Credit Management June 2019

CREDIT MANAGEMENT 

CM 

JUNE 2019 £12.50 

THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND 

COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS 

The Big Issue 

Debt advice: the elephant 

in the room 

80 

YEARS 

HMRC’s plans to 

become a preferred 

creditor. Page 15 

The pan-European market 

for Non-performing loans. 

Page 21

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15 

VIEW FROM 

THE SEA FRONT 

DAVID ANDREWS 

JUNE 2019 

www.cicm.com 

CONTENTS 

– INSOLVENCY 

The impact of HMRC’s plans to become a 

preferred creditor. 

18 – COVER STORY 

The future funding of debt advice 

remains a large elephant in the room. 

23 – VIEW FROM THE 

SEA FRONT 

David Andrews considers whether bank 

managers still exist. 

24 – STAR PERFORMER 

Julian Winfield outlines the pan- 

European market for Non-performing 

loans. 

40 

LEGAL MATTERS 

PETER WALKER 

26 – COUNTRY FOCUS 

Is Ethiopia the new land of opportunity 

for exporters? 

30 – OPINION 

International agreements require 

different terms for different regions. 

40 – LEGAL MATTERS 

The danger of dividends and a polluted 

river. 

CICM GOVERNANCE 

View our digital version online at www.cicm.com. Log on to the Members’ 

area, and click on the tab labelled ‘Credit Management magazine’ 

Credit Management is distributed to the entire UK and international CICM 

membership, as well as additional subscribers 

Reproduction in whole or part is forbidden without specific permission. Opinions expressed in this magazine do 

not, unless stated, reflect those of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management. The Editor reserves the right to 

abbreviate letters if necessary. The Institute is registered as a charity. The mark ‘Credit Management’ is a registered 

trade mark of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management. 

Any articles published relating to English law will differ from laws in Scotland and Wales. 

26 

COUNTRY FOCUS - 

ADAM BERNSTEIN 

President Stephen Baister FCICM / Chief Executive Philip King FCICM CdipAF MBA 

Executive Board Pete Whitmore FCICM – Chair / Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) – Vice Chair 

Glen Bullivant FCICM – Treasurer / Larry Coltman FCICM, Victoria Herd FCICM(Grad), Bryony Pettifor FCICM(Grad) 

Advisory Council Sarah Aldridge FCICM(Grad) / Laurie Beagle FCICM / Kim Delaney-Bowen MCICM / Glen Bullivant FCICM 

Lauren Carter FCICM / Larry Coltman FCICM / Victoria Herd FCICM(Grad) / Philip Holbrough MCICM / Laural Jefferies MCICM 

Diana Keeling FCICM / Martin Kirby FCICM / Christelle Madie FCICM / Julie-Anne Moody-Webster MCICM 

Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) / Ute Ogholoh MCICM / Bryony Pettifor FCICM(Grad) / Allan Poole MCICM / Phil Rice FCICM 

Chris Sanders FCICM / Paul Taylor MCICM / Pete Whitmore FCICM. 

Publisher 

Chartered Institute of Credit Management 

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OAKHAM, LE15 8NB 

Telephone: 01780 722900 

Email: editorial@cicm.com 

Website: www.cicm.com 

CMM: www.creditmanagement.org.uk 

Managing Editor 

Sean Feast FCICM 

Deputy Editor 

Alex Simmons 

Art Editor 

Andrew Morris 

Telephone: 01780 722910 

Email: andrew.morris@cicm.com 

Editorial Team 

Imogen Hart, Rob Howard and Iona Yadallee 

Advertising 

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Email: grace@cabbell.co.uk 

Printers 

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2019 subscriptions 

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Single copies: £12.50 

ISSN 0265-2099 

The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / June 2019 / PAGE 3

EDITOR’S COLUMN 

The benefit of naming 

and shaming 

Sean Feast FCICM 

Managing Editor 

AND so, at last, it happened. 

Seventeen signatories to 

the Prompt Payment Code 

‘named and shamed’ for 

failing to honour their 

commitments to paying 95 

percent of all supplier invoices within 60 

days. 

Some of the names may have been a 

surprise: Vodafone; Rolls Royce; DHL. 

Others perhaps less so: Balfour Beatty; 

Costain; Laing O’Rourke. The wave 

of negative publicity surrounding the 

construction industry, in particular, 

suggests that other names are sure to 

follow. 

The reaction from in-house and external 

PRs to the respective businesses has ranged 

from ‘take it on the chin’ to outright denial. 

One suggested that their client had never 

been notified, and had to go into fast retreat 

when it was proven that they had not only 

been told, but had also responded. Another 

that it was unfair that their client had been 

‘singled out’, when there were many other 

firms that were just as bad. That, as our 

Chief Executive Philip King FCICM points 

out in his opinion piece (page 10), is akin to 

justifying a speeding ticket by saying that 

everyone else is doing it. 

Since the PPC was launched, it has never 

been in the remit of the Compliance Board 

to publish the names of those signatories 

that have been suspended or removed. This 

changed with the announcement of the 

Secretary of State for Business, Energy & 

Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Greg Clark last 

year that he would name and shame the 

transgressors. 

That it took so long from his 

announcement to the publication of this 

new list is perhaps a story for another 

time, but one might look at certain 

names on the list and draw one’s own 

conclusions. Fear of publishing certain 

names cogniscent of the damage that 

it might cause to their reputation and 

future profitability is, arguably, total 

confirmation that the Prompt Payment 

Code is a force to be reckoned with. 

The metaphorical handcuffs that 

were previously around the Compliance 

Board’s wrists have undoubtedly 

contributed to the negative publicity 

that has accompanied the Code in recent 

months. It is difficult to defend a Code 

against accusations of not having any 

teeth when you have a gag around your 

mouth. Now that is changing. Now at 

last the Code, and the Compliance Board, 

are free to demonstrate just what the 

Code is capable of – changing payment 

behaviour. And it is working. Of the 

seventeen companies named, fifteen have 

committed to changing their payment 

practices with action plans that will be 

closely monitored. 

The metaphorical handcuffs that were 

previously around the Compliance Board’s 

wrists have undoubtedly contributed to the 

negative publicity that has accompanied 

the Code in recent months. 


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CMNEWS 

A round-up of news stories from the 

world of consumer and commercial credit 

Written by – Sean Feast FCICM and Alex Simmons 

BUSINESSES NAMED AND 

SHAMED FOR FAILING TO PAY 

THEIR SUPPLIERS ON TIME 

SEVENTEEN companies who 

fail to meet the standard of the 

Prompt Payment Code (PPC) 

have been removed or suspended 

in the first of a quarterly series 

of announcements expected from the 

Chartered Institute of Credit Management 

(CICM) throughout the year. 

Rolls Royce, Vodafone, and DHL were 

among the best-known brands to have 

been named alongside a tranche of 

businesses from the construction sector 

including John Sisk & Son Limited, Costain 

Limited, and Interserve Construction. 

A further company – The Go-Ahead 

Group Plc, a passenger transport provider, 

has been re-instated to the Code after filing 

data to show that it has been paying 95 

percent of all invoices within 60 days for 

the last reported period. Go-Ahead 

Group has also provided the Prompt 

Payment Code Compliance Board with 

assurance that it will continue to honour 

both the spirit and the mandatory 

requirements of the Code going forward. 

Thousands of companies who sign up 

to the Code, administered by CICM on 

behalf of the Government, pledge to uphold 

its best practice for payment standards 

in order to help end the culture of late 

payment, particularly for small businesses. 

This includes a commitment to pay 95 

percent of all supplier invoices within 60 

days. 

Based on the new Payment Practices 

Reporting data that large businesses must 

publicly report, the CICM is reviewing 

whether businesses are meeting the 

standards of the Code and paying their 

suppliers promptly. The first phase of 

these reviews has identified 17 businesses 

to be removed or suspended, with more 

removals and suspensions expected in 

the second phase of review currently 

underway. Companies are already taking 

action to improve, which is welcomed 

and supported by CICM. Interserve 

Construction, for example, has improved 

its performance based on an action plan 

agreed with the CICM, which has seen the 

business reduce the number of payments 

over 60 days by ten percent over the 

second half of last year; the company is 

continuing to improve towards compliance 

over the next six months. 

The Prompt Payment Code Compliance 

Board, chaired by CICM’s Chief Executive 

Philip King FCICM and including the 

Small Business Commissioner Paul Uppal, 

regularly reviews the data reported by 

large companies under the Payment 

Practices Reporting Regulations to ensure 

they are upholding their commitments. 

Businesses suspended from the Code are 

invited to produce an action plan setting 

out how they will achieve compliance 

with the Code within an agreed period. 

When they have achieved compliance 

their status as a Code signatory will be 

reinstated. If they do not, then they will be 

removed. 

Philip said he is disappointed with 

the actions of a minority who continue 

to treat their suppliers unfairly: “I take 

no satisfaction in having to name them 

publicly,” he explained. “Conversely, we are 

encouraged by the actions taken by The 

Go-Ahead Group which has now positively 

engaged with the Board and given us 

the reassurances we need to allow them 


THE NOT–SO DIRTY DOZEN 

Twelve businesses have been suspended from the PPC, for not paying their suppliers 

in line with the Code, but they have committed to make changes to meet the standards 

of the Code and pay suppliers promptly. They include: 

Atos IT Services UK&I – an IT services business and main UK subsidiary of Atos SE; 

Balfour Beatty Plc – an international infrastructure group; 

British Sugar UK – a British producer of sugar for the UK food market; 

Costain Limited – a construction and engineering company; 

Engie Services Limited – a facilities management services company, part of Engie 

Group. 

Interserve Construction – a construction company owned by Interserve Group Limited; 

Kellogg Brown & Root Limited – a facilities management and construction engineering 

company, part of KBR Inc; 

Laing O’Rourke – an international engineering business; 

Persimmon Homes Limited – a UK house building company; 

Rolls-Royce Plc – an engineering business focused on power and propulsion systems; 

SSE – electrical and telecoms provider; and 

Vodafone Limited – a telecoms company, part of the multinational Vodafone Group 

Limited 

Kelly Tolhurst 

Minister for Small Business 

’’By naming 

transgressors we 

are supporting small 

businesses in the 

supply chain” 

to remain a Signatory to the Code. We 

will continue to monitor their position 

to ensure future reported data shows the 

expected improvements and compliance. 

“As part of our work driving culture 

change to end late payments, we will 

continue to challenge signatories to the 

Code if the obligatory Payment Practice 

Reporting data suggests that their 

practices are not compliant with the Code.” 

Small Business Commissioner Paul 

Uppal, a PPC Compliance Board member, 

said he will continue to support Philip 

and the CICM in removing or suspending 

non-compliant signatories from the code: 

“It is essential the code has credibility and 

demonstrates a commitment to ensure 

small businesses are treated fairly. My 

team has already recovered more than 

£3.5 million in late payments and is ready 

and available to support small businesses 

experiencing poor payment practices”. 

