The government’s bank-referral scheme has helped just 230 British businesses access £3.8 million of funding in its first nine months, meaning only 2.8 per cent of 8,100 businesses referred through the scheme were successfully financed.

By contrast, Findsmefinance hopes to answer 5,000 SME searches within its first year.

Graham Toy, chief executive of the NACFB, said: “Access to finance remains a key issue for UK businesses and we believe there is still a lack of awareness of the finance options available to SMEs.

“In an era when some lenders are scaling back their face-to-face operations, the modern finance broker has inherited and enhanced the role of the local bank manager. Brokers are able to provide advice and products from a wide range of UK funders.”

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