The specialist savings and lending bank came to market in April 2011 after being bought by RBS Equity Finance, which allowed the business to grow. Subsequently, Shawbrook was able to buy further lending facilities, enabling the bank to develop towards its current model and branding launch in October last year.

Two months later, Shawbrook revealed a short-term lending proposition as a complementary addition to its successful mid-term offering, establishing a strong market position and diversifying product range.

We caught up with Stephen Johnson, Shawbrook Bank’s New Business Director, who told us more about what Shawbrook has to offer and what’s to come in 2012.

Stephen said, “We want to build on this strong start, and our recent move into short-term lending is an exciting move for the bank. We have had a strong response and look forward to becoming a significant lender into the short-term loan sector.”

Explaining a little more about the new product range, Stephen added: “There is a lot of uncertainty within the wider economy at the moment. Our short-term products are specifically designed for experienced property investors and although the climate is changeable, there are strong buying opportunities out there and therefore we believe there will be a significant amount of demand to be satisfied.”

Despite having been launched just before Christmas, Stephen told us that Shawbrook has already made a number of formal offers to clients who fit the experienced property professional requirement.

He continued, “Most of our prospective clients are looking to finance the purchase of residential and mixed-use investment properties with an established rental income. We have also had enquires for refurbishments on prime property from those looking to increase rental return over the medium term”.

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, Shawbrook looks set to continue growing. Stephen said: “Since introducing our extended range of commercial lending products, our aim for 2012 is to provide £250 million of lending to the market.”

“We are keen to develop our lending proposition, and are particularly focused on identifying complementary markets to our term lending. We are enthusiastic about the opportunities we believe exist in 2012 for a specialist bank with no legacy issues.”

However, Stephen noted that the new offering will remain as an extension of Shawbrook’s existing product range: “The majority of our funds will still be lent in the mid-term market which will be about 70 per cent of our loan book. The remaining 30 per cent will be in the short-term market where we expect to expand our business in the coming year.”

With such triumphs leading the way into the New Year, 2012 is set to be prosperous for the entire short-term lending arena with continually increasing confidence in a steadily expanding market.

Article contributed by Bridging and Commercial

Firstly, we asked 100 randomly selected SME businesses why they thought far more customers used overdraft than invoice finance. Their suggestions were as follows:

• 41% said overdrafts are everywhere, the bank offer them as soon as you open an account
• 24% said overdraft is the norm and businesses probably haven’t heard of invoice finance
• 24% said banks offer overdraft as standard
• 8% said invoice finance is far more expensive than overdraft
• 3% said overdraft is standard, invoice finance is specialist

That means that in 92% of cases the primary factor mentioned was the perception that overdrafts are the “standard”. In addition, some 24% of respondents specifically mentioned, without prompting, that a lack of knowledge of invoice finance may be partially to blame.

These are awareness and perception issues that could be tackled by the invoice finance industry.

We went on to ask those same SMEs what would make them switch from overdraft to invoice finance. The top answers were as follows:

• 68% said invoice finance being cheaper
• 22% said increased funding

In order to achieve a greater market penetration, this research suggests that the invoice finance industry should consider:

• Working to find ways to promote invoice finance as a funding option earlier in the lifecycle of a business, perhaps even before the business even opens a bank account
• Raising awareness of invoice finance as a funding option generally
• Focusing on the increased funding aspect of invoice finance over overdraft
• Seeking cheaper ways to structure invoice finance to better compete with overdraft

Article contributed by Glenn Blackman MBA MCIM, Managing Director of Cashflow Acceleration Limited, a specialist invoice finance brokerage. Glenn also writes regarding invoice finance and related matters at http://www.glennblackman.co.uk/

GE Capital Commercial Lending and Leasing (CLL), the segment which includes global equipment finance operations, posted $2.7bn in profits for the 12 months to 31 December 2011, representing a 75% increase on the figure for 2010.

GE Capital’s profit for the fourth quarter was $1.6bn, an 11% increase from the previous three months. GE Capital CLL increased profit 13% in the fourth quarter, recording $777m in earnings compared to $688bn in the three months to 30 September 2011.

GE as a whole posted profits of $14.8bn, up 20% from $12.3bn in 2010.

Jeff Immelt, chairman and chief executive of GE said: “GE Capital, like our industrial businesses, is stronger and competitively positioned to win.”

