Friday 22nd May 2020
The business world is changing and having to adapt super fast to the Covid 19 induced changes to the economy. Invoice finance (invoice factoring and discounting) is a great way to fund growing businesses or help with increased finance for management buyouts or to help with sudden new orders to flatten the raw material need.
Right now there are a few businesses that have seen an unprecedented growth in sales, normally as they’ve switched production to supply Covid 19 related items – especially hand gel and PPE being obvious examples. Also haulage, food production and recruitment companies that specialise in the healthcare sector all need an increase in funding either new lines or an increase on existing funding lines.
This spike in demand is also a magnet for fraudsters trying to catch funding companies off guard especially due to the lockdown and the inability to have face to face visits. At Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance (HCIF) we are keen to be a valuable contributor to society and want to help fund as many SME’s as possible yet we need to ensure all fraud, money laundering and due diligence controls still happen.
Fortunately mid 2019 we launched our fully digital onboarding platform a first in the invoice finance industry which allows HCIF to onboard invoice finance facilities within hours without a face to face visit with all the sign-up and due diligence happening digitally. Although HCIF were the first to launch this technology many are now looking to copy elements of the digital invoice finance operation.
These changed times will mean digital sign-up will move up the priority list in many companies. Fortunately at HCIF it’s not just the start of the relationship that is digital but the whole client account management is managed through state of the art systems including AI cash allocation, intuitive credit control and market leading customer portal to manage withdrawals.
At HCIF we are seeing many companies using the Bounce Back loans, more so than the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBIL). This is a great boost for many of our clients, yet we are taking time to explain the need to use as a short term funding and keep in place or take out an invoice finance facility as this will become increasing important as the business switches from survival mode back to growth.
One of the great advantages of invoice finance is that you only pay for the funding as you use it in the main, this means having a facility in place with a low utilisation won’t cost the earth and is normally cheaper than an overdraft and can be more flexible, especially as turnover increases.
At HCIF we are gearing up for when the UK is back to making things, moving things and offering great services. We’ve got the funds and digital technology to deliver this at pace with great personal, award winning client service.