News of the suspensions builds on a 

government announcement in November 

2018, where failure of companies to 

demonstrate prompt payment to their 

suppliers could result in them being 

prevented from winning government 

contracts. 

From 1 September 2019, any supplier 

who bids for a government contract above 

£5 million per annum will be required to 

answer questions about their payment 

practices and performance. The expected 

standard is to pay 95 percent of invoices in 

60 days across all their business. 

Any supplier who is unable to 

demonstrate that they have systems in 

place that are effective and ensure a fair 

and responsible approach to payment of 

their supply chain may be excluded from 

bidding. 

Kelly Tolhurst, Minister for Small 

Business believes the Prompt Payment 

Code is a positive force for good: “By 

naming transgressors we are supporting 

small businesses in the supply chain,” she 

claimed. 

“We remain committed to supporting 

small businesses against poor payment 

practice and are delighted to see that the 

Prompt Payment Code Compliance Board 

has acted to expose those whose payment 

practices fall outside of their obligations to 

treat suppliers fairly.” 

In October the Business Secretary Greg 

Clark announced that further reforms to 

the Prompt Payment Code were being 

considered, including whether the Small 

Business Commissioner should have a 

greater role in its administration as part of 

his wider role in tackling late payment. 

Philip King FCICM 

Chief Executive of the CICM 

“I take no satisfaction 

in having to name 

them publicly” 

THE INFAMOUS FIVE 

Five companies have been removed 

from the Code for non-compliance and 

not providing a plan for how they will 

meet the terms of the Code, but three of 

the five have since committed to make 

changes. 

BHP Billiton – a global resources 

business; 

DHL – a global logistics business; 

GKN Plc – a multinational aerospace 

and automotive components business; 

John Sisk & Son Limited – an 

international construction company; 

R. Twining and Company Limited – a 

purchaser and seller of tea, coffee and 

other beverages 


NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

Collections industry welcomes 

new ‘Fairness’ statement 

New top brass at IPA 

THE Insolvency Practitioners Association 

(IPA), the membership body and regulator 

for those specialising in insolvency practice, 

has appointed Carrie-Ann James as its 

new President for the coming year. Carrie 

will serve as a key representative of the 

association and Chair of its board of directors. 

A licensed insolvency practitioner, Fellow 

of the IPA and long-standing member of the 

IPA Council and Member Services Committee, 

Carrie has more than 20 years’ experience in 

corporate and personal insolvency, working 

for both large and small practices. 

Samantha Keen has been elected as the 

IPA’s next Deputy Vice-President and is 

expected to become President in April 2021. 

Samantha has worked in the restructuring 

field for over 25 years and is a serving 

member of Council. She will support the work 

of the President and Vice-President over the 

next two years. 

insolvency-practitioners.org.uk 

Duty of care 

THE Treasury Select Committee has proposed 

that banks should be subject to a legal duty to 

always act in customers’ best interests. The 

committee suggested that regulators clamp 

down on lenders following a long-running 

string of scandals that has seen banks pay 

out more than £30 billion to compensate 

consumers for mis-sold endowment 

mortgages, PPI and pensions. The committee 

also believes that banks should not be allowed 

to ignore communities when choosing to 

close branches or cash machines. 

parliament.uk 

Company Watch 

COMPANY Watch has launched its new 

scoring mechanism, TextScore for UK 

companies. While traditional scoring is 

based on financial figures contained within 

annual and interim financial reports for 

publicly listed and large private companies, 

Company Watch says it has looked at how the 

supporting text can also give a credit score. 

TextScore uses a natural language processing 

(NLP) approach to look specifically at the 

text in a company’s financial accounts to 

give another perspective on the company’s 

financial health. The scoring is calculated 

using advanced AI techniques to identify 

the patterns of words or phrases that may be 

indicative of financial distress. 

companywatch.net 

Crash Course 

ONGUARD has created a ten-part video 

crash course on best practices in credit 

management. The course, titled ‘Customer 

Centric order-to-cash’, shares tips and tricks 

for the everyday credit manager, collector and 

CFO to help them maintain strong customer 

relationships while also ensuring cashflow 

despite customer late payments. The course 

is suitable for all levels of experience. 

onguard.com 

THE debt collection industry 

has reacted positively to an 

announcement by the Government 

that seeks to bring a consistent 

approach to how people in debt are treated. 

The announcement, published on the 

Cabinet Office website in May, took the form 

of a joint statement between the Cabinet 

Office and the Fairness Group, a group 

comprising leaders from central and local 

government, the debt advice sector, and the 

debt collection industry. 

The principal aim of the group is said to 

be to continually improve how government 

interacts with people in debt, particularly 

those in vulnerable circumstances and/ 

or experiencing financial hardship. Peter 

Wallwork, Chief Executive of the Credit 

Services Association (CSA), said the 

Association was fully supportive of the need 

to apply new ‘Fairness Principles’ to the 

collection of all debts, in line with industry 

best-practice: “It not only reflects our own 

strategy of achieving a level playing field (i.e 

clear comparability between government 

and non-government debt) but will also 

enable the public sector to benefit from the 

best-practice experience and learnings 

of our own members,” he said. “It means 

the customer will be treated fairly and 

consistently across every part of the debt 

collection sector.” 

The statement lists how the Government 

will seek to understand the impact that 

debt collection practices can have and how 

to improve them, and implement a joint 

programme of work to further examine 

practices in central and local government 

debt management which support 

vulnerable people, and make evidencebased 

recommendations for change. 

Peter Tutton, Head of Policy at 

StepChange Debt Charity, said that it 

was heartening to see the Government’s 

commitment to bringing local and national 

government debt collection practices in line 

with industry best practice: “Government 

debt collection practice does not always 

The statement lists 

how the Government 

will seek to understand 

the impact that debt 

collection practices 

can have and how to 

improve them. 

match best practice, so this commitment 

from Government is a significant stepping 

stone to matching standards of fairness we 

see elsewhere.” 

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens 

Advice, added: “Unfair and aggressive 

debt collection has a serious impact on 

those in financial difficulty. We’re pleased 

government is looking to improve these 

practices and collaborate more with the 

money advice sector.” 

Mr Wallwork sounded a note of caution: 

“The challenge now will be whether the 

government will be able to put into practice 

its well-stated intentions,” he continued. 

“The CSA will continue to work with other 

members of the Group to help government 

achieve a successful outcome.” 

Kevin Foster, Minister for the 

Constitution, concluded: “The Cabinet Office 

plays a vital role in setting the strategy to 

ensure those who can pay their debts do 

so on time, whilst providing proportionate 

support to those who need it.” 

The Government’s Fairness Principles, 

developed with the debt advice sector, 

are aligned to FCA guidelines on Treating 

Customers Fairly. The Fairness Group was 

developed through cross-government 

collaboration with Citizens Advice, 

StepChange, Money Advice Trust, The 

Money and Pensions Service, the CSA, 

PayPlan and Indesser. 


SMEs get the cold shoulder 

A report published by Oxford Economics 

has found that a decade after the financial 

crisis, bank lending to small businesses 

has failed to recover significantly. 

The ‘Big Business of Small Business’ 

report, launched in partnership with 

Funding Circle, finds that small business 

lending makes up a tiny proportion of 

banks’ overall balance sheets. In the UK, 

small business lending accounts for only 

two percent of banks’ balance sheets, and 

this figure is even less in countries such as 

the US (0.7 percent) and the Netherlands 

(0.6 percent). 

Despite the vast economic output 

generated by SMEs, who are responsible 

for 60 percent of all jobs in industrialised 

countries and 50-60 percent of GDP, banks 

are continuing to focus on loans to larger 

firms. Since 2015 in the UK, lending to 

large firms has increased by 43 percent 

since 2015, whilst during the same period 

lending to SMEs has decreased by three 

percent. 

The report also reveals that when small 

businesses can access finance from 

their bank, it is typically on worse terms 

than those received by larger businesses, 

both in cost and the terms associated with 

the loans. This is a trend seen across the 

UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands. 

This ongoing stagnation in bank 

lending to SMEs is in stark contrast to the 

continued rapid expansion in SME activity. 

In the UK, the report states that the total 

number of SMEs has increased by over 

260,000 since 2015, and separate studies 

found that the number of small Dutch firms 

has grown by 4.5 percent since 2007 and 

240,000 more SMEs were established in 

the US in 2016. In Germany, the number of 

people employed by SMEs has increased by 

22 percent since 2008. 

Bank net lending to UK small businesses 

has fallen significantly, totalling £518 

million in 2018 compared with an average 

of £2 billion previous three years. 

oxfordeconomics.com 

STEP BY STEP 

KATHERINE Gilmour has won the StepChange Money and Debt Advice Prize. After 

graduating with a degree in psychology, she has worked for not-for-profit and charitable 

organisations in Birmingham helping vulnerable people to better manage their health 

conditions and finances. She studied for the CICM Money and Debt Advice Diploma 

while working in her current role as a Debt Advisor (DRO intermediary) for StepChange 

Debt Charity and achieved the highest marks in 2018. Pictured are CICM Chair of 

Education Committee Jane Abramson presenting Katherine with her prize at StepChange 

Headquarters in Leeds. 

stepchange.org 

Rising insolvencies lead to call 

for better regulation 

A continued rise in personal insolvencies 

has led to calls for more stringent 

regulation of consumer debt. 

New figures from the Office for National 

Statistics (ONS) have revealed that in the 

first quarter of 2019, the number of personal 

insolvencies had grown by 16 percent 

year-on-year, while Individual Voluntary 

Arrangements (IVAs) rose by 24 percent 

over the same period. 

In the first quarter of the year, personal 

insolvencies exceeded 30,000 for the 

first time since 2011, and recorded the 

highest first-quarter total since 2010. 

Credit card debt and consumer credit 

have been blamed for the rise in personal 

insolvencies, although economic 

stagnation and the problematic roll-out of 

Universal Credit have also been named as 

driving factors. 

Richard Haymes, Financial Difficulties 

Expert at Equifax, believes debt is a 

wider issue that goes beyond regulatory 

bodies, charities and government: “Every 

facet of society must also burden some 

responsibility,” he says. 

“We urge individuals struggling with 

debt repayments to talk to their creditors 

as soon as possible, and compel creditors 

of all types to use data-driven methods 

to identify customers at risk of financial 

difficulties and support them in accessing 

high quality advice.” ons.gov.uk 

See David Kerr’s article on page 14. 

>NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

FCA calls for input 

on debt advice 

THE Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) 

has launched a Call for Input asking for 

feedback on its proposed approach to 

reviewing the Retail Distribution Review 

(RDR) and the Financial Advice Market 

Review (FAMR). 