He said he expects GE Capital to experience double digit profit growth in 2012 while continuing to shrink its balance sheet and strengthen its capital and liquidity positions.

“We expect continued volatility in 2012 and have prepared for it by investing in new products and technology, expanding our growth market footprint and taking important steps to strengthen risk management. GE Capital is safe and secure and rebounding sharply. We are restructuring our businesses in Europe to reflect market conditions,” he said.

Article contributed by: Leasing Life

The website, which went live on 20 January 2012, allows small and medium-sized business owners to look for alternative forms of funding, including invoice finance, asset-based lending, trade finance as well as business loans. The Finding Finance specialist advisers are based throughout the UK and do not charge users or take a commission from lenders helping ensure owners get the best deal for their business.

Carl Jackson, head of RSM Tenon’s Recovery service line, said: “At a time when there is considerable debate about the availability of funding for small businesses, it pays business owners to familiarise themselves with the full range of funding options available. A traditional overdraft is often insufficient to support a growing small business and there are a range of alternatives offering companies increased funding, greater flexibility and, importantly for many business owners, reduced personal risk”.

Nearly 42,000 businesses in the UK are estimated to currently use invoice finance, a funding solution whereby a business owner bypasses the normal 30-day plus wait for payment of their invoices. Invoice Finance companies provide immediate funds against invoices raised, greatly assisting both owners of fast growing businesses and those with cash flow issues. The amounts borrowed under this type of arrangement have grown considerably in recent years as has the use of Asset Based Lending which involves borrowing against other business assets such as stock, plant and machinery and property as well invoices.

“Our industry’s opinion of these funding models has changed,” said Carl Jackson. “A number of years ago, they were thought of as a backstop rather than first choice solution – as funding has become scarce and people have begun to realise that the flexibility and terms of such funding models can be competitive, their popularity has risen. They are not the solution to every funding problem but in the current climate every business owner should know what is potentially in the finance locker”.

Article contributed by RSM Tenon

The survey found that while hopes for an increase in turnover are strong, expectations of profitability and plans for recruitment are less positive and it’s widely believed that downward price pressure will adversely affect success.
In spite of the widespread concerns for economic growth, 43% of UK small and medium sized enterprises expect their turnover to grow and only one-in-six expect to see a decrease during the coming 12 months.

There is however a sharp contrast in optimism depending on the size of the business. When it comes to sole traders, only 23% believe that turnover will improve in the coming year. This figure more than doubles when it comes to SMEs with 50-99 employees. Here over half (51%) expect turnover to improve.

However the outlook on profitability is less positive across the board with 21% expecting it to worsen and only just under a third (32%) expecting it to improve.

While there is a sizable middle ground of firms who expect both turnover and profitability to increase or remain stable over the coming year this does not translate into expected growth in employment levels, with only one in seven firms surveyed expecting to take on more staff during the year. 82% of UK SMEs say that headcount will either stay the same or worsen. While revenues might be expected to increase in 2011-12, this will be on narrower margins with 62% of SMEs agreeing that “Pressure to keep consumer prices down” will adversely affect their business. Nearly one-third (29%) expect this to have a major impact.

Matthew Reed, Managing Director Intermediary for AXA Commercial Lines comments: “When it comes to the fortunes of the UK’s SMEs, there is a more complex picture out there than the headlines would lead us to believe. It’s not all doom and gloom for sure.

However there is a real need for valuable advice when it comes to risk management given the fact that, when asked to identify key risks facing their business, nearly a quarter of UK SMEs (23%) couldn’t name a single one. I find this quite staggering. In my view it means that brokers have a major role to play in helping their clients to both understand the risks their businesses face during these difficult times as well as manage them.”

Contributed by: AXA UK – http://www.axa.co.uk/business

John Beaney, Head of International, HSBC Invoice Finance (UK) Ltd

Two thousand and twelve will be a defining one for international receivables finance and the factoring industry. The economic conditions are likely to challenge us whether it is through slowing growth in the emerging economies of the world, an election year in the US and recession – and continued fragility – in Europe. It is a year in which we have the ability to demonstrate our value to shareholders, clients and indeed governments.

Today’s regulatory framework prefers products which are efficient in the use of a bank’s capital and that is a huge opportunity for our industry. Services which help support sales when orders can be hard to come by are needed by businesses. Enabling them to offer attractive terms even to new customers and in new markets makes what we do doubly relevant.

