BII sets up scheme to accredit brokers

The trade body was approached by Punch Taverns about launching an independent accreditation scheme for brokering services after the pubco said lessees were constantly being approached by rogue financial traders asking for upfront fees for services.

Discussions are still ongoing about the criteria for accreditation, but both parties believe the scheme will offer licensees the necessary level of security when it comes to getting finance. After the Punch scheme is launched it is likely to be expanded industry-wide.

Neil Griffiths, property and turnaround director at Punch, said: “A lot of our partners are coming to us looking to buy a pub, so with a BII accreditation we would be able to advise them to visit the BII website to search for an accredited broker.

This way, we could really stamp out rogue traders asking for upfront fees of around £500, and those who are not Financial Services Authority-accredited.

“We need to ensure people understand the terms of a contract before paying up. This is about protecting partners — we want to make sure they don’t get exploited and receive impartial advice.”

Griffiths said the brokers would have to be FSA-accredited as well as BII-accredited, and eventually a panel of experts would be set up for other areas such as insurance and electricity.

BII chief executive Neil Robertson said: “We want to improve the chances of people getting money and having higher levels of business success afterwards.

“Brokers normally provide a valuable service, and this scheme is part of our mission to make sure people get professional advice. Some of them [brokers] won’t be used to talking with a company like BII but we would like to accredit them.”

Robertson, who is stepping down as chief executive of the BII and Best Bar None at the end of the year, said the accreditation stage is expected to be concluded shortly, with the accredited brokers’ details to be posted on the BII’s website.

“The first criteria for accreditation will be to see if they (brokers) have given a good level of basic service to individual licensees in the past,” he added.

Julie Stoneley of the Merry Harriers in Hambledon, Surrey, forked out £14,000 up-front before she realised she was dealing with rogue financial advisors London-based Gresham Ltd.

She said: “I think it will be useful as long as the brokers are bona fide. Even though it seemed that the company we used had all the accreditations, we still got stung. You have to do your due diligence and be careful who you borrow from.”