Business Money – Finance and Banking for Business

Through members' eyes

Where open account meets open mind.

Robert Lefroy, group editor interviews Tony Cox, IFG chairman

"Our real core business is providing services to our members that are consistent with their needs and the needs of the market.”

Tony Cox

“It is our policy to always aim to see our business through the eyes of our members. We are here to serve our members in the best way that we can. We believe that this is best done by continuing to improve and develop our core product , the Two Factor system, whilst enhancing this through the provision of access to other complimentary services and service providers. Our real core business is providing services to our members that are consistent with their needs and the needs of the market.”

When you write of one of the world’s great groups of factors, maybe the policy statement is a good point to start. Let us add this to remarks from one of the giants of the industry, Tony Cox, who has performed mightily as chairman of IFG for the last two years and the picture unfolds.

Established in 1963, IFG was the first organisation set up specifically to facilitate international factoring through the Two Factor system. Based in Belgium it has over 60 members spread across around 40 countries. Quality is the watchword, new and potential members find the existing member list a source of reassurance.

These simple paragraphs might not immediately bring to mind the sheer enormity of the vision of Tony Cox on the way forward for IFG.

“I am thinking of exporters in the Asian business community. It is a long way from, say, Taiwan to Europe and yet it’s a big market and one that is starting to come through. The market has a huge amount of interest and they are doing a limited amount of business now but it will grow and they wouldn’t want to deal with Europe on an open account without having a comfort value that they they’ve got a colleague, a member of the same association who is actually collecting and insuring collecting their debt, telling them where it is and that all is well.

“Their IFG counterpart is their trusted friend in the country to which they are exporting, one that is using exactly the same system and that is important to how they transact their business. Letters of credit are still prevalent but they are becoming less and less acceptable and have been doing so for the past 20 years: it’s a slow process. It’s a two-way street this one from IFG’s point of view, we are not throwing up any opportunity. It’s important that we offer the benefi ts of IFG membership, particularly in developing countries.

“The eastern European block is another developing area where this philosophy is important and will continue to be for the International Factors Group.

“The other side of it is what we call the open line. We seek to form a reciprocally-based trade association on an international basis. That means allowing other partners to join, whether it is legal help with cross-border engagements, or with the big credit insurers.

“Our members ‘big sister’ these people, whether it be as collection agencies where they don’t currently have coverage in those countries or just adding additional expertise. These can maybe be accountancy bodies because we can all get into trouble, particularly with direct exporting which tends to be a feature of the American and more developed European areas. It is fine to have our partner or group partner in the country concerned but it is actually beneficial in many cases to have other expertise on tap as well.”

This is the open mind in practice. Something Tony Cox has promoted ceaselessly despite having to discharge his duties in the pressing role of managing director of Venture Finance, a UK-based subsidiary of the ABN AMRO Group. Venture Finance offers business finance across a wide spectrum of business sectors from small start-ups with UK government supported loan finance all of the way up the scale to cross-border all-asset finance, multi-million deals. It enjoys a close relationship with its USA-based sister company, LaSalle.

Tony has also sat as chairman of the UK Factors and Discounters Association and this reveals another side to both his personal crusade, one that manifests itself as chairman of IFG. Nation shall speak unto nation is probably the best way of summing up a desire to bring together as many parts of the invoice finance world as can be done but with a number of aims.

“Our gatherings in Cyprus, Prague and Beijing all highlighted that while more and more members were joining us for the benefits of working with the Two Factor system, a need was developing for education, development and training”, says Tony. “We have long enjoyed the support of Robert Weekes from Hammonds and Andrew Knight from Speechly Bircham, both firms of lawyers, conducting seminars on fraud, risk and legal issues; we have German lawyers and other professionals putting across the requirements in various other countries. These are real experts briefing members on the benefits, the risks and the profitable opportunities that exist.

“This is the concept of bringing the benefits of the association as a networking arena closer to the environment in which people operate. It is one thing for us in Europe to say: ‘Come to a training course’ but if you are in Asia it is a heck of a long way to come and expensive too both in terms of cost and time as well.

“The IFG is opening up local chapters, sharing ideas on best practice and doing business together profitably. But the development here about which I am most excited is that we have formed a loose association with the CFA and the FDA too for the purpose of pooling training expertise, aiming for a common understanding on issues such as the best way to do things and the attendant legislation. It is early days but it is going forward and I hope very much that FCI will join us too.

”This is the vision that drives IFG, Tony and previous chairmen have enjoyed long time, and unrelenting, support from Jan Becher, secretary general. Jan has overseen the establishment and the evolution of common documentation, a uniform communication system, highly sophisticated IT systems, all with the common aim of taking the group forward, making the transaction of business smoother, expanding its presence, fulfilling its aims.

I was privileged to be in Vilnius, Lithuania, in September 2004 when the East European Factoring Association convened a meeting during its annual conference to formally recognise IF-Group’s East European Chapter.

That it meant so much to all present was very evident and this typifies the spirit with which IFG imbues all of its proceedings.

The group has come a long way since 1963. Its mission in life has been carried forward by the selfless endeavour of many like Jan Becher and current chairman, Tony Cox.

But there will be no resting upon laurels: “There is still much to be done”, is Tony’s closing comment. This suggests that IFG, one of the great leaders in the burgeoning world of invoice finance, will enjoy a breadth of vision and an energy to develop for a long time to come.

Features

Through members' eyes