Majority of brokers have no Brexit plans in place

Alongside those who are adopting a 'wait and see' approach, a further 26% have no plans in place as they don't believe Brexit will have any implications for their business.

Although the majority of brokers are not implementing any Brexit plans just yet, 21% are preparing for potentially positive opportunities and 5% are planning for potentially damaging implications.

The survey also asked brokers whether Brexit had influenced any significant business decisions and revealed that 44% intended to increase their spend on marketing and promotion and 20% had put a freeze on recruitment.

Harley Kagan, group managing director at United Trust Bank, commented: “Within the next couple of weeks, we’ll know whether the Brexit deal negotiated by the Government will proceed or whether it will be back to the drawing board for Mrs May and possibly months or even years of further uncertainty. It’s clear from our research that although the countdown clock is ticking, many brokers feel there are at present still too many variables to even begin planning beyond March 2019.

“What is encouraging is that around 1 in 5 brokers see Brexit as an opportunity not a threat and a slightly higher number expect the outcome of Brexit to be benign from a business perspective. UTB’s view has always been that whilst it’s prudent to keep a close eye on the implications there are developers, SMEs and entrepreneurs finding and unlocking opportunities across many sectors of UK industry and we remain committed to supporting them.

“When brokers and borrowers can’t find certainty in the economy, they look to their financial partners to provide the stability and experience to ride out any storms. We plan to continue investing in people and technology and to keep growing our book and our business whatever decision is made in Westminster.”