Astrid Michael – Head of Sales – United Trust Bank
In years gone by, the end of March has often created something of a perfect storm for funders trying to get pay outs completed promptly. This year we had a month end, quarter end, financial year end and Easter to contend with so it was always going to be a testing time!
I am pleased to say that this year we had no issues with keeping to our 24 hour pay out SLAs in March. It’s fantastic to see that we are starting to reap the benefits of our investment in technology and the implementation of Alfa. March was also an all-time record for us in terms of proposal volumes and it was great to see so many broker partners choose UTB as the home for their customers’ AF requirements. However, this higher volume did lead to us taking longer to give decisions on some deals than we would like. The team are working hard to set UTB AF’s first ever portal live, which will provide all of us with the same benefits of efficiency, consistency and speed that we’re seeing at the end of our transactions. Look out for further updates soon. One case we completed for Anglo Scottish Asset Finance is a great example of what we’ll be aiming for every time.
One of Anglo Scottish’s long-standing customers, a skip hire business, wanted to purchase a new shredder before their year-end on the 31st March. They required a £464,000 advance over 60 months towards the £564,000 + VAT purchase price.
We received the proposal just after 1.30pm on Wednesday the 27th March and approved it the following morning at 10:38am. Our BDM Gordon McArthur organised the KYC and the documents were signed the same afternoon. Payout was received at 9:53am on Friday and paid out to Anglo at 12.55pm. Less than 48-hours from proposal to pay out. Chris Malkin of Anglo Scottish Asset Finance said: “Excellent service by all at United Trust but a special mention to Gordon for seeing the deal through from start to finish. Many thanks to all.”
Broker Exchange – March 2024
We invited Simon Goldie, Director of Advocacy, and George Anastasi, Senior Policy Manager from the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) to come along to our first Broker Exchange Forum of 2024 to share their views on the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) investigation into discretionary commission arrangements in the motor finance sector.
If you would like to know more about the FLA and its guidance on this issue, we are happy to share their informative presentation and notes. Please reply to this email if you would like a copy.