Margrith Lütschg-Emmenegger, president of FIMBank, delivered a presentation at the Annuals Receivables Finance International Conference held at the Intercontinental Hotel in London last month.

Ms Lütschg-Emmenegger was invited to join other eminent speakers from 12 countries by the organiser BCR Publishing, one of the leading UK based conference organisers, focusing on Receivable Finance and connected activities.

This conference was aimed at addressing the new challenges that Receivable Finance is meeting across many different frontiers of supply and demand. Financial institutions offering receivable financing (asset backed/invoice discounting and factoring) worldwide are experiencing a tremendous increase in the level of enquiries from hard-pressed SMEs suffering cash flow problems in the current economic downturn. But while the sales leads are flooding in, specialists are aware that increased volumes do not necessarily mean increased profits. Corporates, borrowers, traders and banks face new challenges to optimise transactions, understand the current environment and deal with a wide range of risks and prospects

Ms Lütschg–Emmenegger’s presentation looked at the opportunities opening up for factoring as part of the supply chain finance developments, now becoming increasingly important as improved cash flows and optimising working capital resources has become paramount, and how creating partnerships could facility this process. .

She then expanded into comparing the various trade finance products, examined factoring services in relation to letters of credit, forfaiting and short-term credit insurance in terms of demand and availability in the current environment, as well as the potential for cross fertilization. Participation presented a unique opportunity for the bank to promote its specialized services as well as its location in Malta.