By Dan Cholewinski, Joint Managing Director, VAST Commercial Finance

Strong relationships have always been an important part of business banking – and they remain so today.

For many businesses, their high street bank is still an important source of funding and advice, particularly where there is an established relationship.

What has changed is the market around it.

Over the past 20 years, the range of funding available to businesses has expanded significantly.

Alongside the high street banks, there are now challenger banks, specialist property lenders, asset finance providers, invoice finance companies, private debt funds and fintechs, offering businesses more choice than ever before.

That’s undoubtedly positive, but it also makes the funding landscape more complex.

For a business looking to borrow, the question now is no longer simply whether finance is available. It’s about understanding the different options, identifying the lenders best suited to a particular requirement and putting together the right funding structure.

And that’s where the value of relationships – with banks, lenders and experienced commercial finance advisers – becomes more important.

How business banking has changed

High street banks remain hugely important to British business, but their role has inevitably evolved.
Relationship managers often support larger client portfolios than they once did, while regular face-to-face contact tends to be concentrated among larger SMEs and corporate customers.

Lending decisions have also become increasingly centralised and are now governed by sophisticated credit models, sector appetite, and regulatory requirements, alongside the knowledge and experience of relationship teams.

At the same time, businesses themselves have changed.

Twenty years ago, many companies relied almost exclusively on their bank for financial advice because the bank was one of only a handful of realistic funding sources.
Today, that’s no longer the case.

Choice has created complexity

The UK’s commercial lending market has expanded dramatically over the past decade.

According to the British Business Bank, challenger and specialist lenders now account for around 60% of UK gross commercial lending, overtaking the traditional high street banks for the fourth consecutive year.

Meanwhile, commercial finance brokers are becoming central to how funding reaches British businesses.
The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers estimates broker-led SME lending reached approximately £50 billion in 2025, with member firms alone arranging £33 billion of finance and around 180,000 individual loans.

Perhaps even more telling is how lenders themselves now operate.

Commercial lenders report that, on average, around two-thirds of their SME lending originates through broker relationships rather than directly with borrowers.

That’s a remarkable shift.

It reflects a market where brokers have become the bridge between businesses and an increasingly diverse lending landscape.

Relationship banking hasn’t gone away

In my view, relationship banking has evolved rather than disappeared.

Business owners increasingly seek advice from a network of advisers working alongside lenders.

Today’s independent commercial finance advisers aren’t limited to offering the products of a single institution. Instead, they have access to hundreds of lenders, each with different risk appetites, sector expertise, pricing models and funding structures.

That changes the conversation entirely.

When a client approaches us, we don’t start with a product. We start with the business.

Where is it today? Where does it want to be in three or five years? What challenges are likely to arise along the journey?

Only once we understand the answers do we begin constructing a funding strategy.

Sometimes that’s a straightforward commercial mortgage. Sometimes it’s asset finance. Sometimes it’s invoice finance, development finance, bridging, working capital or a combination of several facilities.
Increasingly, it’s about creating a funding structure that evolves as the business grows.

Curating a complex market

Many business owners are surprised by how innovative today’s lending market has become.
We often meet companies that have spent weeks discussing a finance request with their bank without realising another lender offers a product designed specifically for their situation.

That’s nobody’s fault.

The market has simply become too broad for any individual borrower to follow closely while simultaneously running a business.

In response, the broker’s role has evolved into something much more valuable than simply introducing a lender. We act as curator, filtering hundreds of products into a shortlist that genuinely fits the client’s objectives.

We become an interpreter, helping businesses understand not just interest rates but arrangement fees, loan-to-values, covenant packages, security requirements, repayment flexibility and exit strategies.
We become a negotiator, presenting the client’s story to lenders in the strongest possible light while ensuring commercial terms remain competitive.

Increasingly, we become a strategic adviser, helping clients think beyond today’s borrowing requirement to the funding they’ll need for the next phase of growth.

Better conversations create better outcomes

One of the biggest misconceptions in commercial finance is that securing funding is simply about completing an application form.

Successful borrowing is often more about telling the right story. Lenders want to understand where a business has come from, what it wants to achieve and why the proposed funding makes commercial sense.

That takes time. It requires conversations. It requires someone prepared to challenge assumptions and explore alternatives. Those are exactly the qualities relationship banking has always been built upon.

Looking beyond your own bank

None of this diminishes the role of high street banks.

For many businesses, they remain an essential source of funding and often provide highly competitive solutions. A good commercial finance adviser will recognise that and, where appropriate, work alongside a client’s existing banking relationships rather than seek to replace them.

Relationships still matter

After more than two decades in commercial finance, I’ve become convinced that the industry hasn’t become less personal. The relationships have simply become broader.

Businesses can maintain strong relationships with their existing banks while also drawing on advisers who understand the wider lending market and can bring additional options to the table when needed.

That’s the evolution of relationship banking: strong existing relationships complemented by access to a much wider market.

About the Author

Dan Cholewinski is Joint Managing Director of VAST Commercial Finance. He has more than 18 years’ financial services experience at Lloyds Banking Group and First Rand Banking Group/Aldermore Bank.

By age 19, he held an underwriting mandate at Lloyds Banking Group, and his subsequent experience with MotoNovo Finance included supporting trading businesses in increasing sales through both retail and wholesale finance solutions.