The FCA’s review will consider whether 

these initiatives have been successful 

in achieving their objectives. The review 

will look at what consumers want from 

the market and how the market works to 

deliver this. It will also consider how new 

market trends and developments might 

affect the future development of advice 

and guidance services. 

Christopher Woolard, Executive Director 

of Strategy and Competition at the FCA 

says millions of people look for help and 

support in making financial decisions 

every year: “The aim of the RDR and FAMR 

was to help the market develop the right 

advice or guidance services consumers 

need to make those decisions. 

"Consumers and the market are 

changing rapidly, as technology, 

employment patterns and intergenerational 

challenges change the 

way consumers interact with financial 

services. As well as looking at how the 

market has evolved since RDR and FAMR, 

it’s important that our work looks ahead 

to see how we ensure that this important 

sector works well in the future. 

"We want the market to deliver a range 

of good quality, affordable advice and 

guidance services that meet consumer 

needs." 

The FCA is seeking initial feedback to 

the Call for Input by 3 June 2019. The FCA 

will hold several stakeholder events and 

collect further data through consumer 

research and surveying a sample of firms. 

It intends to publish its final report in 

2020. fca.org.uk 

CICM Essentials 

RECENT briefings include details of how to 

book for the CICM Learning Conference on 

20 June, the latest Virtual Classes running 

throughout June, the CICM AGM, and the 

Fellows’ lunch. 


NEWS SPECIAL 

Stepping Out 

The Prompt Payment Code has taken another 

Client: Gravity PR Coverage Yellow News 

significant step on a potentially very long journey. 

Source: News & Star 

Date: 01/05/2019 

Page: 16 

Reach: 1753 

Value: 1028.08 

AUTHOR – Philip King FCICM 


Chief Executive of the CICM 

LAST month the CICM 

announced the suspension 

of 17 signatories from the 

Prompt Payment Code which 

the Institute administers 

for The Department for 

Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 

(BEIS). As one might have expected, it 

has generated a significant amount of 

media interest, particularly across trade 

publications and websites in sectors that 

are prominent in the 17 organisations. 

Historically, the CICM and the PPC 

Compliance Board have had to face 

heavy and prolonged criticism about the 

Code, and the volume of criticism has 

intensified in recent months. Many have 

said that the Code lacked teeth, or that 

it was not as effective as it might be. Our 

response to those criticisms has always 

been consistent over several years: action 

can only be taken when there is evidence 

of poor practice, and that evidence has 

only been available from suppliers or 

business organisations willing to raise a 

challenge. 

Despite repeated calls and commentary 

from our side, only one trade body or 

business organisation has ever raised a 

challenge, even though they are the ones 

best placed to do so because they don’t 

have the accompanying commercial risk. 

While they have been quick to criticise, 

they have been commensurately slow to 

actually do anything about it; carping from 

the sidelines is clearly much easier and 

helps secure column inches. Ironically, 

however, it does little or nothing to help 

those members they represent. 

Some suppliers, however, have 

chosen to raise a challenge themselves. 

Where they have done so, the Code has 

achieved significant success including 

the generation of payments totalling over 

£3m since 2014. The Code has also led 

to changes to company processes and 

procedures, modifications to contractual 

terms, mediation where views are at 

different ends of the spectrum, and 

education of both buyers and sellers 

in how to improve their trading 

relationship and employ sound credit 

management. 

Leaving this issue to one side for a 

moment, one might ask – quite reasonably 

– why we appear to be suddenly ‘naming 

and shaming’ companies whose 

names have been removed from the 

Code. Companies have been removed 

historically, but never named publicly, so 

what has changed? 

DUTY TO REPORT 

To answer that, we need to go back to 

The Small Business, Enterprise and 

Employment Act of 2015. In it, Matt 

Hancock, the then Small Business 

Minister, introduced a requirement that 

large businesses should publicly report 

on their Payment Practices behaviour. 

The requirement was brought into force 

by the Regulations that came into effect 

in April 2017 and the process (sometimes 

referred to colloquially as ‘Duty to Report’ 

but more formally known as Payment 

Practices Reporting) is now established. 

The first reports were submitted towards 

the end of 2017 and we are now at a point 

where all large businesses should have 

published their payment performance. If 

they haven’t, a criminal offence is being 

committed and they need +44 to (0) 20 be 7264 brought 4700 to 

services@kantarmedia.com 

book. 

www.kantarmedia.com 

Where the reported payment record is at 

variance with the commitments they have 

voluntarily made (i.e by being a signatory 

to the Code), we now have a published 

reference point from which we can make a 

judgement, without a Challenge having to 

be raised. We can decide that their names 

should be removed from the Code unless, 

and until, they report compliance. This is 

why 17 have been named as suspended, 

and more names are likely to follow in the 

weeks and months ahead. 

There have been some hefty responses 

but the action has been taken based on 

those companies’ own data. The fact that 

there might be other equally culpable 

organisations yet to be named in the same 

way is no excuse. Some PR companies 

from the respective firms have asked 

‘why us and not so and so.’ That is a false 

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We’ve updated our comments. 

Tap here to see more 

 

NEWS SPECIAL 

AUTHOR – Philip King FCICM 

Larger companies ‘are ignoring rules’ 

over paying their bills 

James Hurley, Enterprise Editor 

April 29 2019, 12:01am, The Times 

DHL, the transport specialist, is among the companies to have been “named and shamed” 

over its payment practices 

ALAMY 

 

and disingenuous argument. It is like 

Share 

Save 

complaining about a parking or speeding 

PREVIOUS ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE 

fine because others have committed the 

same offence and not been caught. 

Is the Payment Practices reporting 

perfect? No, far from it. There are certainly 

examples of businesses that are required 

to report but have as yet failed to do. 

There is also legitimate confusion in 

some cases about what exactly has to be 

reported, and how, and there are inevitably 

inconsistencies in the data reported so 

we might on occasions be comparing 

apples with pears, and more clarity is 

required. But – and it’s a big but – the 

introduction of reporting is a major step 

forward and has enabled the Prompt 

Payment Code to look proactively at 

what businesses are saying about their 

own performance. The PPC Board did 

not previously have either the resources 

or the remit to investigate poor payment 

behaviour, at least without a Challenge 

having been raised. Now that has 

changed, although resource still remains 

a major issue. 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/business/larger-companies-are-ignoring-rules-over-paying-their-bills-lf7sdsrfw 1/5 

POSITIVE FOCUS 

But let’s focus on the positives, and let us 

remind ourselves – and remind the more 

vocal commentators – about what the 

Code is actually intended to achieve. It is 

designed to change payment behaviour, 

 

and to that end, I am delighted to report 

that many of the named organisations 

have submitted, or are preparing to 

submit, an action plan setting out how 

they will become compliant and thus 

be reinstated to the Code. Our principal 

aspiration in removing signatories from 

the Code is to see payment practice 

improve in the interests of business and 

the economy. 

Signatories clearly see a benefit in 

being on the Code; they see the damage 

that can be done by being removed from 

it. For this reason, if nothing else, this 

shows that the Code is working. 

I’ve always said there is no silver 

bullet to resolving late payment. What is 

required is a change in culture through 

the use of all the tools at our disposal until 

we get to the point where paying late is 

considered unprofessional, irresponsible 

and unacceptable. The PPC is one such 

tool. 

We’ve made another big step in that 

journey, and the CICM is pleased and 

proud to be playing its part. 

Philip King FCICM, Chief Executive 

of the Chartered Institute of Credit 

Management. 

Our principal aspiration 

in removing signatories 

from the Code is to 

see payment practice 

improve in the interests 

of business and the 

economy. 


Auditors blamed for 

Carillion's collapse 

A 

survey 

of the supply chain conducted by 

public sector procurement specialists 

Scape Group has found that more than 

nine out of ten (93 percent) of suppliers 

think the relationship between Carillion and 

KPMG enabled the outsourcer’s true financial 

position to be concealed. 

Over half of suppliers polled think the 

accounting policies at Carillion were ‘not 

discharged in good faith’ and that the 

subsequent collapse was ‘facilitated by poor 

management.’ Some 64 percent of suppliers 

believe that Carillion’s downfall was due to ‘debt 

mismanagement, acquisitions and long payment 

terms, created by a focus on revenue rather than 

profit.’ 

The survey also claims the construction 

industry would ‘support a shake-up of the ‘big four’ 

accounting firms, with 57 percent of suppliers 

polled saying they thought this was required.’ 

The devastating collapse of Carillion in 2018 put 

thousands of jobs and the supply chain at risk, led 

to substantial financial losses, and brought into 

question the model of public outsourcing. Mark 

Robinson, Scape Chief Executive, says its research 

suggests that mismanagement, rising debt and the 

active concealing of the true extent of Carillion’s 

debt were to blame, not the outsourcing model 

itself: “We need to be able to have faith in company 

accounts and the work auditors are carrying 

out, especially when public sector contracts and 

people’s livelihoods are at risk. 

“We found that the supply chain were not 

comfortable with the relationship between 

Carillion and KPMG, and that a reform of the ‘big 

four’ auditing firms would bring comfort to the 

construction industry that failures like this will 

not be repeated. Greater oversight and closer 

management of auditing practices are needed 

to rebuild trust in the industry, but we also need 

to make sure we are putting in place sensible 

reforms that do not put increased cost pressures 

on an industry that is already contending with the 

cost of materials and reduced access to labour. 

“Given that SMEs are the lifeblood of the 

economy, the sustained growth and prosperity of 

local businesses should be a key priority for the 

public sector.” 

Elsewhere, a survey of 11,000 people in 11 

countries around the world by the Association 

of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) 

suggests that auditors should be doing more to 

prevent company failures. More than half of those 

questioned also believe auditors are responsible 

for avoiding company failures. 

scapegroup.co.uk 

>NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

Vulnerability requires 

constant focus 

THE Money Advice Trust has welcomed the 

Treasury Select Committee’s wide-ranging 

report into consumers’ access to financial 

services. 

Joanna Elson OBE, Chief Executive 

of the Money Advice Trust says it is 

particularly pleased to see the Treasury 

Select Committee’s strong support for 

the vulnerability agenda: “This includes 

recommending that the FCA sets clear 

expectations for firms in its forthcoming 

guidance, and highlighting the central 

importance of training for financial services 

staff. 

“As the report notes, demand for the 

Money Advice Trust’s vulnerability training 

is increasing significantly – and we have 

now worked with more than 220 creditors to 

train more than 19,000 staff. “However, the 

Committee is right to highlight that progress 

has not been uniform – and as our collective 

understanding of vulnerability improves, 

this is an issue that requires a constant focus 

from firms of all sizes. 

"The FCA's forthcoming guidance is a 

good opportunity to renew momentum on 

vulnerability across the industry. We look 

forward to working with the FCA and with 

firms to continue to improve in this crucial 

area." moneyadvicetrust.org 

Brits live beyond their means 

MORE than a quarter (28 percent) of 

British adults ran a ‘deficit budget’ in the 

past month, spending more during the 

month than they received in income, 

according to new research from R3. 

