CM magazine May 2019

NEWS
IN BRIEF
Driving on
SECURE Trust Bank Commercial Finance
has provided a £5 million invoice finance
facility to BCW Manufacturing Group, as the
automotive manufacturer looks to expand
its factory space and production line. The
Burnley-based manufacturer has been
developing bespoke automated lines, tooling,
work holdings and mistake prevention
systems, to provide value-added products to
customers such as Aston Martin, Bentley and
Jaguar Land Rover since 2002.
The £5 million funding will be used to fund
the creation of a dedicated state-of-the-art
automotive machining facility and additional
warehouse space. With increased capacity
to take on new business, the expanded
headquarters is set to create up to 50 new jobs
at BCW over the next three years.
securetrustbank.com
Sparkling growth
BIBBY Financial Services (BFS) has
provided a £2.6 million Invoice Discounting
funding facility to Morris Line Engineering
(Holdings), a specialist engineering business
with two well respected brands – Morris
Line Engineering (MLE) and JW Morris.
Headquartered in Bridgend, Wales,
MLE provides specialist design and
manufacturing services for low voltage and
high voltage equipment. The business has
built an international reputation for product
development and designs over the last
four decades and has exported to over 70
countries.
JW Morris claims an even longer pedigree
of electrical installation work in process
industries and recently celebrated its 70th
anniversary of working for the UK’s largest
integrated steel works at Tata Steel Port
Talbot.
bibbyfinancialservices.com
Chip off the old block
ARBUTHNOT Commercial ABL has
structured and delivered a £750,000
confidential invoice discounting line for
one of the larger temperate hardwood
sawmills in the country. Based in Petworth,
West Sussex, the business dates back to
the original felling records of 1865, and
now delivers bespoke products and its
customers include architects and specifiers,
construction companies and builders,
restoration specialists and automated gate
companies.
arbuthnotlatham.co.uk
CICM
Essentials
RECENT briefing includes the notice of
the fifth Annual General Meeting of the
CICM on 13 June, a free webinar on Brexit
and beyond on 30 April, and the benefits
of being a CICM member including
entitlement to the TOTUM student discount
card for those studying.
Survey suggests millions
caught in spiral of debt
MORE than 1.5 million people in
England are struggling with
the ‘vicious cycle’ of spiralling
debt and mental health
problems. And problems with mental health
dramatically increase your chances of
facing financial difficulties.
Analysis of new national data from
the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, a
nationally representative survey of over
7,500 people across England, suggests that
people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
(OCD) are almost six times more likely to
be in problem debt than people without
a mental health problem, in part due to
common symptoms such as unreliable
memory and difficulty in processing
information which make it harder to
manage money.
More than a quarter of people (29 percent)
with OCD in England have problem debt,
compared to just five percent for people who
do not have a mental health problem.
Similarly, people with bipolar disorder
or depression are around five times more
likely to be experiencing serious financial
difficulty than people without mental health
problems. Some one in four people affected
by these conditions are in problem debt,
compared to one in 20 people who do not
have mental health problems.
This reflects the impact of common
symptoms of bipolar disorder such as
impulsiveness – especially during manic
episodes – and symptoms of depression
such as low moods and poor concentration,
all of which can affect people’s ability to
manage their finances.
Money and Mental Health is calling for
wide-ranging action from the government,
the NHS, banks, energy providers and
regulators to reduce both the psychological
impact of problem debt, and the chances
of someone with mental health problems
falling into financial difficulty.
Helen Undy, Chief Executive of Money
and Mental Health, says when struggling
with mental health it can be much harder to
stay in work or manage spending: “Being in
debt can cause huge stress and anxiety – so
the two issues feed off each other, creating
a vicious cycle which can destroy lives. Yet
despite how connected these problems are,
financial services rarely think about our
mental health, and mental health services
rarely consider what’s happening with our
money. “The Government has an opportunity
to use its upcoming Consumer White Paper
to introduce minimum standards that
people with mental health problems can
expect across essential services like energy
and banking, to ensure that they get a fair
deal. That should include help to avoid
problem debt, and better protection from
aggressive debt collection practices when it
does happen.
“And ensuring that money advice is
routinely offered to people using mental
health services would increase
recovery rates, as well as
improving the financial
wellbeing of the 1.5 million
people currently dealing
with this combination of
problems.”
moneyandmentalhealth.org
Helen Undy, Chief Executive
of Money and Mental Health
Graydon signs sharing partnership
with Forums International
Graydon has signed a corporate partnership
with worldwide knowledge sharing
platform, Forums International. The focus
of the partnership will be to host and
produce quarterly forums focused on fraud
prevention, credit management and risk.
Each of the forums are designed to
bring together leading names within
different industry groups and provide
intelligence and practical tools to a
network of like-minded professionals.
Attendees can expect open discussions,
presentations from industry experts and
specialised workshops. Membership
of the forum will also provide access to
secure members’ communication
channels.
