Dear NACFB Members and Patrons,
I write to you as the Chair of the NACFB as we all face unprecedented times… again. Once in a generation scenarios continue to create turmoil: a war in Europe, energy crisis, escalating inflation, rapidly rising interest rates, supply chain issues, labour shortages, I could go on. These are worrying events, that not only affect both our clients and future clients, but also closer to home, our businesses, our livelihoods, and our families.
I am writing to you today as the Chair of the NACFB, an organisation that has supported thousands of SMEs through unprecedented times and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this period, collectively we facilitated £40.9 billion of vital lending to businesses and entrepreneurs around the UK. At this point in time, we were supposed to be focusing on supporting UK plc accelerate out of the pandemic and facilitating growth funding to the clients that we serve.
With all that is going on around us I’d ask that we all remain calm, steadfast, and focused on the part we play in providing the lifeblood of finance to UK plc. We know how strong we are when we work together, as a collective. That strength will see us through these challenging times.
It is time to focus on the things that we can control, influence what we are able to, and try to ignore things outside of these spheres.
We are all in this together, albeit as Members and Patrons we will see situations from different viewpoints. However, we are – and should remain – collaborative in our approaches to providing timely, appropriate, and sustainable funding.
Funding lines will be withdrawn, lenders will have to adapt, and the market will enter a period of adjustment, but it will recover and the wheels will keep turning. The NACFB and our Members will yet again be a guiding light in another stormy period. We have been here before and we will succeed, we will be resolute in our approach, and we will all come through this together.
Your NACFB Chair,
Paul Goodman