One in six British adults (17 percent) 

spent up to £100 more than they received 

in income over the past month; seven 

percent spent between £100 to £300 more; 

and three percent spent over £300 more. 

R3’s research follows statistics from the 

ONS which show that households have 

been in a budget deficit for a record nine 

consecutive quarters (Oct 2016-Dec 2018), 

while the average UK household spent 

£900 more than it received in income in 

2017. 

Nearly a quarter (22 percent) of 

respondents to R3’s research said they do 

not have any savings at all at the moment, 

showing that levels of financial resilience 

are low for many people. 

Those aged 25-34 years were likeliest 

of all age groups to report spending more 

than they received in monthly income (43 

percent). By contrast, the corresponding 

figure for those 65+ was only 12 percent. 

People’s housing situation also made a 

difference: A third of renters (35 percent) 

said in the past month they spent more 

than they received in monthly income, 

compared to a quarter of homeowners (24 

percent). Renters (24 percent) were more 

likely than homeowners (14 percent) to 

have overspent by up to £100 in the last 

month. For amounts between £100 to £300 

(eight percent of renters v six percent of 

homeowners) and over £300 (renters three 

percent versus homeowners four percent), 

respondents’ housing situation made 

relatively little difference. 

The research found that seven percent 

of British adults reported that they have 

borrowed £100 or more from family or 

friends in the last month. r3.org.uk 


NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

“Given that 

SMEs are the 

lifeblood of 

the economy, 

the sustained 

growth and 

prosperity 

of local 

businesses 

should be a 

key priority 

for the public 

sector.” 

Stephen Allinson MCICM joins Apex 

APEX Litigation Finance has appointed 

Stephen Allinson MCICM, Chairman of 

the Board of The Insolvency Service, 

as a company adviser and to sit on its 

investment committee. 

Stephen is a Solicitor and Licensed 

Insolvency Practitioner, and has specialised 

in credit, debt and insolvency work since 

1987. Stephen was appointed Chairman 

of the Board of The Insolvency Service in 

January 2017 and is also the Chairman of 

the Joint Insolvency Examination Board 

(JIEB), the Deputy Independent Examiner 

for the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries 

and a Visiting Lecturer on business and 

commercial law at the University of Law. 

In addition, he serves as a member 

of both the Chartered Institute of Legal 

Executives Qualifications Committee and 

the Legal and Technical Committee of the 

Civil Court Users Association, and as a 

Director of The Money Charity. 

Apex Litigation Finance, which launched 

in April 2019, will work with leading 

law firms, insolvency practitioners and 

corporates to fund small to medium sized 

claims. Apex has partnered with legal 

AI specialist CourtQuant which provides 

risk assessment tools to analyse probable 

litigation outcomes. 

Stephen Allinson says litigation 

funding has a crucial role to play in the 

development of the insolvency profession: 

“I am thrilled to work with committed and 

innovative colleagues at Apex as we seek 

to bring a new approach to this fast-moving 

area for the benefit of both practitioners 

and creditors.” apexlitigation.com 

Numbers up 

ACCORDING to the National Numeracy 

Day campaign, around half the UK’s 

adults have poor numeracy skills, yet 

evidence suggests becoming a ‘numbers 

person’ can help save money and make 

money – and it’s ‘never too late to learn’. 

StepChange Debt Charity says it is 

contacted by over 2,000 new clients a 

day, implying that around 1,000 people 

every day could benefit from numeracy 

skills to help them as they seek to 

manage their debt problems. 

Low levels of numeracy skills are 

estimated to cost the UK economy over 

£20 billion a year. 

stepchange.org 

Strong arm 

JCB’s finance arm has revealed that 

total lending to help hirers and 

contractors buy machines has hit an 

all-time high. As demand soars for new 

plant total lending has broken through 

the £1 billion barrier. JCB Finance says it 

has facilitated the purchase of more than 

250,000 machines over the past 49 

years, lending more than £13 billion to 

UK businesses to help them grow and 

invest. 

jcb-finance.co.uk 

Bridge programmes 

CROWD2FUND has been named as 

one of 10 UK firms to benefit from 

two new fintech bridge programmes 

with Hong Kong and Australia. The 

Department for International Trade 

(DIT) and the Treasury said that the pilot 

programmes will help to bolster existing 

frameworks and build on previous 

fintech bridge agreements signed with 

China, Singapore and South Korea. The 

programmes will involve collaboration 

between the various governments and 

their regulatory bodies, as part of their 

remit to improve trade and innovation 

across borders. According to the DTI, 

Australia and Hong Kong have almost 

1,000 active fintech companies between 

them. crowd2fund.com 

Boom time for bars 

THE hot Easter weekend delivered starkly 

different outcomes for Britain’s managed 

pub and restaurant groups, according to 

latest figures from the Coffer Peach Business 

Tracker. While pub sales surged in the 

sunshine, restaurants struggled in the heat. 

Pub and bar chains reported collective 

like-for-like sales up 5.3 percent for the fourday 

break compared to Easter 2018, with 

drink-led pubs up 10.9 percent as the public 

headed outdoors. 

However, the overall eating and drinkingout 

market was actually down 3.6 percent 

over the four-day weekend, as in stark 

contrast to pubs restaurant chains saw 

collective like-for-like sales tumble a 

massive 18.6 per cent against last Easter’s 

trading. 

Regionally, London saw a fall in like-forlike 

trading, down 0.7 percent on last April, 

while outside the M25 was up 1.7 percent on 

a like-for-like basis for the month. cga.co.uk 


NEWS SPECIAL 

Onward and upward 

Are rising numbers of IVAs a 

cause for celebration? 

AUTHOR – David Kerr FCICM 

David Kerr FCICM 

THE latest insolvency statistics 

produced by The Insolvency 

Service could be read one 

of two ways, depending 

on whether you applaud a 

voluntary, market-driven 

solution to the UK’s personal debt problem, 

or see it as a regulatory nightmare with the 

potential to threaten the very existence 

of the present model of self-regulation 

governing the insolvency profession. 

If that sounds too grand a statement, 

then consider this – against a background 

of GDP growth, the number of Individual 

Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) is at its 

highest since the procedure was first 

introduced into English law in 1986/7. True, 

the first quarter of the year saw a slight 

drop on the peak at the end of 2018, but the 

overall trend is upward and has been for 

the last four years. 

The Government statistics do not quite 

tell the full picture, because they don’t 

register debt management plans and other 

informal solutions, but of the 31,000 people 

who sought a formal debt solution in the 

quarter to 31 March 2019, two thirds (20,000) 

entered into an IVA. Of the remainder, just 

4,000 went into bankruptcy (mainly on their 

own petitions/applications), with 7,000 

instead seeking a Debt Relief Order (DRO) 

(available to those with no or low assets and 

under £20,000 of debts). 

CREDITOR HAT 

From a creditor perspective this could 

be considered relatively good news. The 

prospects of recovery from those in DROs 

is nil, and from those in bankruptcy 

negligible. So at least the majority are 

subjecting themselves to a process which is 

designed to return some value to creditors, 

albeit over five years typically. And the Q1 

stats show an increase of 23 percent on the 

IVA take-up, compared to the same quarter 

last year. 

So where is the problem? Well, the IVA 

market is led by a handful of entrepreneurial 

operators whose business models depend 

on high volumes of low-maintenance cases 

derived from leads generated by sometimes 

unregulated finders. Some complain that 

they push IVAs at the expense of more 

suitable (for the debtor) alternatives, and 

that the regulated insolvency practitioners 

at the helm of these cases are unable to 

effectively control their cases because of 

the sheer volumes and in some instances 

their lack of influence in the enterprises 

running the caseload. 

Whether those criticisms are fully 

justified or not is almost secondary to 

the fact that the rationalisation of the 

IVA market is such that there is now a 

concentration of this work in a handful of 

‘firms’, and their influence over the sector is 

being questioned. A failure of one of these 

corporate entities, through commercial or 

regulatory pressures or a combination of 

the two, would cause a real headache for 

regulators at a time when The Insolvency 

Service is reviewing the effectiveness of the 

regulation regime run by the professional 

bodies. 

GOOD NEWS 

So, for the moment, creditors might quietly 

rejoice at news that: 

i) for one reason or another most 

insolvent individuals seem content to 

make monthly contributions towards their 

liabilities; 

ii) the banks are actively exercising their 

rights to vote and supress fees and other 

costs (with more success on the former 

than the latter); and 

iii) regulators are looking for new ways 

to keep pace with innovations in the sector, 

so as to make sure those operating in it can 

be held to account when things go wrong. 

But the returns that IVAs can produce 

for creditors might be under threat; the 

number of cases is increasing, but the 

present balance between low cost for 

creditors and financial sustainability for 

operators is a fragile one. Fixed fees may 

be part of the solution, though as one 

operator commented, it’s ‘‘still developing 

and therefore not yet possible to say how 

successful it will be at stabilising the volume 

market providers.’’ The balance may have 

to be reassessed if we want to see viable 

providers working to the highest standards 

and continuing to produce insolvency 

outcomes that serve both debtors and 

creditors. 

David Kerr is an insolvency practitioner 

with extensive regulatory experience 

and a member of the CICM Technical 

Committee. 


INSOLVENCY 

Keeping the balance 

The need for careful implementation of the new 

HMRC preferential creditor regulation. 

AUTHOR – Michelle Thorp 

Michelle Thorp 

MANY readers may 

be aware of HMRC’s 

plans to restore its 

pre-Enterprise Act 

2002 status as a 

preferential creditor 

in insolvencies, unexpectedly announced 

in the Chancellor’s 2018 Budget. 

Specifically, HMRC will become a 

secondary preferential creditor, meaning 

that secured creditors with fixed charges 

will be unaffected, for example banks and 

other asset-based lenders. The other group 

not affected are ordinary preferential 

creditors such as employees entitled to 

statutory payments including wages and 

holiday pay. These groups will all be above 

HMRC in the hierarchy, as will the costs of 

insolvency. 

Those below HMRC will be affected, 

in particular secured creditors with 

a floating charge, groups including 

suppliers, contractors and customers 

that have paid a deposit (non-preferential 

unsecured creditors) and shareholders. 

The new measure would see HMRC hold 

more statutory rights for the repayment of 

PAYE, VAT, CIS and employee NIC. 

Taxes such as income tax, capital gains 

tax, corporation tax and employer NI 

contributions, i.e. those directly assessed 

on the individual or business, remain 

unchanged, as will HMRC’s status as a 

non-preferential unsecured creditor for 

these taxes. 

HMRC has also set out that employee 

debts will be separated from employer 

debts. 