To fulfil our potential, however, we have to deliver on our promise of excellence in credit management, supporting sales to sound businesses and helping clients to avoid losses when failures occur. We must continue to use our understanding of receivables to successfully balance risks and reaffirm our credentials as lenders of first resort.

HSBC starts the year in excellent shape. Our UK receivables business increased support for international business significantly in 2011. We’ve built this success on a service platform that earned us the recognition as ‘Best Factor’ by Trade Finance Magazine and ‘Best Commercial Credit Team’ from Credit Today and is also reflected in accreditation by the Institute of Credit Management, so we look ahead at 2012 with confidence.

Josep Selles, General Manager of Eurofactor Spain

Based on the statistics taken from the end of November 2011, we can say that this has been an excellent year for the factoring industry in Spain. Considering the economical environment, the flat consumer rates, the country not in recession but growing at just around one per cent, a growth of 9.6 per cent is a figure we would have taken at the beginning of the year.

With reference to the annual figures we can observe that domestic factoring is only 6.5 per cent up and the weight of the growth of the sector relies on international factoring (26 per cent), as export factoring was the one that grew the most (28.2 per cent) – probably a consequence of the fact that the Spanish companies which have a competitive product have increased their exports, trying to find markets with a higher appetite than ours.

The main problem has been how to deal with the portion of factoring where the public administration is the debtor. The traditional delay of payment within the public sector has increased strongly, creating a lot of difficulties – for the industries that were unable to advance the new invoices as the old ones remained unpaid, and for the factoring companies that have been increasing the portion of this business in their portfolio.

To be honest, it would be good to know someone who could accurately predict what is going to happen even in the next five minutes, economically speaking, because as I write this, what I say could quickly become ‘factoring fiction’.

We have had a change in Government but also, more importantly, a change of policies in the European Central Bank that has relaxed the financial constraints of financial institutions; this situation may lead to a certain recovery, but I’m afraid that only in the second half of the year.

I have no reason to believe that the factoring industry will not maintain at least the same positive trend that it started with in 2010 and maintained in 2011.  Also certain measures are being taken by the new Government to help the administrations to fulfil their commitments; a situation that may unblock the concentration of risk and allow us to offer more financing facilities to the industries.

Let’s keep the optimism. 2012 has an extra day. Let’s hope we will use it to improve the economical situation, not only in Spain.

Ken Hitzig, Chairman of the Board, Accord Business Credit, Canada

Our outlook a year ago was for no ‘double dip’ and no significant growth. We were right on both counts. While the economy in the U.S. was very weak, some improvements were noted in the second half of 2011, notably growth of GDP and a lowering of unemployment. However, the rate of improvement was small and if this continues it will take many years to return to ‘normal’ conditions.

There was some deterioration in the Canadian economy in 2011. GDP growth was very low, and although unemployment figures fell, the number of people out of work remained painfully high. The resource sector, a major part of the Canadian economy, suffered from a world-wide glut of oil and gas. A major confrontation between the environmental movement and the resource industry is looming for 2012. The resource people need to build thousands of kilometres of pipelines to the Pacific Coast (to ship to an energy-hungry China) and to the southern U.S. where there are refineries but not enough oil. Tens of thousands of jobs hang in the balance. There will be tremendous pressure put on the Obama administration by the labour movement, on the one hand, and the environmentalists on the other. Competition in the Canadian factoring market continued to be intense in 2011. Total volume handled declined ten per cent from the previous year to about CA$4.5 billion. The number of players declined as well, to 51 at 31 December 2011 from 55 a year earlier.

The market continued to be dominated by two companies, National Bank of Canada and Accord Financial; together they control two-thirds of the total volume. The main competitors for the non-recourse factors are the credit insurers who offer attractive rates but tend to be fickle with credit.

At this point (mid-January 2012) it is difficult to foresee any significant change in the economy for 2012.

Current exchange rate:

1 euro = 1.30127184 Canadian dollars

Marius Savin, Director of Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered Bank Singapore

The key industry players managed to grow their business further in 2011 across a variety of markets, after strengthening their credit models in 2010. In my view, this was the result of better focus on the innovative client value proposition across the entire supply chain as well as ‘slimming’ business models. Though these elements were always present in the peoples’ minds, the challenges faced from the financial crisis made them a must for business survival.

