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CV: Adam Tyler was appointed chief executive of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers in May 2007. He formerly worked for NatWest where he was the regional development manager for the south and south-west regions. Mr Tyler joined the association as associate director in November 2005.

Mortgage Adviser: How did you move into your current role and what were you tasked with doing?

Adam Tyler: I came here on secondment from Royal Bank of Scotland but I had previously been an adviser. The NACFB needed more resources and help to grow. RBS told the NACFB it had someone who could help them on a two-year secondment, so that is how I came to be here. Keith Heron, the previous chief executive, went part-time in April 2006 and then he left in January 2007. I was effectively doing the role from the beginning of 2007 with a view to taking it on fully in May 2007.

MA: The association was established in 1992 to raise standards and currently has about 750 member firms, representing about 1400 advisers. How has the association changed in recent years?

AT: Since 2006 the membership has doubled. It still has the right kind of members as it is not that easy to get in. Both the members and the patrons wanted a lot more from the association. While we are still working to raise professional standards we are also introducing a lot more events, training and information for the advisers. In 2005 there were no events other than the annual dinner, in 2007 there were eight and in 2008 there is currently 13.

MA: What would you say to residential mortgage advisers who were looking to branch out into commercial mortgages?

AT: It is difficult to make the transition. There is no product range or set criteria. You cannot just go to a lender and ask to see their product range. Every commercial mortgage is treated as an individual case and is priced accordingly. We have 85 patrons but if I asked our average member to name 10 commercial mortgage lenders they would struggle. If you think our members have access to 85 different lenders, there are a lot of niche players there and it takes a long while to understand what each and every one of them does. While it is not impossible, advisers need training and assistance to arrange commercial mortgages.

MA: Residential mortgage lenders came under fire for dual pricing to the disadvantage of intermediaries. How are commercial mortgage lenders treating advisers in the current climate?

AT: Commercial mortgage lenders are treating advisers the same as they did before. The only difference is the criteria has increased simply because the lenders have got more inquiries than they have money to lend. Lenders can pick and choose what they want to lend. While they are not pricing any differently for customers direct than brokers, the criteria for them to lend has been enhanced. Some lenders have stopped taking in new brokers or will only allow in NACFB registered brokers or will only deal with advisers they have dealt with during a long period of time and these are normally NACFB ones. The other thing is a lot of these lenders only live on adviser introduced business. We do not suffer as much as the residential mortgage advisers.

MA: Is a gold standard of commercial mortgage advisers emerging?

AT: There is a standard that commercial lenders are looking for. I don't know if you could call it a gold standard.

MA: Commercial finance is currently largely unregulated, however all NACFB members must comply with its Office of Fair Trading approved Code of Practice. Do you think the industry will ever become regulated?

AT: You can never say never but it is certainly not on the radar. The more the NACFB can police the industry and make sure the code of practice works the longer we will stave off regulation, which is what we strive to do. This is why gaining membership of the association is quite tough.

MA: In 2007 the total amount of business written by NACFB members increased by 43 per cent from £13.3bn in 2006 to £19bn. What volume of business will members write this year?

AT: The survey for the members for this year has just gone out. We had a good year up until March in the commercial sector. We are only looking at three or four months down turn against eight or nine months of good times. With the increase in the membership I would not be surprised if it was not too far off what we did in previous years. The issue our members face is they are still getting a reasonable number of enquiries but there is a problem placing business. The amount of money around is not as great as it was among the niche lenders. On my desk now I have four new applications from new lenders. There is more money coming into the commercial mortgage sector. Once we get through 2008, in 2009 I expect an up turn in the commercial mortgage sector.

MA: Salt Commercial, the commercial lending arm of Derbyshire Building Society, recently suspended new lending. Can we expect similar announcements from other commercial mortgage lenders?

AT: All the lenders I have spoken to have given me no indication that will happen. The majority of our patrons have been lending at the same level for a long period of time. None have gone off and decided to lend into the space that has been left by Salt Commercial. They have kept to the same level and same amount. Salt suspended lending only because it lent all its money for the year in the first four months. Commercial First is working towards coming back into the market as soon as possible. We had a new lender in Base Commercial coming into the market. We have new lenders coming into the market, which is a good thing even though they do not fill the gap completely.

MA: Our sister newspaper Financial Adviser recently reported the association had issued a circular notice about NatWest notifying advisers that "broker- introduced business will be subject to an arrangement fee of 1.25 per cent with brokers then charging their client a 0.5 per cent fee". How are you working with NatWest to get them to change this stance?

AT: I was working with NatWest before the announcement was made, much to stop them making the announcement. We did not agree with what they wanted to do. When the announcement was made, it was watered down from what they previously wanted to do. The guys behind all that left not long after. NatWest has already stepped back from where it was. It is saying if the adviser has packaged the deal nicely they will price it at a level that is reasonably acceptable to the adviser and the customer. As far as payment of procuration fees go. It is working on saying it will collect the fee for the broker and pay it back to them. It is coming back to where it was and we are working behind the scenes to make that happen.

MA: What challenges do advisers face in the year ahead?

The challenge is to make sure the association continues to grow for the rest of the year. We want to ensure our advisers can stay working and get the funds. It is making sure the association stays at the critical mass it is at at the moment. We are here to represent commercial finance brokers so we want to make sure lenders still want to deal with intermediaries.