The plans are due to come into effect 

on 6 April 2020. At the time of this 

article’s publishing, the IPA will have 

just submitted its responses to HMRC’s 

questions on the proposal, after working 

through them with its Standards, Ethics 

and Regulatory Liaison (SERL) Committee. 

MODERN FINANCIAL LANDSCAPE 

The government’s thinking behind the 

new measure is to recover more of the 

taxes it argues have already been collected 

on HMRC’s behalf, rather than the funds 

going to other creditors. 

At one time, UK banks were the country’s 

biggest lenders, though over the years 

things have changed due to the growth 

of asset-based finance and secondary 

lenders. In its consultation document, 

HMRC gives some interesting projections 

on tax revenue that could be recovered 

under the scheme. In the financial year 

leading up to implementation, income 

from insolvencies is listed as £5 million. 

In the following initial year under the 

scheme, this could rise sharply to £60 

million, before peaking two years later 

at £185 million and decreasing slightly to 

£175 million in 2023/24. 

Comparing the maximum forecast 

given of £185 million to the £57 billion 

lent by banks to small and medium 

enterprises (SMEs) in the 12 months to 

July 2018, HMRC doesn’t expect the new 

regulation to have any real impact on 

lending. It reports that this is due to the 

proportionately miniscule amount of debt 

that would be no longer recoverable. 

PROTECTING BUSINESS 

There is a concern that these figures may 

well turn out to have understated the 

change. 

The measure of £57 billion cited in the 

proposal is the total lent to SMEs, rather 

than to those SMEs that become insolvent 

– therefore not reflecting the impact on 

the risk of loans to such enterprises. 

Furthermore, floating charge holders, 

ranking as creditors behind HMRC 

under the proposed new regime, may 

face a disincentive to lend to distressed 

businesses – with the knock-on effect of 

reducing the possibility for trading under 

administration and Company Voluntary 

Arrangements (CVAs). 

The Federation of Small Businesses 

(FSB) reports that SMEs, at the start of 

2018, accounted for 99.9 percent of all 

private sector businesses and claimed 

52 percent of all private sector turnover 

and 60 percent of the UK’s private sector 

employment. 

The potential increased risk to UK 

business under the new rules can look, 

from this perspective, rather stark. 

To mitigate this risk, there could be a 

time limit placed on debts payable to 

HMRC in order to stop excessive funds 

being redistributed away from floating 

charge creditors and ordinary unsecured 

creditors. History serves us well here, 

as the new proposal is a departure from 

the precedent of time limits imposed 

on preferential creditors before the 

implementation of the 2002 Enterprise 

Act. And of course, if significant sums 

are involved in insolvency proceedings, 

there would be implications if unsecured 

creditors face no return at all. 

DEVIL IN THE DETAIL 

The need for us to work through the finer 

details doesn’t rest here when you consider 

the possibility of successive insolvency 

proceedings taking place either side 

of the proposed implementation date. 

We’ve requested both clarification of 

the categories of preferential debt in 

this scenario and an implementation 

timetable. The transitional arrangements 

need to be clear to minimise any 

market distortion as floating charge and 

unsecured creditors press for formal 

insolvency to happen before the new class 

of preferential creditors comes into effect. 

Government will soon be considering 

all responses to the consultation and then 

progress to detailed policy design and 

an implementation framework. Though 

it’s been made clear that a shift to a 

significantly different proposal is not part 

of the consultation. 

It is possible to appreciate, when you 

think about the overall benefit to the 

public purse, why HMRC has gone for 

the change, though we need to make 

certain of the implementation details 

and timetable, and, avoid unreasonably 

prejudicing other creditors. 

Michelle Thorp is CEO, Insolvency 

Practitioners Association. 


CICMQ 

A refreshing approach 

to credit management 

THE Credit Management 

team at Britvic Soft 

Drinks Ltd has delivered 

outstanding results 

to achieve CICMQ 

accreditation. 

Most of the team have only been 

with the company for under two years, 

some for less and have replaced a 

vastly experienced group of credit 

controllers. 

“The CICMQ Workshop approach 

was the ideal opportunity to build 

the team and start to transform 

the department,” says Ciaran 

Grace MCICM, Sales Operations 

Manager at Britvic, who initiated the 

accreditation. “Giving individuals 

team leader responsibilities boosted 

confidence and had a big impact.” 

“We now have 60 percent of our team 

studying with the CICM and we have 

plans to introduce individual study 

paths for all new starters.” 

Sharon Adams FCICM, CICMQ 

Assessor, says Britvic delivered 

outstanding results: “The Credit 

Management team at Britvic made a 

huge success of the CICMQ Workshop 

approach. They are a highly motivated 

team, who displayed camaraderie 

throughout to achieve the same goal.” 

“The results are more meaningful 

when considering that Ryan Kerr 

ACICM helped lead the process 

at Team Leader level. Such 

transformations are usually performed 

at a more senior level.” 

Britvic Soft Drinks Ltd is one of 

the leading branded soft drinks 

businesses in Europe and South 

America, operating in and exporting 

to over 50 countries. The Credit 

Management Team is made up 

of ten credit controllers and the 

organisation’s most recent financial 

statement reported a turnover of 

£1,503.6 million. 

TOP 50 UK law firm Weightmans has 

achieved CICMQ re-accreditation, 

demonstrating that the firm continues 

to meet ‘Best Practice’ in Credit 

Management. 

The recently restructured Credit 

Control team at Weightmans is now 

made up of 21 people – more than 

twice the team size that last achieved 

accreditation in 2016. Pete Taggart 

AB Agri 

Adecco 

Adler and Allan Ltd 

Aggregate Industries 

Aimia Foods Ltd 

Allied Bakeries 

Amey 

Anixter Ltd 

Ascent Performance Group Ltd (Collections) 

Avnet Technology Solutions Ltd 

Britvic 

EDF Energy – I&C Revenue Management 

Equinix 

Ford Retail Ltd 

Gazprom Energy 

Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited 

Health and Social Care Online (HSCNI) 

Hilti (GB) Ltd 

Postitive verdict for law firm 

and Jane Morrey have been promoted 

to Commercial and Insurance Credit 

Managers for their respective 

divisions. 

Bob Granger, Finance Director at 

Weightmans, says: “It’s very important 

for us to know that we are still utilising 

best practice in light of the many 

changes within the Credit Control 

team. During the last few years we 

CICMQ ACCREDITED COMPANIES 

HSBC Invoice Finance (UK) Ltd 

ID Medical (Milton Keynes) 

Impellam UK Limited 

Imperial College London 

John Lewis Partnership 

Kier Group PlC 

Local World Ltd 

Marshalls Group Plc 

Marston’s Brewery 

Matthew Clark Wholesale Limited 

Moreton Smith 

NHS Blood and Transplant 

npower Industrial & Commercial 

Omnicom Media Group 

Pearson UK Shared Services 

Partnership Services, John Lewis plc 

QA Ltd 

Roche Diabetes Care Limited 

obtained buy-in from the stakeholders, 

which has enabled a new, more 

collaborative working approach right 

across the business. 

“We’re focused on the improvement 

and development of our people, and 

have recently registered 11 affiliate 

members from within the team, plus, 

encouraging ongoing professional 

development” 

Royal Mail Group Ltd 

RS Components Ltd 

Shell International Downstream Credit Management 

Siemens Plc – CIT/GSS UK Credit Services 

SIG Trading Ltd (SIG Distribution) 

Silver Spoon Company 

Sony DADC UK Ltd (UK Operations) 

Synseal Extrusions Ltd 

Tata Global Beverages GB Ltd 

The Credit Centre Ltd (Amari Metals) 

Travis Perkins plc 

United Utilities 

Veolia Environmental Services UK Plc 

Weightmans 

Worldline IT Services UK LTD 

Xoserve Limited 


presents 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

www.ddisoftware.co.uk 

sales@ddisoftware.co.uk 


OPINION 

Herd Mentality 

The issue of future funding of debt advice is an 

elephant that refuses to leave the room. 

Peter Wallwork 

AUTHOR – Peter Wallwork MCICM 

I 

was surprised and disappointed 

recently to read that Sir Hector 

Sants, the Chairman of the Money 

and Pensions Service (MaPS – 

formerly the Single Financial 

Guidance Body), is suggesting 

that the Financial Services community 

should be ploughing even more money 

into the debt advice sector. 

Surprised because the FS community 

already contributes vast sums (almost £60 

million) into funding debt advice, and 

disappointed because as yet nobody has 

even attempted to address the very real 

concerns and questions the CSA and its 

members have raised in relation to how 

the funding is currently being spent. 

Neither have they answered whether even 

the current levels of funding are fairly 

contributed and efficiently managed. 

Mr Sants, in his interview, said that 

the FS sector needed to spend more 

money on what he called ‘prevention’, 

and equipping individuals to become 

financially empowered. He said there 

needed to be a strategic shift in the 

balance of engagement from remediation 

to prevention. Making this shift would 

give better outcomes to consumers, and 

enable a ‘high quality dialogue’ between 

the consumer and the advisor. 

Looking at the comment trail that 

followed the online piece, Sir Hector’s 

proposals have not been particularly well 

received. To suggest that ‘remediation’ 

and ‘prevention’ are interchangeable is 

stretching the argument. His proposal, 

as one commentator recently put it, is 

akin to suggesting that greengrocers 

should pay for people to be educated 

about the benefits of fresh fruit and veg, 

or that car manufacturers should pay for 

driving lessons because cars are rather 

complicated things! 

But all of this again comes back to the 

fundamental point. There is still a clear 

lack of transparency and data regarding 

the current funding channels and sources. 

It is why finding a solution is proving 

such a challenge. We are agreed that any 

future funding contributions should be 

fair, equitable and transparent, but any 

future thinking must remember that it is 

not only financial services businesses that 

‘benefit’ from debt advice and informal 

debt repayment plans. 

We need to address this tired and 

rather elderly elephant in the room, 

as he has been there for some time and 

should have been dealt with long ago. 

There are clearly firms and organisations 

that benefit from debt advice, but who 

currently contribute nothing towards it. 

They may contribute in other ways, but 

without data, we have no way of knowing. 

Without transparency on who contributes 

currently, the industry ends up blaming 

one another and pointing fingers. 

The CSA is continuing to make 

representations to MaPS, and has already 

completed much positive work with the 

advice sector who principally agree with 

our concerns around transparency and 

efficiency. The CSA also has a positive 

dialogue with the Chief Executive of 

MaPS, John Govetts, to challenge MaPS 

position on asking for more money before 

addressing our genuine and well-reasoned 

concerns. 

Mr Govetts has suggested that the CSA 

should propose what a future funding 

model should look like, and it will use 

its Buyers Forum (on June 5) to gauge its 

buyers members’ opinions prior to further 

discussions planned with MaPS shortly 

after. But this could be a case of the cart 

before the horse. How can you get to the 

bottom of what a good funding model 

looks like if we don’t have the answers to 

our original set of questions? If we don’t 

have transparency, and if the funding 

burden is not fairly distributed, then why 

should members accept that they have to 

pay more? 

