The Financial Intermediary and Brokers Association (FIBA) said it had 150 attendees to its inaugural conference held at BAFTA’s offices in Piccadilly last week.

The proceedings started with an opening address from newly appointed chairman, Adam Tyler, welcoming existing AOBP members, who automatically become members of FIBA, supporting lenders, third party service providers and sponsors. Tyler then set out the association’s mission statement of supporting all finance professionals “to enable them to deliver outstanding solutions and service in a regulated environment as well as having access to a comprehensive lender network and dedicated compliance resources”.

The keynote speech outlining economic prospects for the UK was given by Michael Saunders, a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

Two panel discussions followed discussing competition in the bridging industry and what was in store for the UK lending market in 2018.

Speaking after the event, Tyler said: “It was gratifying to see so many people from across the lending spectrum coming together for FIBA’s first annual conference. We are particularly grateful to the firms which sponsored the event and we are also fortunate to already have the support of many finance professionals and lenders. However, I am sure that having seen the agenda we set out for the future, many more individual brokers and lenders across the lending market will want to be part of FIBA’s proposition.

“We are starting with a solid membership base and thanks to The SimplyBiz Group, we have the means to provide the services which our members are looking for and which we are establishing at the moment. I am also looking forward to working with other associations and trade bodies. We all put our members’ needs at the heart of what we do and there is plenty we can do together to help provide the best of intermediary support and representation at the highest levels of regulatory and government bodies.”