The 2012 outlook seems more challenging as there are many open issues still unfolding; however I do believe that there will be growth opportunities (no matter the size of the business) either by capturing new developing trade flows (Asia, Africa, Middle East) or by identifying niches (specific industries or trade corridors). At the same time, balanced resource/capabilities allocation and efficiency will become the primary focus for successful management.

Article contributed by BCR Factorscan

The plans are at an early stage and it is unlikely that Nationwide will be in a position to offer SME loans until at least next year.

However, the idea has already won support politically amid fears that SMEs are not able to access the credit they need to survive and grow in an increasingly difficult economic environment.

Chancellor George Osborne told the Treasury select committee this week that the national building society was weighing up the move, which he said would bring competition to the SME market.

Graham Beale, chief executive of Nationwide, told the Financial Times: “We have identified that SME lending would be a good strategic fit to our existing business, given our strong franchise, broad distribution network and current exposure to personal current accounts and commercial lending activities. We are developing plans to enter the market, but this will not be for at least 18 months or longer.”

Invoice finance and invoice discounting are used by small and medium sized businesses to improve their cashflow and fund their future expansion.
Prior to joining Aldermore, Ben held a variety of roles within the RBS Group, both with RBS Invoice Finance and Lombard Asset Finance.

Ben has considerable experience of working with SMEs in the West Midlands and Warwickshire.

Tony Smedley said: “I’m delighted to welcome Ben to the team at Aldermore Invoice Finance. Ben has a lot of experience working with small and medium sized businesses and I have no doubt he’ll be able to make a very positive contribution.”

Ben Hayward said: “Small firms in the Midlands area desperately need support from banks that are willing to listen to their needs and provide effective financial solutions. Aldermore has a strong reputation as one of the UK’s most innovative invoice finance providers and I’m excited about being part of such a dynamic team.”

Aricle contributed by Aldermore

INVOICE FINANCE JOBS

Job Ref: 5983
Vacancy: Invoice Finance – Business Development Manager – North West
Company: A major, well-established Independent UK Invoice Finance Company
Salary: up to £50k plus OTE, car allowance /car, PRP & benefits
Full Details:http://www.commercialfinancepeople.co.uk/vacancies/vacancy.asp?vc=2695

Job Ref: 6045
Vacancy: Client Manager/Team Leader – Invoice Finance – East Midlands
Company: A major UK independent Invoice Finance company
Salary: c£25k plus excellent benefits
Full Details: http://www.commercialfinancepeople.co.uk/vacancies/vacancy.asp?vc=2692

Job Ref: 5988
Vacancy: Asset Based Lending Auditor – North West, Yorkshire or Midlands
Company: Invoice Finance Organisation
Salary: up to c£45k plus car allowance and benefits
Full Details: http://www.commercialfinancepeople.co.uk/vacancies/vacancy.asp?vc=2690

To view all of our latest jobs visit http://www.commercialfinancepeople.co.uk

As it released the figures, which go back to 2007, the Cooperative Group’s banking division set a target to double the funding to £1bn by 2013, as part of the wider group’s corporate responsibility strategy, called Ethical Plan.

The Co-operative Bank, which prides itself as an ethical lender, has funded 108 renewable energy projects over the period with a capital value of £1m to £25m.

Projects are typically taken on by smaller developers, community groups and landowners as a means to diversify income, according to a statement from the bank released with the figures.

The projects funded include onshore wind, hydro, biomass and combined heat and power systems, and the bank has a renewable energy team to deal with planning permission and grid connection on behalf of clients.

Richard Wilcox, head of social banking at The Co-operative, said: “At a time when many communities are fighting for survival from the wider economic challenges, small to medium renewable energy schemes provide an opportunity for communities to become sustainable, creating local jobs and diversifying local economies.”

Renewable energy projects in the UK currently receive around £1.4bn a year in government support through the Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROC) scheme.

However, a review of the scheme has been delayed, which could stall renewable energy investment, Wilcox warned.

“We welcome the Government’s commitment to renewable energy investment which has helped to provide an enabling arena for our rapid growth in renewable investment,” he said.

“However, there is a real danger that this could grind to a halt if the review of ROCs and pending review of feed-in tariffs are not completed quickly and with a view to nurturing our fledgling environmental industries.”

Article contributed by: Leasing Life