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April 16, 2020

Ebury approved to provide SME funding under Dutch Government’s coronavirus business aid scheme

Ebury, one of Europe’s largest fintech companies, has been granted approval in the Netherlands to provide SMEs with loans under the government’s SME Credit Guarantee Scheme, which was launched in response to the coronavirus crisis.

The scheme, which is available to Dutch businesses with fewer than 250 employees, provides government guarantees for loans of up to €1.5m. The guarantees will cover 75% of the loan amount for up to €2bn of SME lending in The Netherlands.

Ebury’s participation comes in a week that the UK fintech has announced its own initiative to offer financing to SMEs in the UK and Europe. An initial £40m lending facility to help SMEs manage their working capital during the coronavirus crisis has already been launched by Ebury in the UK.

The Dutch approval is the result of Ebury’s initiative to actively approach different government bodies across Europe so it can support in the distribution of financial aid packages to help SMEs.

Ebury was founded in 2009, following the banking crisis, to provide SMEs with financial solutions to help simplify international trade. It employs 1,100 staff and has offices in most European countries. In November 2019, Santander agreed to acquire a 50.1% stake in Ebury for £350m.

Ebury’s lending solution can be operated entirely digitally, making it possible to channel large volumes of customer requests – helping ensure financial help is promptly provided to businesses.
Ebury is also applying to the UK government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Juan Lobato co-founder of Ebury commented:

“The race to provide funding to European SMEs is a critical part of many governments’ response to the coronavirus crisis as vital public health measures put thousands of companies futures at risk. We are delighted to be able to help the Dutch SME community and government with funding during this effort.

Ebury was founded in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and our flexible digital operations make us ideally placed to help governments distribute financial aid to small businesses throughout Europe.”

April 16, 2020

Working capital for SMEs: the role of alternative lenders and receivables platforms as we face COVID-19

COVID-19 is disrupting supply chains like never before. For most businesses, working capital is being severely impacted and given the importance of cash flows in times like this, they should continuously monitor their treasury. As companies hold on to cash, late payments will be the norm for some time but this will have impacts on relationships with suppliers. One way to generate faster cash flow is by focusing on receivables. Selling receivables to your main banking partners is an option but there are alternative lenders and receivables platforms that could prove very valuable too.

In this WOA webinar, we will hear from alternative (non-bank) lenders and technology platforms that provide options to companies of any size to improve working capital by focusing on their receivables. We will discover what makes them different from traditional banking services and address the following key questions:

Will banks step in to support the corporate and SME sector? Or will they focus on their own issues such as stock price decline?

Can mid-cap corporates get a viable response to their working capital issues from non-bank financiers?

What makes alternative lenders attractive to businesses?

How can receivables financing platforms, also referred to as “fintechs” help?

What is their role compared to alternative lenders?

How can they extend the public sector relief efforts to supply chains?

This webcast will be moderated by André Casterman.

Speakers include:

  • Kerstin Braun, President, Stenn International
  • Joerg Hoerster, Founder and CEO, TrustBills
  • Walter Gontarek, CEO and Chairman, Channel Capital Advisors
  • Michel Kilzi, Managing Partner, Fineon Exchange

To book please see: https://woa.community/innovate/events/meeting-detail-page/47/the-role-of-alternative-lenders-post-covid-19/about.
With the support of our media partner:

April 16, 2020

P2P loans are the most profitable assets for 53% of European investors

Recently, the P2P platform Robo.cash completed a survey of European P2P investors dedicated to their financial results in 2019. Over half of participants said that the alternative lending brought them the highest returns last year. The company expects that despite the coronavirus pandemic, the segment will keep the leading positions in 2020.

Namely P2P loans proved their reputation of the most profitable assets type in the past year, as indicated by 52.8% of respondents. The next most popular answers, albeit with a significant gap, were shares and ETFs, mentioned by 19% and 16.9% of investors respectively. Some other profitable investment assets included real estate (2.6%), bonds (2.2%) and business loans (1.7%).

Realising the good performance of the P2P segment, 84% of investors increased its share in their portfolios last year. 24.2% increased it by 25%-50%, 21.2% — by 50%-100%, and 16% — more than doubled it.
Sergey Sedov, CEO of Robocash Group, shared his expectations concerning P2P investments this year: “We hope that the attitude of investors towards the P2P segment will not significantly change during 2020 despite the current situation in the markets. According to our poll in March, 79.5% of European investors’ P2P portfolios were not affected by the pandemic. Moreover, this year, investors can benefit from even higher interest rates on P2P loans, as many platforms increased them to adapt to the changing market conditions. At the same time, the income from these investments remains stable compared to other assets, such as shares. It is important, however, to choose a financially sustainable company with a strong track record and strict borrower scoring policy to invest in.”

April 9, 2020

Factoring and commercial finance in the EU 2019 full analysis

The data collated by the EU Federation for the factoring and commercial finance industry (EUF) shows that in 2019 factoring and commercial finance volumes in the EU grew overall by 7.9% to reach €1.91tr. As before, 80% of this represented domestic business and the balance international.

This rate of growth – which equalled that seen in 2018 – again clearly outpaces the increase in GDP in Europe and continues to demonstrate the increasingly vital role factoring and commercial finance is playing in developing the real economy, providing principally SME businesses with much needed working capital.

Funding of €275Bn is supporting around 280,000 European businesses, helping them deliver real growth, real employment and demonstrable business success.

With factoring and commercial finance now representing around 11.3% of EU GDP, this is an increasingly powerful and important contribution to EU economic development.

Mme Françoise Palle-Guillabert, chairman of the EUF, noted: “Our members report yet another year of sustained and impressive growth in our Industry. It yet again confirms the very important role we play in supporting the real economy right across the European Community. For us as providers, it is very rewarding to see our efforts are translating into such a benefit for EU business. It again reinforces the message to our legislators and regulators that this industry has a key role to play in enabling European wealth creation. This is particularly important in the current unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. European Factors will give particular attention in the coming months to the needs of businesses, from micro to SME, from merchant to large corporate, all of which are exposed to the consequences of this exceptional health crisis.”

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