Credit and cashflow expert joins fintech start-up to help businesses get paid
Philip King, the former interim small business commissioner (SBC) and acknowledged expert in the world of credit and cashflow management, has joined Debt Register, a payments fintech, as an advisor to the founder, the board and as an industry champion.
Philip, who prior to being appointed SBC was the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM), has worked in the credit industry for more than 40 years, having held senior roles within Olivetti and Vodafone. He is the author of the Managing Cashflow Guides series and created the Prompt Payment Code at the behest of Peter Mandelson, the Secretary of State at the former Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
He joins Debt Register just as the fintech is launched to help businesses get paid and address the long-standing issue of late payments: “I am a passionate supporter of small businesses and helping them get paid,” he explains, “and it is a passion I share with the founder and the senior team.
“What also attracts me to Debt Register is that it has a technology that is taking a different approach to collections through the clever use of data and creating a meaningful consequence for those disinclined to honour their contract terms.”
Gary Brown, founder of Debt Register, says he is delighted to welcome Philip to the team: “His undoubted knowledge and first-hand practical experience of what small businesses and larger customers face will be invaluable to us as we look to transform the way businesses and credit managers address poor payment practice.”
Debt Register is, first and foremost, a global payment accelerator that enables a credit manager to identify late invoices on their ledger and allow the platform to do the rest. Debt Register contacts the debtor automatically and in the appropriate language, requesting that the payment is settled, and ensuring the invoice is correct and not in dispute. In trials, the purpose-built digital platform can resolve debts anything up to 10 times faster than traditional legal action, and for a fraction of the cost.
By leveraging its relationships with leading credit reference agencies (CRAs) to report unpaid and overdue debts, debtors are encouraged to settle any overdues promptly to avoid their credit scores being negatively impacted.
