Ultimate Finance is a leading funding partner to SMEs

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“2017 has seen a nervousness among importers brought about by Brexit and the subsequent weakening of the pound against the euro & US dollar which has provided challenges for importers looking to maintain a healthy margin.

As a result, a number of SME businesses who previously fell within the lending criteria for mainstream banks now find themselves unable to access funding.

The biggest challenge for these SME’s, is finding a suitable funder who will support them and allow them to continue transacting business overseas.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“At Ultimate Finance, we are developing a new way of supporting small and medium-sized businesses through fast, flexible and fair funding.

Alongside our traditional Trade Finance and Invoice Finance offerings, where we can provide funding lines up to £5M, we also offer a range of innovative, products that can work in tandem with these core offers.

We are removing barriers in the application process too, allowing SMEs to respond to a fast-moving global market.”

Woodsford Tradebridge finance growth through innovative Trade and Supply Chain Finance products.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“For the UK, Brexit has and continues to be a massive unknown factor. In particular, the impact this has had on Sterling against other currencies such as the US Dollar and the EURO.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“We find that many outstanding UK SME’s are getting just enough finance from the mainstream lenders to survive, but not enough to prosper. By offering innovative facilities that ‘top-up’ on their Banks lending or by funding Purchase Orders on foreign suppliers for critical components or at exactly the right point in the purchase cycle, we are providing critical funding for our clients’ growth plans.”

Greensill Capital help clients unlock capital and put it to work.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“As the WTO continued to forecast sluggish growth in global trade for 2017, we found at Greensill Capital more opportunity than ever to help our clients unlock capital and put it to work. We expanded our product offering into aircraft finance in conjunction with Boeing, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Marsh. We also financed billions of dollars of large, complex acquisitions such as Arrium Steel in South Australia on behalf of Liberty House.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“Greensill Capital CEO Lex Greensill was awarded the CBE in Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Birthday Honours this year. The award was made in recognition of Greensill’s contribution to the economy, not least our work in advising the governments of Britain and the United States on supply chain finance policy for SMEs.”

Ebury provide financial services for SMEs to manage their international trade.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“In terms of challenges, 2017 has been a year in which SME’s in the UK had to begin to adjust to the new Post-Brexit economy. We have seen a lot of businesses adapt to the changing tides by beginning to source goods from within the UK. It seems that the larger margins inherent when importing from location such as China have been reduced by a weaker Pound.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“We believe that SMEs sometimes lack financing options that are flexible, cost effective, transparent, easy to use and that do not require collateral. This is even more problematic when trading internationally. Our clients really appreciate the flexibility and transparency provided by our financing solution that is highly complementary with traditional financing options.

Actually, we have experienced a very positive demand from our clients. In particular, clients with high growth, seasonal sales cycles or limited tangible assets appreciate Ebury’s commitment to understand their business model and support their international trade.

We plan to keep innovating and working hard to support UK SMEs trade without borders.”

UK Bond Network structures bespoke bonds for businesses and distributes them to investors via an online platform

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“The obvious challenge with international trade this year stems from the UK’s decision to leave the EU. Political and economic uncertainty is one factor that has meant that, particularly for exporters, traditional finance providers have been tightening their belts. The opportunity now exists for alternative providers fill that space, but the challenge is in raising awareness and educating business owners on the array of options available to them.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“UK Bond Network was created specifically to fill the space that existed between smaller peer-to-peer loan businesses and the corporate bond markets. For companies seeking £1m+ of funding, the options were thin and the few options that did exist were expensive and relatively inflexible. We work with those companies to structure debt finance on fair terms that suit their business goals.”

Funding Circle help SMEs access working capital finance.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“So far this year, investors at Funding Circle have lent over £1.1 billion to thousands of businesses in the UK, US and Europe, which represents 34% of Funding Circle’s total originations since 2010. To date, Funding Circle investors have supported the creation of approximately 100,000 jobs across the world, driving much needed job creation.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“Funding Circle was founded in 2010 in response to the 2008 financial crisis, when small businesses could not receive the finance they needed to grow from high street banks and a low interest rate environment meant investors were starved of yield.

We therefore wanted to create the infrastructure, similar to a stock exchange or bond market, where any investor – big or small – can lend directly to small businesses.

To date, a diverse range of investors, including 72,000 individuals, local government and other financial institutions such as insurance and pension funds, have lent £3.8 billion to over 37,000 businesses across the UK, US and Europe.”

Working Capital Partners offers cashflow solutions to SMEs across the United Kingdom.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“Brexit remains at the heart of any discussion on International Trade.  While Exporters are enjoying a bonanza, especially those with a UK based supply chain; businesses that process imported goods are feeling the strain.  Until agreements are reached on how Brexit will work in practice, the caution that has characterised 2017 will remain.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“We have provided more than £130m to small businesses to assist with cash flow and supply chain finance.  Because we know our clients well and can assess their needs individually, we are able to ensure that they get a finance package that suits their needs at a price that they can afford.”