On this issue, as well as the issue of 

future fees, we are led to believe that the 

authorities/regulators are in listening 

mode. Let us hope that is the case, for 

if we are expected to ‘fit the bill’ on any 

future budget that MaPS decides to set, 

then we should have an input into what 

that budget may look like. 

But with an impression that fees 

are already on the rise, and the mood 

music from Sir Hector in relation to 

future funding, we might well have to be 

shouting very loud to be heard. 

Peter Wallwork MCICM is Chief Executive 

of the Credit Services Association (CSA). 


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OPINION 

CUSTOM 

MADE 

Access to HMRC data for CRAs will enable 

better credit decisions. 

AUTHOR – Tim Vine 

THE latest statistics 

from the Federation of 

Small Businesses confirm 

that small and medium 

enterprises (SMEs) make up 

99.9 percent of all private 

sector businesses in the UK. SMEs form 

the backbone of our economy and play an 

essential role in the growth of the UK going 

forward. 

Back in 2013, the Government published 

a consultation paper showing that the four 

largest banks held an 85 percent share of 

the SME lending market. This document 

highlighted the need for increased 

competition to support the best interests 

of the market. 

In 2015, the Government launched 

the Small Business, Enterprise and 

Employment (SBEE) Act that was 

dedicated to supporting the growth of 

small businesses, increasing exports and 

encouraging innovation. 

INCREASING COMPETITION 

Funding and investment are vital for 

growth, and one of the aims of the new 

bill was to improve access to finance for 

SMEs by encouraging greater competition 

in banking to address the imbalance in 

the market. Key to this objective was 

ensuring that alternative providers and 

challenger banks were better able to 

assess the credit risk of SMEs. By driving 

increased transparency this would deliver 

a more level playing field across the UK’s 

commercial lending market. 

The Government announced that they 

would require certain banks (above a 

certain market share threshold) to share 

their commercial credit lending data with 

designated Credit Reference Agencies 

(CRAs). This would deliver more equal 

access to data and make it easier for SMEs 

to seek funding from alternative finance 

providers as well as traditional banks. 

This new commercial credit data sharing 

scheme is administered on behalf of the 

Government by the British Business Bank. 

CRAs must apply to the British Business 

Bank and complete a thorough application 

process to receive designation. 

OPENING UP THE DATA 

The scheme requires the nine designated 

banks (Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, 

HSBC, Lloyds, Santander, Clydesdale 

Bank, Bank of Ireland, AIB and Northern 

Bank) to share current account data and 

information on existing loans and credit 

cards of their small and medium business 

customers. This data is provided under 

a strict framework to approved Credit 

Reference Agencies who then integrate the 

information into their workflow to provide 

more accurate insights on an SME’s 

financial performance. There are currently 

four designated CRAs; Creditsafe, Dun & 

Bradstreet, Equifax and Experian. 

Greater access to this data makes it 

easier for other finance providers to check 

the credit worthiness of potential SME 

business customers and better inform 

credit decisions. The aim is to provide 

more open access to stimulate more 

competition in the SME lending market 

and increase the range of funding available 

to businesses who are looking to grow, and 

to support start-ups seeking initial capital. 

THE IMPACT TO DATE 

The scheme appears to be making an 

impact, with the British Business Bank’s 

recently published Small Business Finance 

Report confirming that the growth of 

alternatives to bank finance is continuing 

(although the pace has slowed) and 

awareness of finance options outside of 

traditional lending is also increasing. 

Dun & Bradstreet research in November 

2018 also found that over two thirds (67 

percent) of SMEs believe the availability 

of finance has a significant impact on 

their business success. When asked if they 

received financial support, 43 percent of 

respondents had received funds and 57 

percent had not, with the most popular 

source still a business loan from a bank 


OPINION 

AUTHOR – Tim Vine 

(42 percent) followed by a personal loan from a 

friend or family member (27 percent). 

WHAT THIS MEANS 

As well as supporting the growth of small and 

medium sized businesses, opening up this 

type of commercial credit lending data will 

undoubtedly enable better, more informed 

credit decisions across the industry. It will 

enable a more comprehensive view for credit 

managers on an SME’s financial health by 

providing access to current account and other 

data that has previously been unavailable to 

review. 

Increased transparency is something the 

industry has been championing for some time, 

led by organisations such as the CICM, and BIPA 

(Business Information Providers Association) 

which represent the seven principal credit 

information providers in the UK. BIPA’s 

primary purpose is to facilitate greater access 

to business information to promote access to 

credit, help reduce the risks associated with 

credit decisions, and prevent fraud. 

BIPA has supported the release of VAT 

registration data to support small business 

growth, working with the Government to 

demonstrate the economic benefits to the UK 

economy of making this information more 

widely available. This data is now available to 

Commercial Credit Reference Agencies who 

meet the disclosure requirements mandated in 

the SBEE Act. 

THE FUTURE IS OPEN 

Alongside the commercial credit data sharing 

scheme there are also other initiatives 

impacting our industry and opening up more 

data to drive competition. In January 2018, 

the Government launched the Open Banking 

initiative, which mandates the nine designated 

banks to allow customer information to be 

shared with other regulated financial service 

providers, subject to securing the customer’s 

permission. Data is shared via secure APIs 

(Application Programming Interfaces) and 

is helping to deliver more choice in an 

increasingly competitive and digitised banking 

sector. 

One example quoted in a recent Institute of 

Chartered Accountants in England & Wales 

(ICAEW) article is small business finance 

provider, Iwoca, who use bank account data 

as part of their credit decision process. The 

fintech has relationships with several of the 

large banks and is reported to be providing 

more SME overdraft approvals than several 

high street banks. 

Going forward, we can expect even 

greater transparency and availability of data 

across the industry, which is good news for 

small businesses, and good news for credit 

professionals too. 

Tim Vine is Head of European Trade Credit 

at Dun & Bradstreet. 

Tim Vine 

Dun & Bradstreet 

This data is provided under 

a strict framework to 

approved Credit Reference 

Agencies who then 

integrate the information 

into their workflow to 

provide more accurate 

insights on an SME’s 

financial performance. 


VIEW FROM THE SEA FRONT 

BRANCHING OUT 

Whatever happened to bank managers 

and real money? 

AUTHOR – David Andrews 

It is partly because 

people are going 

cash less, thanks 

to the rise in 

popularity of new 

payment methods 

such as contactless 

transactions.

VIEW FROM THE SEA FRONT 

AUTHOR – David Andrews 

DO bank managers still exist? 

I mean, in the old-fashioned 

sense of the term. You know, 

like back in the days when you 

needed to borrow some cash 

and there was not an instantly 

approve (or reject) online facility. In ye distant 

far off times, the protocol was to make contact 

with your bank, and, invariably, request an 

interview with the Chief Beak. 

Those were of course also in the days when 

our high streets were festooned with bank 

branches, as opposed to wall to wall charity 

shops and – if you are really lucky – a branch or 

two. The more rural the location, the less likely 

you are going to find a ‘proper’ bank branch in 

2019. 

Today, like millions of my fellow citizens, 

I bank online, and for the most part via the 

fabulous apps on my mobile telephone. First 

Direct – which I initially joined in 1991 when it 

debuted as the UK’s first all singing, all dancing 

telephone bank, now offers a superb online 

service, and it is rare indeed for me to have to 

physically call the bank. Likewise, with my 

other lender, HSBC – which happens to own 

First Direct. 

On the occasions when I need to pop into 

my local HSBC branch to discuss my company 

account, I am ushered into the Business Pod, 

where my account is dealt with politely and 

efficiently. 

BANK BASHING 

Banks have of course taken many knocks over 

the years. And I don’t just mean the 

investment arms of the international lending 

establishments, whose complex intra bank 

lending were seen by most analysts of the 2008 

crash to have been responsible for the near 

collapse of the UK’s banking system and the 

overnight annihilation of our economy. 

No, the current bad boy image is largely 

down to the fact that banks are not only closing 

physical branches in increasing numbers of 

provincial towns and rural villages – not to 

mention inner cities – but many fear they are 

not doing enough to counter the shutting down 

of ATM machines across the UK. 

So, first the bank branches go, and then the 

cash machines. According to a recent Which? 

report (March 2019), around 3,000 ATMs were 

closed in the last six months of 2018. Currently, 

around 300 machines are being shut every 

month. It is a worrying trend. 

It is partly because people are going cash less, 

thanks to the rise in popularity of new payment 

methods such as contactless transactions. My 

kids – as I am sure other parents of a certain age 

have discovered – never, ever have any cash. 

But it is also because cash machine operators 

such as Cardtronics and Note Machine, that 

get a fee from our banks each time we use one, 

are finding that fewer of their machines are 

economic to run. 

David Andrews 

Funny to 

think, how four 

decades ago 

I couldn’t get 

hold of cash – 

back then pretty 

much the only 

way so many 

things could be 

paid for. You try 

buying a beer on 

a debit card in 

the University 

of Essex student 

union in 1979. 

OUT IN THE STICKS 

A myriad of reasons then, and it’s fair to say 

that for those of us who live in major cities, it is 

not a problem – yet. But for millions of 

countryside dwellers – many of whom now must 

rely on driving or using public transport just to 

access a cash machine – it is a significant issue. 

Speaking as one who was perpetually skint 

through university days, getting hold of cash 

was mainly an issue as I seldom had any money 

in my bank account. 

Not that this stopped me from going 

vertiginously overdrawn, seemingly after the 

first couple of weeks of term time – even though 

you could get four pints for a quid in my student 

union bar in the late 70s. 

In fact, the last time I had a physical, face 

to face meeting with my old NatWest bank 

manager (Colchester branch, January 1979) he 

benignly asked if I had my cheque book and 

bank card with me. I do, I said. Thank you, 

may I have them please, said the affable boss, 

whose name has escaped me down the mists of 

time. 

Passing them across the forbidding terrain 

of an enormous teak desk, my then manager 

calmly relieved me of the offending 

merchandise, while simultaneously retrieving 

an enormous pair of scissors from a drawer and 

expertly snipping my bank card and cheque 

book into small pieces. 

Like confetti, I recall thinking at the time. 

Chastised, I nodded solemnly as he outlined 

a repayment plan for me to pay off the bank. 

According to the Office for National Statistics’ 

composite price index, £300 in 1979 is today 

equivalent to £1,505. So, I get why the senior 

beak was keen to shred my card and cheque 

book. I’m not going to sell my vinyl collection, 

I vowed silently. Or my 60s golden age Marvel 

comics (reader, I still have them as the collection 

is today worth a small fortune). 

But I did clear the debt, slowly but surely, 

and while it probably took a good while to 

restore my credit rating to anything less than 

toxic, that audience with an unamused bank 

manager taught me a few harsh lessons in fiscal 

balancing 40 years back. 