The schedule of dates for the quarterly
forums will be released shortly. Attendance
to the first forum is complimentary and is
an opportunity for prospective companies
to gauge the benefits before making a
commitment to join. Simon Blackwell,
Graydon UK’s Managing Director says
both organisations are committed to the
sharing of relevant and valuable insights
and intelligence within communities: “The
overriding aim is to help organisations
make more informed credit risk decisions
and support them in the ongoing fight
against commercial fraud and financial
crime.” Laurie Beagle FCICM, Managing
Director at Forums International says they
have worked together with Graydon for
many years on the IT Distributors Forum
(DRF) and are pleased to extend that
relationship to include both the Telecoms
Forum (ITRF) and the new Fraud
Prevention Network (FPN) being launched
on the 16 May.
“We both share the same principles and
objectives and know that the two teams
will complement each other in the delivery
of forums that provide quality benefits and
true value to its members,” he says.
graydon.co.uk
HMRC business closures
deemed ‘too aggressive’
SMALL business marketplace Funding
Options says that HMRC should
expand its late payments scheme
due to ‘tough’ UK and global trading
conditions.
HMRC applied to shut down 4,160
businesses that fell behind on their tax
payments last year, as smaller firms were
steadily squeezed between a slowing
economy and late payment from larger
companies.
However, this high number of
applications shows that the government’s
tax and customs department is “too
aggressive in its approach to shutting down
businesses”, said Funding Options, Chief
Executive, Conrad Ford.
The London-based marketplace, which
arranges over £100 million of funding to
small firms a year, acknowledges that HMRC
Lenders call for change to banking rules
PEER-to-peer lenders are calling for a
change to Open Banking rules to make it
easier to access borrowers’ financial data
for the duration of a loan term.
Under the current framework of the
data-sharing initiative, borrowers can grant
alternative lenders access to their banking
data but must reapprove the permissions
every 90 days. This can cause an issue for
lenders who want to monitor a borrower’s
financial situation over a longer term.
P2P business lender Growth Street
uses Open Banking to assess potential
borrowers and to help monitor their
ongoing cashflow and financial strength,
which may be problematic if data access is
refused during a long-term loan.
Greg Carter, Chief Executive of Growth
Street, said Open Banking had made the
process easier for borrowers but called the
applied to wind up 11.5 percent fewer firms
last year than in 2017, but argues that these
figures are still too high.
In February, the Bank of England forecast
growth of 1.2 percent this year, down from
its previous forecast of 1.7 percent made in
November, blaming slower-than-expected
growth in the Eurozone and China, as well as
stalled business investment amid Britain’s
prolonged departure from the European
Union.
“HMRC continues to take a hard-line
approach despite businesses facing tough
economic headwinds. While HMRC has
eased back from last year when they tried
to shut down 4,700 businesses, it should
be looking to give them even more leeway,”
Conrad adds.
www.gov.uk
“HMRC continues to take a hard-line
approach despite businesses facing tough
economic headwinds”
three-month reapproval requirement an
unnecessary burden: “We plan to request
that the Open Banking Implementation
Entity extends the maximum connection
length from 90 days to indefinite.
“The expiry of connections after 90
days means a potentially higher risk that a
borrower could lose access to their facility
– for example, if data loss results in our
credit teams reducing or even removing the
facility.
“We believe businesses should be given
the choice to give permanent consent to
third parties to access their data that can
be revoked at a time of their choosing, and
not be forced to reconnect every 90 days.”
Meanwhile, Open Banking technology
has been incorporated by a debt
management company to automate
annual reviews. Gregory Pennington has
>NEWS
IN BRIEF
Initiative Ireland
enters UK P2P
market
IRISH peer-to-peer property lender
Initiative Ireland has entered the UK
market, offering corporate lending accounts
that let companies back its development
projects through a new subsidiary called
Initiative Financial Services UK.
The minimum investment for companies
will be €10,000 (£8,640) per loan. The lender
has also launched the Initiative Financial
Senior Credit Property Sub-Fund I for
institutional investors with a minimum of
€100,000.
This is a five-year closed ended fund
designed to finance the construction of
residential social, affordable and midmarket
housing across Ireland on a senior,
secured basis. The P2P lending proposition
will only be available for companies at first,
but there are plans to open it up to private
investors.
initiativeireland.ie
Equifax hire
EQUIFAX has appointed former RBS
Operations Executive Tony Banks as
Vice President of Operations for the UK
and Ireland. Tony will be responsible for
overseeing all operational activities at
Equifax sites including London, Wexford,
Leeds and Nottingham. Based in London,
he will report directly to Patricio Remon,
President for Europe at Equifax.
equifax.co.uk
integrated an Open Banking solution
provided by Equifax in partnership with
AccountScore to speed up its customer
financial reviews. Customers of the debt
management specialist will now be able to
complete the required annual review and
financial assessment by providing consent
for the extraction of transactional data
from their current account to populate the
financial statement.
Previously, the review would have been
conducted over the telephone and would
typically take up to an hour. The move
could be a boost for peer-to-peer lenders
working with debt management companies
who adopt similar technology as it could
help speed up the recoveries process.
gregorypennington.co.uk
equifax.co.uk
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / May 2019 / PAGE 10
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / May 2019 / PAGE 11