The ADB’s Trade Finance Program (TFP) fills market gaps for trade finance by providing guarantees and loans to over 200 partner banks.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“TFP is working to shrink the market gap in trade finance in the most challenging markets, both through its direct support and by mobilizing private resources into these markets.

With these new relationships come greater financial links to support trade, job creation, and more prosperity in emerging Asia.

TFP has launched its newest product, the funded risk participation agreement (RPA).”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“As of September 2017, TFP has supported over 2,312 SMEs valued at $ 165 million, which was a 134% increase from 2016 in terms of number of SME transactions from the same period in 2016, when TFP supported 987 SMEs.

Meanwhile, ADB also launched the Supply Chain Finance Program to support SMEs in supply chains.”

Scottish Pacific provides innovative funding solutions to help businesses improve cashflow and achieve their goals.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“The number of growing economies with an expanding middle class presents a major opportunity for entrepreneurial businesses, with the right funding in place, to confidently target this new consumer base.

One observation, backed up by the most recent results in our twice-yearly SME Growth Index, is that Australian small to medium businesses are increasingly willing to expand into overseas markets.

This includes the different generations of business owners. In particular, we are seeing a growing number of millennial entrepreneurs, who can be fearless about targeting new markets. These entrepreneurs are embracing what is an increasingly smaller globe.

One challenge for our exporters has been that, while SMEs are willing to look to new markets, in some less developed nations there have been issues around enforcing contracts. So, the challenge is to get comfortable around rights and obligations within these new markets.

Another challenge is around coming to terms with emerging technologies, especially crypto currencies and blockchain, as new ways of transacting cross-border.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“The working capital constraints caused by issues such as rapid growth, consolidation, change in ownership, and managing short-term problems are all things that SME owners tell us keeps them awake at night.

Scottish Pacific recognises how we can make doing business easier for SMEs and give them a better chance of business success – we provide a simple application process, approve facilities within 48 hours, and offer facilities that don’t require real estate security and where funding grows in line with the SME’s business revenue.

As Australia and New Zealand’s largest specialist working capital provider, we’ve been helping businesses enhance cashflow and boost working capital for almost 30 years.

With products including debtor, trade and supply chain finance, and new products on the horizon, our aim is to help even more SMEs grow, free from the constraints of traditional banking.”

BlueVine provides alternative working capital financing to small and medium sized businesses.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“More small and mediums sized businesses are competing in an increasingly globalized world in which international trade and quick access to working capital are critical to succeed. The role of alternative lenders became more prominent in 2017 as this industry continues to evolve.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“BlueVine specializes in invoice factoring which gives SMB owners quick access to funds needed to purchase inventory, cover expenses or expand operations. BlueVine also offers an on-demand revolving business credit line to those SMB owners who qualify.”

BBVA complements local trade and corresponding banking capabilities with global management.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“Overall, within trade it is being a good year for us. On our main markets, Spain and Mexico, optimism remains despite recent volatility, with exports growing and expectations that this shall continue. And importantly, we are maintaining our activity in South America in a very challenging environment and have also increased our presence in a number of ECA markets. Biggest challenge and opportunity at the same time is the successful transformation of the business to retain and or increase our market share in the new technological and competitive environment.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“SME business activity is very relevant for us, as middle-market companies represent 60% of our business in the trade finance space.

We are leveraging the capillarity our commercial banking branches provides in Spain and Latin America to extend the service of our trade specialists to SMEs, taking a flexible approach adapted to each market, which includes dedicated teams, apps and other technological innovations, increased e-trade capabilities in our transactional channels.

Covering both the exporter and the importer in a commercial relationship really makes a difference in terms of customer experience, and through our local offices we are actively trying to identify our clients’ trade counterparties to help facilitate their transactions. Common management of the trade and correspondent banking areas of the bank has been very useful in this regard to speed up KYC,” he says.

The development of supply chain finance programs has been a rapidly growing part of our value proposition. We have adopted an approach whereby we have looked to the large corporates and built the structures to seamlessly allow them to deal with the SMEs and MEs in their supply chains.

We always adapt to our clients’ circumstances, both in terms of the products we offer and our internal processes, operational and risk admission.”

Universal Cargo helps companies with their import, export, and domestic logistics.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“The biggest challenge by far for every importer is e-commerce. It is negatively impacting retail business and forcing importers and wholesalers to rethink how they will sell their products in today’s market. On the flip side are the great opportunities for importers and wholesalers to use e-commerce to expand their market. Change is essential to not only survive but to thrive in this exciting fast pace sector of commerce.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“Thanks to the foresight of the CEO, Devin T. Burke we’ve been able to successfully address and manage this matter well. In our industry Mr. Burke saw the need to provide credit term financing to our customers who qualified. We worked closely with our director of finance who interviewed and selected our current credit insurance company. They serve as our “banker” who qualifies, approves and sets the customer’s credit limits based on a thorough credit approval process. Then we are able to offer those credit terms and limits that are now insured in case of default. The tremendous challenge was extending credit while minimizing the risk of substantial losses. This has helped us tremendously to secure accounts we normally would not have been able to.”