Funny to think, how four decades ago I 

couldn’t get hold of cash – back then pretty 

much the only way so many things could 

be paid for. You try buying a beer on a debit 

card in the University of Essex student union in 

1979. 

And now today, I am thankfully not short 

of a bob or two but worry that for many of my 

fellow citizens – particularly the vulnerable and 

the elderly – that cash is becoming increasingly 

harder to come by. 

As Shakespeare said, ‘The wheel is come full 

circle.’ 

David Andrews is a freelance 

business writer. 


OPINION 

Star Performance 

The prospect of future growth for 

non-performing loans in Europe in 2020. 

AUTHOR – Julian Winfield 

Julian Winfield 

NON-performing loans are an 

essential part of the lending 

business, and the likelihood of 

non-repayment is an inherent 

risk. Risk of loss is part of the 

credit rating banks assign to 

borrowers and is, therefore, included in the cost 

of borrowing. Loan losses and NPLs generally 

encompass non-performing loans, insolvency 

proceedings and debts where customers’ 

payments fail to meet the contractual terms. 

The probability that a loan will be repaid 

in full is substantially lower once the loan 

has been classified as non-performing. As a 

result, debt purchasing organisations, such as 

Hoist Finance, can acquire NPL portfolios at a 

significant discount to the loans’ nominal total 

value. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, the banks 

themselves (i.e. the ‘sellers’) often have a 

different view of the value of their loans, 

which has hampered NPL divestments. Slow 

procedures and structural inefficiencies in debt 

recovery have been instrumental in limiting the 

transaction market. 

ADVANTAGES TO DIVESTMENT 

The principal advantages of divesting NPLs 

from a banking perspective is to reduce risk. 

But it is more than this. NPL sales not only 

reduce the sellers’ risk exposure, but they also 

release credit reserves and strengthen capital 

ratios by reducing risk-weighted assets. 

NPL sales translate into up-front cash 

payments that improve the selling banks’ 

liquidity positions. It also enables them to focus 

more directly on their core business; recovering 

debt can be a distraction. It takes time, resources 

and specialised expertise to recover NPLs, so 

by selling the debt, banks avoid the costs and 

challenges associated with maintaining an inhouse 

debt recovery operation. 

Divestment of NPLs also contributes to an 

improved return on equity, which is vital to 

meeting shareholder demands for continuously 

improved returns. 

Most banks today have sophisticated sales 

processes, and the quality of portfolio data is 

improving. Risks have, therefore, been reduced 

and sellers can feel more certain that they 

will receive an accurate and fair market price. 

Having started by selling unsecured loans, 

banks have become more comfortable with 

selling other asset classes as well. 

This is part of the ongoing development 

trend. With fewer risks associated with selling 

and acquiring loans, the price of loan portfolios 

has risen. This trend has developed to varying 

degrees in different countries, with the UK 

among the markets where it has proceeded the 

farthest. 

VARYING PERFORMANCE 

Performance, however, is by no means uniform 

across Europe. In the under-developed markets 

such as Spain and Portugal, there have been 

few if any sales. The quality of data tends to be 

poor, and the bid-ask price particularly broad 

which means there is little appetite to engage. 

There are some early adopters, and these tend 

to be the consumer credit companies and 

international banks. But growth is hampered 

by cultural barriers and ‘denial’ among banks 

which means that portfolios that are sold tend 

to be old and of very poor quality. 

In the growth markets, which include 

Spain and Poland, the picture is rather more 

encouraging. There is a healthy competition 

among NPL purchasers and decreasing bid-ask 

spreads. Local banks are gradually becoming 

more active, portfolios are more ‘current’ and 

the quality of NPLs being sold is of a generally 

higher standard. 

In the most mature markets, such as the UK 

and Germany, NPL sales are an integral part of 

the financial ecosystem. Two particular trends 

are evident: firstly, the quality of the NPLs 

portfolios being sold; and secondly, the trend 

towards increased consolidation resulting in a 

fewer number of larger debt purchasers. 

PRICE INCREASES 

Competition for loan portfolios is a contributing 

factor to the price increase, which puts pressure 

on margins. This development has been driven 

over the past five or six years by lower borrowing 

costs, which appear to have bottomed out in 

2018 and are on the way up again. 

While prices may be rising, the total amount 

NPLs are decreasing. In Europe, the volume 

of outstanding NPLs in the banking sector 

decreased to approximately SEK 7,143 billion 

as per Q3 2018, compared to approximately SEK 

10,000 billion in 2017. This amount represents 

around 3.4 percent of all loans, compared 

with five percent in 2017. The decrease, while 

gradual, is partly due to legislation facilitating 

trade in receivables aimed at reducing the 

number of receivables in the European banking 

system. 

There are a number of trends that affect 

market development and that the debt 

purchasers are now planning for. These 

include: the impact of strong market growth; 


OPINION 

AUTHOR – Julian Winfield 

Most banks today have sophisticated sales 

processes, and the quality of portfolio data 

is improving. Risks have, therefore, been 

reduced and sellers can feel more certain 

that they will receive an accurate and fair 

market price. 

the demand for increased operational 

efficiency that is in turn driving industry 

consolidation; increasing funding costs; 

and continued regulation of the market 

and greater market maturity. 

It is crucial to reduce the number 

of non-performing loans in Europe’s 

financial system. Household and SME 

over-indebtedness causes banks to restrict 

their lending, and small businesses are 

unable to invest; this inhibits economic 

growth. The transaction market is 

nevertheless growing, due partly to the 

fact that the market continues to develop 

and become more sophisticated. 

NEW REGULATIONS 

Another factor to consider in exploring 

the future market is the impact of new 

legislation. The introduction of IFRS 9 as 

from 2018, for example, requires banks 

to calculate and make provisions for 

expected credit losses as early as initial 

recognition following the granting of 

new loans. The new rules have had some 

positive effects, in that banks are required 

to report their expected credit losses at 

an earlier stage. The purpose of the new 

accounting standard for classification 

and measurement of financial assets is to 

enable earlier prediction of credit losses. 

Additional regulations in this area are to 

be expected in coming years. 

A few well-respected companies 

have emerged as the European market 

matures, and Hoist Finance holds a strong 

position as a partner to international 

banks and financial institutions. The 

company is among the five largest in 

Europe measured by ERC (Estimated 

Remaining Collections). Efficiency and 

cost savings are high on the agenda 

for these companies and help fuel the 

consolidation trend, and the degree of 

consolidation is likely to remain greater in 

those mature markets with lower prices. 

Market consolidation is taking place 

in parallel with an increase in regulation. 

Several major and minor transactions 

have been conducted in recent years, and 

this trend is expected to continue. 

Julian Winfield is UK Chief Executive 

of Hoist Finance. 

The new rules have had some positive 

effects, in that banks are required to 

report their expected credit losses at 

an earlier stage. 


COUNTRY FOCUS 

The African nation 

showing signs of real 

growth prospects. 

Part One: Ethiopia 

Out of Africa 

ETHIOPIA is not a country that 

many give much thought to, but 

it’s one that ought to be moving 

up the corporate agenda. With a 

prehistory tied to the ancestors of 

man that reaches back 4.2 million 

years, sites linked to anatomically modern man 

that are around 200,000 years old, and more 

‘recently’ a series of kingdoms and dynasties 

from the eighth century, it’s clear that Ethiopia 

has a long and notable culture. 

Ethiopia is also the world’s most populous 

landlocked country with a population of more 

than 108 million (CIA World Factbook) spread 

over an area of 420,000 sq. miles. It is the second 

most populous country in Africa after Nigeria. 

The population is made up of more than 14 

ethnic groups and just as many languages, 

although Amharic is the official national tongue. 

The population is young with 43 percent under 14 

years, 20 percent aged 15-24, 30 percent aged 25 to 

54, four percent aged 55 to 64 and just three percent 

over 65. Just under 21 percent of the population 

lives in urban areas. 

However, in recent memory the country has 

been troubled having had a communist regime 

from 1974 to 1991 and troubles within the federal 

republic that followed, notably a war with Eritrea, 

protests against several governments, and interethnic 

clashes in 2017 that led to 400,000 people 

being displaced. A new government, led by Abiy 

Ahmed has sought to end local conflicts, reform 

the country and has made censored websites 

available again. 

Politically speaking, the country as a federal 

parliamentary republic, has a figurehead 

president, executive prime minister and bicameral 

legislature. Administratively, the 

country is divided into ten regions and thee 

chartered cities that includes the capital, Addis 

Ababa. 

doing business (161 in 2017). In comparison, New 

Zealand is number one and the UK is ninth.Being 

situated close to the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia 

is well placed for those wanting to access the 

Middle East, Djibouti and its neighbours of 

Sudan, Kenya and Somalia. And while Ethiopia 

has the fastest growth rate of an economy in the 

region, it is starting from a low base point. The 

World Bank’s data that the country saw growth 

of 10.7 percent in 2017 (compared to 0.8 percent 

for Nigeria and 7.1 percent for Tanzania). The 

regional average was 5.4 percent. It also believes 

that Ethiopia is one of the poorest nations in the 

region with per capita income of $783. The World 

Bank says that Ethiopia aims to reach lowermiddle-income 

status by 2025. 

Ethiopia is predominantly an agricultural 

country – more than 80 percent of the population 

live in rural areas. Although the total fertility 

rate has declined, the population continues to 

grow. Ethiopia’s population growth is putting 

increasing pressure on land resources and is 

degrading the environment – food shortages are 

not uncommon. 

Adam Bernstein is a freelance business writer. 

ETHIOPIAN ECONOMICS 

According to Trading Economics – which quotes 

the World Bank’s annual ratings – the country is 

ranked 159 out of 190 economies for the ease of 


TRADE TALK 

Export Controls 

The vital role that controls play for exporters. 

AUTHOR – Lesley Batchelor OBE FCICM 

Lesley Batchelor 

EXPORT and import controls 

and trade sanctions are now 

a global norm for businesses 

looking to trade or facilitate 

trade. They form a key role in 

ensuring that the movement 

of goods, technology, software and services 

around the world is safe and secure. 

Controls are only applied for very 

specific traded goods – both tangible and 

intangible. The worries that seemingly 

innocent materials could be used to 

develop weapons of mass destruction is 

very real. This is the same with certain 

products that could also be used in 

different ways that might cause the abuse 

or violation of people’s human rights or 

safety. Furthermore, controls are often 

used for the imposition of sanctions or 

arms embargoes from the European 

Union or the United Nations. These are 

very important monitoring tools for the 

protection of global trade. 

Controls do not just apply to obviously 

dangerous products (i.e. weapons) – though 

the defence industry is undoubtedly most 

affected by them. There are some ‘dualuse’ 

products which are liable to controls 

– i.e. outwardly innocuous goods, software 

or services that could otherwise be used 

towards the construction of dangerous 

weapons. Items like batteries, goods 

containing chemicals like chlorine or 

component parts in certain computers are 

all on the government’s ‘Control List’. 

