The short version
A commercial finance broker structures a business or property loan and places it with the lender most likely to approve it, drawn from a panel that can run past 130 lenders. Your bank has one product shelf. A broker wins most of the time on price, structure and access — but not always. This guide covers both, plus what it costs and when to skip the broker altogether.
What is a commercial finance broker?
A commercial finance broker is a licensed intermediary who structures commercial-purpose lending (business loans, asset finance, commercial property, working capital, trade finance) and submits it to the one lender best suited to that specific deal. That's the core difference from a bank manager, who can only offer their own institution's products, and from a comparison website, which fires your details to multiple lenders at once and calls it matching.
A broker does the opposite of a lead-generation form. The deal is worked before any lender sees a credit submission.
1. Understand the deal
The broker maps the purpose (equipment purchase, property acquisition, working capital, trade cycle), the size, the timing and the exit strategy. Purpose determines the right product. Timing determines which lenders are currently open. Exit determines the appropriate term.
2. Structure the facility
Before submission, the broker designs the deal: facility type (chattel mortgage, secured term loan, revolving line, debtor finance), security (asset security, real property, personal guarantee, or unsecured), LVR, term and repayment shape: P&I, interest-only, or a seasonal structure for a business with lumpy cash flow. Banks default to their standard product box. A broker structures around the business.
3. Select the right lender
One lender gets the credit submission, chosen because it has demonstrated appetite for this deal type, this industry, this structure and this borrower profile right now. Not five lenders at once. One, picked for fit.
4. Manage the process to settlement
The broker handles lender queries, valuation instructions, legal requirements and document execution through to settlement. The commission, paid by the lender at settlement, covers all four steps.
Broker vs bank: the practical difference
| Your bank | A commercial finance broker | |
|---|---|---|
| Lender panel | Its own products only | 130+ lenders: major banks, second-tier banks, non-banks, private credit |
| Product fit | Fits your deal into its standard box | Structures the deal, then picks the lender that fits it |
| Credit file impact | One application, one enquiry | One targeted submission to the lender most likely to say yes |
| Access | Only its own book | Includes lenders that don't accept direct applications |
| Cost to you | No fee, no competitive tension either | Usually no fee; paid by the lender on settlement, disclosed upfront |
| Best for | Simple, existing-relationship deals | Anything with complexity, size or lender-appetite uncertainty |
Aurelius Capital writes across the major Australian banks and their commercial arms, second-tier banks (Macquarie, BOQ, Judo, Heartland and others), specialist non-bank lenders and private credit. That breadth matters in three concrete ways.
Pricing. When several lenders credibly compete for the same deal, pricing moves. Your own bank has little incentive to sharpen its offer if it assumes you're coming to it regardless. That matters more now than it did two years ago: the RBA has held the cash rate at 4.35% through most of 2026, and lenders are competing harder on margin, not the base rate, to win volume.
Product fit. Not every lender suits every deal. Some second-tier banks are built for SME relationship lending with flexible policy. Non-bank lenders frequently move faster and price more aggressively on asset finance and equipment finance. Private credit fills the gap when a deal needs speed, complexity tolerance, or a lender open to construction risk. Knowing which lender suits which deal (covered in our guide to the six categories of business lender in Australia) is a core broker skill.
Access. Some lenders don't accept direct applications. Certain non-bank and private credit lenders are broker-only. Go direct, and those lenders simply aren't available to you.
In the six months to September 2024, brokers settled $22.68 billion in commercial loans across Australia, up 31.2% year-on-year, with 31.54% of mortgage brokers now also writing commercial loans. That's a sign of how often business owners turn to brokers to reach lenders and products a branch can't offer.
Lender appetite and your credit file
This is the most underappreciated reason to use a broker. Every formal credit application creates an enquiry on your file. One or two enquiries in twelve months is not an issue. Several in a short window get noticed, and some lenders will decline on that basis alone before they've read your financials.
The business owner who calls three banks, submits to two and collects one decline has done real credit-file damage before the right lender ever saw the deal.
A broker submits to one lender at a time, chosen because that lender is likely to approve, based on live knowledge of appetite: which banks are currently open for construction risk, which non-banks are pricing aggressively on transport assets this quarter, which private lenders are actively deploying at a given LVR. That intelligence builds through active deal flow and direct access to credit teams, and it lets a broker tell you, before submitting, whether the deal has legs and with whom.
Why the shape of the facility matters
Banks don't always flag a suboptimal structure. Their job is to approve the product they offer, not to design the right product from first principles.
Take a transport business buying a $600K prime mover. Its bank might offer a standard chattel mortgage over 60 months. A broker might instead structure 84 months with a balloon aligned to the truck's residual value, through a specialist asset lender with appetite for heavy transport, at a sharper rate than the bank's standard offering. Both are valid facilities. One suits this business better at this point in its cash cycle.
Structure matters just as much in commercial property. A commercial mortgage at 70% LVR P&I with a major bank versus a non-bank interest-only facility at 75% LVR changes cash flow, tax position and capacity to service debt during a growth phase. For asset purchases, whether a chattel mortgage vs operating lease suits the specific asset affects ownership, tax treatment and balance sheet, not just the monthly repayment.
How commercial finance brokers get paid
Brokers working commercial-purpose lending are paid by the lender, not the borrower:
- Upfront commission: typically 0.5%–1.5% of the loan amount, paid by the lender on settlement.
- Trail commission: an ongoing 0.1%–0.3% p.a. on the outstanding balance, common in some product categories, not all.
Both must be disclosed in writing before you commit. On complex transactions (structured finance, private credit, development funding) some brokers also charge a structured finance fee to the borrower, disclosed upfront. The broker's cost sits inside the lender's pricing, which is why broker-channel pricing stays competitive rather than inflated. The full breakdown is in how commercial finance brokers get paid.
Commercial-purpose lending sits outside the NCCP framework that governs consumer credit, but reputable brokers still operate under an Australian Credit Licence, or as a credit representative of one, and remain subject to AFCA's dispute resolution scheme. Aurelius Capital operates as credit representative 560751 of Viking Money Pty Ltd, ACL 471435 (Viking Aggregation Pty Ltd).
When going direct to a bank still makes sense
Going direct is the right call in three situations:
- You're extending an existing facility with the same lender and the pricing is already competitive.
- The deal is genuinely straightforward: a sub-$200K equipment loan on a standard asset, clean borrower profile, existing lender relationship.
- You already hold a credit-approved term sheet you're comfortable with.
The threshold: go direct when you know the lender, know the pricing, and the structure is standard. Use a broker when any of those three is uncertain, or when the deal has complexity, size or lender-appetite risk attached.
Commercial finance broker vs mortgage broker
A mortgage broker generally arranges consumer-purpose home loans, regulated under the NCCP framework's responsible-lending obligations. A commercial finance broker arranges business-purpose lending: equipment finance, working capital, commercial mortgages, development funding, SMSF lending. Commercial-purpose deals sit outside NCCP, so there's more room to structure around the business than to fit it into a standard consumer product box, which is exactly why the broker's structuring skill matters more, not less, in this category. See our guide to bank vs non-bank commercial finance for how that plays out across lender types.
The bottom line
A broker beats a bank on breadth, structure and access most of the time. A bank wins when the deal is simple and the relationship is already priced well. Either way, know which situation you're in before you pick up the phone.
Sources
- MFAA Industry Intelligence Service 19 — April to September 2024
- Aussie — What experts predict for the RBA's August 2026 interest rate decision
If you've got a deal in mind and want a broker's read on lender appetite, structure and likely pricing, the application form is below. Most enquiries get a response within four business hours.