Johnson Associates specialises in the recruitment of Trade Finance professionals

Describe 2017 in terms of international trade and the biggest challenges / opportunities in the sector

“Unfortunately we work in a time when cost is the number one priority for some of our largest clients, and reducing cost per headcount is key to meet their targets. This reduces the opportunity for movement in the market and newly qualified professionals joining the industry. We certainly saw an initial slump in recruitment at the beginning of Q2 when Brexit was announced and voting was to take place, however since the decisions were made, the market bounced back almost immediately.”

What are your recent highlights?

“Although I have worked in the industry for over 15 years, 2017 has seen Johnson Associates complete their 2nd year of trading and their 2nd success of winning the TFG recruiter awards. Johnson Associates have been fundamental in placing numerous key staff across many London based banks during 2017 and as such we have positioned ourselves as the go to recruiter for this industry with a very positive outlook for 2018.”

SCB help businesses mitigate currency risk by providing expert guidance.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“Many of our clients tell us that UK banks and other providers are forcing SMEs and mid-cap firms to work exclusively online. While we do offer an online platform, our clients regularly tell us how valuable it is that we are contactable at any time; we actively encourage our team to make outbound calls when the market moves, but we’re also reachable via phone/email throughout the day. We are equally happy to meet with our clients face-to-face.

Since the Brexit vote we have seen a significant weakening of sterling against the euro. This has made many exports from the UK cheaper because the pound is less valuable than it was. Equally, goods imported from Europe and the rest of the world are now more expensive. This situation has helped emphasise how important currency risk management strategies are for UK businesses.

While continuing sterling volatility can be a real challenge for businesses, it also presents a real opportunity to manage your FX exposure effectively.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“As a privately owned, debt-free business ourselves, we understand what it takes to run a business in a cost-efficient way. We pride ourselves on providing a range of different solutions to meet the specific requirements of our clients. As such, we have partnered with businesses across the UK to broaden our product offerings. Amongst other services, we are able to satisfy trade finance, cash flow and profit protection requirements, thereby enabling small-to-medium enterprises to grow their business in line with their ambitions.”

Trade IX provides Distributed Trade Finance Platforms, leveraging APIs and Blockchain technology.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“Today, trade finance operates in a high cost, high maintenance old world model involving multiple parties, overreliance on human intervention relying on antiquated, disconnected, paper-based systems.

Results:

•This has made global and domestic trade finance extremely complex, risky, inefficient, expensive and exclusive, impacting small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) access.

•Open account Trade Finance is limited to large corporate suppliers and buyers.

•A huge opportunity lies unserved providing banks the infrastructure to integrate and deliver trade finance products, regardless of the business size of their customers.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“TradeIX is superseding this highly inefficient model by better connected, highly automated and far more open infrastructure technology, enabling more efficient trade finance solutions. It does this through the creation of trusted and permissioned interactions between banks and their customers regardless of company size.

The TIX platform from TradeIX allows banks to deploy and manage dedicated trade finance light application (TIX Apps) built through TIX Developer. All participants exchange data securely through APIs developed by TradeIX. By applying blockchain technology to trade finance, TradeIX:

• Reduces complexity and the number of intermediaries involved.
• Reduces settlement, custodian and counterparty risk.
• Manages credit risks better and more efficiently.

Based on the new and efficient trade finance solutions offered by TradeIX, banks can offer funding and risk mitigation to more clients and smaller companies increasing the number of businesses having access to trade finance domestically and globally.”

ipagoo is a pan-european digital bank specialised in cash management

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“2017 is year of significant growth in the payments and transactional banking sectors where most of the focus seems to be on preparing/speculating for/about PSD2 and what it will bring to the industry.

In our case we are spearheading the PSD2 efforts and are publishing the first PSD2 sandbox with the four building blocks of the offer: PISP, AISP, ASPDP and R2P to replace card payments and DDs. In 2017 ipagoo launched its service to the public and will close the year with the first agreements signed to offer its services to banks.”

What are your recent highlights?

“- Launching its services in UK, France, Italy and Spain at the same time.
– signing of the first white label contract with CheBanca! in June”[/toggle]

Atom Bank is exclusively for mobile, offering savings accounts, mortgages and business lending.

What have been the biggest highlights of 2017 in terms of international trade?

“We’re the UK’s first bank built exclusively for your smartphone or tablet. We want to create the best experience for our customers with transparent and honest pricing.”

What are you doing to address the SME finance gap we see today?

“We provide a real alternative to the traditional ‘high street’ bank through a registered panel of intermediaries. They have access to an experienced Team of Business Development Managers to discuss the requirements of their client and SME. We also allow the intermediaries access to our Underwriters, to directly discuss SME finance. We are honest and transparent in all of our interactions, lifting the lid on banking and really explaining why a bank makes the decisions it does and why it prices the way it does. Transparency and efficiency is key!”