Cornerstone Commercial Finance has appointed Steve Brown as senior commercial manager to strengthen its Midlands team, an appointment that matters broadly because it adds capacity at an NACFB Assured broker with access to more than 200 lenders, and matters specifically to accountancy professionals because accountants are among the professionals commonly acting as commission-earning introducers for brokers like Cornerstone when SME clients need funding beyond what the accountant can advise on directly.

Cornerstone Commercial Finance is a Cardiff-headquartered, FCA-regulated and NACFB Assured commercial finance broker, part of Cornerstone Finance Group, providing SMEs with access to more than 200 lenders across business loans, asset finance, invoice finance and property funding.

Brown brings 25 years of commercial finance experience, having served as NatWest's regional director of business banking for the Midlands, senior lending manager overseeing commercial lending applications, and senior director of Midlands business banking, before joining Cornerstone alongside colleagues John Maude and Richard Sheard.

Most accountants can refer UK limited company clients to a broker like Cornerstone without needing FCA authorisation themselves, since introductions involving limited companies generally sit outside the regulated credit broking perimeter, while the broker holds the regulated permissions and handles the transaction end to end.

That arrangement typically comes with commission, often a percentage of the funded deal, giving accountants a recurring referral revenue stream and a way to position themselves as a full advisory practice without building in-house lending expertise or regulatory responsibility for the introduction.

Cornerstone's NACFB Assured status, awarded following an independent audit of its compliance, processes and standards, matters to accountants weighing which broker to use, since commercial finance broking itself remains largely unregulated and advice quality varies considerably across the market.

Brown's specific expertise in Midlands business banking also matters regionally: accountants advising SME clients based in that area gain access to a senior manager with direct relationship history in local lending decisions, rather than a generalist national contact.

For the sector, growing broker capacity of this kind expands the referral options accountants have when a client's funding needs move beyond compliance and advisory work into active deal sourcing.

Source: The Intermediary / Mortgage Solutions / Fundably / Clear Idea Finance