By Kaylan Pepin, CPA, CMA, Co-founder and CEO of Levr.ai. Kaylan spent his career in commercial banking at RBC, CIBC, and BDC before building Levr.
Official sources reviewed August 29, 2026
Short answer
Usually, no.
There is no general US federal or Canada-wide license for brokering ordinary business-purpose financing. Most brokers working with unsecured business loans, lines of credit, equipment financing, factoring, or sales-based financing are not operating under a general business-loan-broker license. The named exceptions and offer-disclosure rules below are the ones worth knowing.
The laws worth knowing
These laws show the practical boundary between ordinary business-loan brokering, a state licensing exception, mortgage activity, and rules for presenting a financing offer.
California Financial Code Β§ 22000 et seq.
California Financing Law
California is the clearest state licensing exception. The law licenses finance lenders and brokers making or brokering consumer and commercial loans, subject to its exemptions. A finance broker license generally authorizes brokering loans to lenders licensed under the same law.
Read the DFPI overviewNorth Dakota Century Code ch. 13-04.1
North Dakota Money Brokers Act
North Dakota defines money brokering to include arranging loans or leases for people or businesses. Unless an exemption applies, a broker serving a North Dakota borrower needs a state money broker license.
Read the state lawMortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act, 2006
Ontario mortgage brokering
Ontario licenses businesses and individuals that deal or trade in mortgages. The important dividing line is the real-estate security, not whether the borrower is a business. Ordinary unsecured business financing is not mortgage brokering.
Read the FSRA summaryCalifornia Financial Code §§ 22800β22806 and 10 CCR Β§ 952
California commercial financing disclosures
This is an offer-disclosure rule, not a general broker license. For covered offers, the financer provides standardized cost and term disclosures. A broker that receives them must pass them to the business unaltered before communicating the offer.
Read the DFPI summaryNew York Financial Services Law art. 8 and 23 NYCRR 600
New York commercial financing disclosures
New York also regulates the disclosures that accompany covered commercial financing offers. The rules describe how providers and brokers deliver those disclosures. They do not create a general business-loan-broker license.
Read the DFS regulation13 CFR Β§ 103.5
SBA agent compensation
SBA rules allow agents and packagers to be paid for work connected to SBA assistance, but the compensation must be reasonable and documented. This is a program compensation rule, not a general broker license.
Read the federal ruleThe practical line
What this means for a business loan broker
- Ordinary business-purpose financingThere is generally no special federal or Canada-wide business-loan-broker license.
- California and North DakotaThese are clear examples of state laws that can require a finance broker or money broker license.
- Real-estate-secured financingMortgage broker laws can apply even when the borrower and loan purpose are commercial.
- Covered offers in California and New YorkThe broker may have a disclosure-transmission duty even when no general broker license is required.
- SBA workThe relevant federal rule is about documenting and limiting agent compensation, not licensing business-loan brokers.
