Modern Slavery Statement
Our commitment to ensuring modern slavery and human trafficking have no place in our business or our supply chains.
1. Our commitment
This statement is made pursuant to Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. It sets out the steps The Business Finance Group Limited has taken — and continues to take — to ensure that modern slavery and human trafficking are not taking place within our business or our supply chains.
We recognise our responsibility to operate with integrity. We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and are committed to acting ethically and with transparency in all our business dealings.
2. Our business and structure
The Business Finance Group is an independent UK commercial finance broker. We introduce businesses to a diverse panel of specialist lenders across asset, vehicle and working capital finance — we are a credit broker, not a lender.
Our operations are based in the United Kingdom, exclusively serving the UK market. Our supply chains consist of professional service providers (legal, audit and IT), software-as-a-service platforms, and the equipment and vehicle suppliers — dealerships and manufacturers — involved in the finance transactions we broker.
3. Risk assessment and due diligence
Given the nature of financial services, we consider the risk of modern slavery within our own immediate workforce to be low. However, we recognise potential risks in our wider supply chain and the sectors we serve, and we take proportionate steps to manage them:
Supply chain (procurement)
We categorise our suppliers based on risk. While our professional service providers are low risk, we exercise increased vigilance over indirect supply chains such as cleaning and office maintenance services.
Clients and transactions
As a broker, our primary exposure lies in the sectors and businesses we finance. We perform enhanced due diligence on higher-risk industries before introducing any client to our panel.
Our due diligence processes include:
- KYC and KYB checks — rigorous "Know Your Customer/Business" checks on all clients and beneficial owners.
- Asset verification — verifying the origin of equipment and vehicles and the legitimacy of the supplying dealer.
- Funding panel review — reviewing the modern slavery commitments of our lending partners to ensure alignment of values.
4. Relevant policies
We operate the following policies, which assist in identifying modern slavery risks and set out the steps we take to prevent slavery and human trafficking in our operations:
Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy
Our primary internal governing document on this subject.
Whistleblowing Policy
We encourage all employees, customers and business partners to report any concerns relating to our activities or our supply chains.
Anti-Money Laundering Policy
Our AML framework includes red flag indicators that may signal human trafficking or exploitation, such as unusual wage payments or restricted access to bank accounts.
Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy
Many of the conditions that enable modern slavery cannot exist without corrupt activity — our anti-corruption stance supports our zero-tolerance approach.
Vulnerable Customer Policy
Victims of modern slavery are by their situation vulnerable, and share similar red flags to those covered in our vulnerable customer procedures.
5. Training and awareness
To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery in our business and supply chains, we provide mandatory annual training to all staff. The training covers:
How to identify the signs of slavery and human trafficking
What initial steps to take if modern slavery is suspected
How to escalate concerns to the relevant department or the Board
6. Measuring our effectiveness
We use the following indicators to measure how effective we have been in ensuring that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in any part of our business or supply chains:
- Training completion — 100% completion of modern slavery training by staff.
- Introducer screening — reviewing 100% of new material introducers against our ethical standards.
- Incident reporting — maintaining a record of all investigations relating to modern slavery.
7. Board approval
This statement has been approved by the Board of Directors of The Business Finance Group Limited, who review it annually and update it when required.
Concerns about modern slavery?
If you have any concerns about modern slavery in connection with our business or supply chain, please contact us at info@thebfg.co.uk or call 01604 201510. All reports are treated in confidence.
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