Exporters of such products will therefore 

need to apply for an ‘Export Licence’ 

and ensure compliance with controlrelated 

regulations, both domestic and 

international. 

ENSURING COMPLIANCE 

Although there is some international 

commonality in approach, regulations 

can differ considerably from jurisdiction 

to jurisdiction. Regulations are also 

under frequent review, and changes may 

be significant. The penalties for noncompliance 

can be severe, including 

multi-million pound fines, loss of 

permission to trade and even custodial 

sentences. Even where the penalties are 

minor, the impact on reputation, access 

to trade facilitations, and therefore 

business, may prove costly. 

However, demonstrable compliance 

with export and import controls and trade 

sanctions can also offer a competitive 

advantage both in terms of being able to 

conduct business with certain countries 

and access to trade facilitations. It also 

ensures goods and technology can flow in 

a timely and cost-effective manner which 

is good for both exporters and importers 

businesses. 

To ensure both compliance and 

expeditious trade, exporting and 

importing organisations such as industry 

and academic institutions, need access to 

good-quality and up-to-date information 

from all relevant jurisdictions. Many 

appoint export control professionals and 

points of contact who develop Internal 

Compliance Programmes. 

However, until now, there has been no 

industry-approved recognition of what 

the professional knowledge and skills 

around export controls are. 

EXPORT CONTROL PROFESSION 

It is for this reason that the Institute of 

Export & International Trade (IOE&IT) 

is launching a new ‘Export Control 

Profession’, with the support of the Export 

Control Joint Unit of the Department for 

International Trade (the UK’s regulator in 

issues relating to export controls), HMRC 

and ADS. 

The new profession seeks to enable 

and promote excellence in compliance 

with export and import control, and trade 

sanction regulations. As a membership 

body it will represent Export Control 

Professionals, providing them with 

essential resources, professional points 

of contact and learning support for the 

industry. 

MEMBERS WILL BE ABLE TO: 

• Gain professional recognition of their 

knowledge and competence through 

post-nominal letters, which will only 

be accredited to those with sufficient 

experience or qualifications 

• Gain professional and career 

development through a combination of 

qualifications and an industry specific 

Continuous Professional Development 

(CPD) programme 

• Register for accreditation of consultancy 

work/training expertise 

• Enter a support network through which 

they can connect and share information 

with other compliance professionals, 

both home and abroad 

• Access regular bulletins with the 

latest local, national and international 

developments in the industry. 

Employers will also be able to access 

the profession using their membership 

of the IOE&IT, ensuring the competence 

and knowledge of their staff through 

the qualifications and CPD programme, 

thereby reducing their risks of noncompliance 

and the associated costs 

of fines and other sanctions. Further, 

through the new body they will gain access 

to a pool of accredited export control 

specialists – a valuable recruitment 

resource. 

This new profession is an essential step 

to ensuring compliance and competence 

among our exporting community. 

To find out more visit: export.org.uk/ 

page/ExportControls 

Lesley Batchelor OBE FCICM is Director 

General of the Institute of Export and 

International Trade. 


INTERNATIONAL 

TRADE 

Monthly round-up of the latest stories 

in global trade by Andrea Kirkby. 

RUSSIAN STAGNATION 

IT'S been a while since I covered 

Russia but things don't feel as 

if they've moved on much. Q1 

shows GDP growth slowing from 2.7 

percent in the last quarter of 2018 to 

0.8 percent year-on-year, and growth 

prospects for the medium term are 

only modest. While GDP is still ahead, 

real disposable incomes are falling, 

and this, together with a population 

that's declining by a quarter of a 

million a year, will keep the consumer 

market subdued. 

The structure of exports has hardly 

changed over the last decade; oil and 

gas accounts for 60 percent and other 

commodities have a big impact, too. 

No wonder the ruble has halved in 

value over the last ten years. 

The good points? Russia is 

relatively protected from external 

shocks by high reserves and low 

external debt. 

It's a hard market to make money 

in – particularly if you don't keep an 

eye on DSOs, because enforcement is 

an absolute nightmare. But firms in 

engineering, pharma, and chemicals 

have done well there – and British 

brands and education are well 

regarded in Russia. You might make 

it work – but make sure you have the 

right payment terms and watch that 

currency, too. 

THE BIG SWITCH 

EULER Hermes' recent study 'The Big Switch' 

makes for interesting reading. Euler Hermes 

identifies three things that are changing 

this year. Firstly, China replacing the US as 

a source of global growth; secondly, a switch 

from a trade war to new pragmatism; and 

thirdly, a move away from recent hawkishness 

on the part of central banks, leading to further 

economic stimulus. 

Although President Trump talks a good 

fight, the US is now a highly indebted economy 

with a disorderly budget setting process, and 

Euler Hermes thinks the investment cycle 

is stalling. That will affect growth in 2020 

onwards. On the other hand, China is now 

taking actions to stimulate the economy, and 

could see improvement from Q2 this year. 

That will help the Asian economies which are 

highly integrated into Chinese supply chains. 

Moving to trade pragmatism and away from 

protectionism will help export orientated 

economies. In Europe, Germany will benefit 

from this trend – so will highly export focused 

Asian economies like Vietnam. 

Monetary dovishness, on the other hand, 

should help emerging markets. Euler Hermes 

looks for countries which have introduced 

economic reforms, which are exporters, or 

do well from China or all three: Ivory Coast, 

Kenya, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong 

are the top picks. 

It's an interesting argument. I'm not 

completely sure things will work out as 

expected, but I might run the slide rule over 

a couple of those countries to see how the 

fundamentals stack up. 

EXPORTING IS NOT 

GREAT AT ALL 

I took a trip to export.great.gov.uk and Global 

Britain turns out to be rather a bust, to judge 

from this website. There are only five country 

guides available at the moment, and there 

seems to be less really crunchy information 

than there used to be. For instance, you're told 

that Brazil ‘has complex import regulations’ 

and the site suggests you can go somewhere 

else to find out about them. 

Meanwhile looking at the legacy pages on 

gov.uk – ‘exporting to India’ was last updated 

in November 2016 – as were a lot of the other 

pages. There's very little really up-to-date 

information. 

The message I'm getting? ‘Exporting 

is something we can spare a junior civil 

servant a few hours a week to work on.’ 

Nice rebranding – but you're better going to 

credit insurance companies or a Chamber of 

Commerce to get the facts. 


INDIAN elections could trim Narendra 

Modi's sails, but his reforms have already 

made a big difference. For the first time, 

India has become a national single market, 

with national sales taxes and no inter-state 

barriers to trade. That should help India 

continue to achieve high rates of growth – 

at seven percent, economic growth is now 

higher than China's, and domestic demand 

is robust. Low external debt and fiscal 

consolidation put the country in a stable 

position as far as its credit and budgets are 

concerned. 

Though some problems remain – the 

bank sector is highly indebted, and some 

reforms have been stymied – there's an 

atmosphere of innovation. Even tourist 

Spotlight on India 

More insurance, more claims 

SOME interesting announcements 

from the insurance industry recently 

show mixed news. The Association 

of British Insurers (ABI), for instance, 

says trade credit payouts last year 

hit their highest levels since 2009 – 

though that's mainly UK specific, it's an 

experience that seems to have 

been reflected elsewhere. The Berne 

Union and The International Credit 

Insurance & Surety Association (ICISA) 

expect insolvencies to increase in 

2019, with a significant worsening of 

China cashflow crisis 

ONE reason I'm not quite sure about 

the 'Big Switch' is that China has been 

looking rather fragile of late. Coface 

says payment delays have surged. Since 

2015, there's been a continuing trend to 

longer and longer payment times – 2018 

saw an increase from 76 days to 86 days. 

Corporate bond defaults and 

insolvencies are both rising. 40 percent 

of firms are seeing increasing levels of 

payment delay, and 55 percent (up from 

47 percent in 2017) are experiencing 

ultra-long delays (80 percent of which 

become unrecoverable). That looks 

nasty. But in fact, it's very sector 

dependent. Automotive, transportation, 

construction, and energy are the main 

sectors involved – and they're largely 

those where the government has been 

trying to dampen down the investment 

visas have loosened up with multi-year, 

multi-entry visas now being offered – a 

world first. 

Even so, India's not the easiest market 

to target. Very few sectors work on a truly 

national level, so you'll need to target 

each state separately. But there are some 

great opportunities. Healthcare and 

sustainability are huge areas of investment 

at the moment, and education also offers 

immense potential. Besides which, India is 

rapidly innovating and that gives an entree 

to consultancy as well as tech businesses. 

Just one warning. The rupee isn't the 

world's strongest currency by a long way, 

so be very careful how you deal with 

currency issues. 

the risk environment. That adds up to a 

more dangerous world for exporters. 

But the Berne Union also reckons 

its members' deal pipelines are 

increasing, particularly in Asia and 

sub-Saharan Africa (intriguingly, not so 

much in Latin America). There's huge 

opportunity in renewable energy, with 

positive trends in other infrastructure 

and transportation, too. Good news 

for insurers – but underlining the 

fact that exporters really do need that 

insurance. 

boom and reduce corporate leverage. 

On the other hand, if you're in pharma, 

chemicals, or agrifoods, you won't 

have noticed any adverse trends. 

And what's particularly interesting is 

that China is now pushing economic 

stimulus in a new direction – towards 

the consumer market – according to 

Pictet Asset Management. So, if you 

export consumer goods or services, 

China might just have become a more 

attractive market for your products. 

The one sector that I'd really worry 

about is IT. That's not one of the 'usual 

suspects’ and given that the IT sector 

supply chains are Asia-centric, it could 

have quite an impact on the rest of the 

region – particularly export orientated 

countries like Vietnam, South Korea, 

Taiwan and Malaysia. 

Dangerous Chemicals 

COFACE has just downgraded its views on 

the chemicals sector. The automotive sector 

has been weak for a while – now that's 

flowing through to suppliers, including 

petrochemicals/plastics. They're getting 

really squeezed, with higher feedstock 

prices leading to tight margins on lower 

volumes of business. 

But more generally, this is a warning 

call for all cyclical sectors. If Coface is right 

about where we're sitting in the industrial 

cycle, they're all going to get hit. So, if you 

supply customers in cyclical sectors, keep 

a close eye on your Days Sales Outstanding 

(DSOs) and be ready to react to the first sign 

of changing payment behaviours. 

Construction – the 

East shows Red 

IT'S not just China that is having problems in 

the construction sector. South Korea, too, is 

looking exposed thanks to the government 

shifting spending away from infrastructure. 

So is the Middle East, particularly Saudi 

Arabia, and Turkey, which had a minibuilding 

boom. If you haven't seen the video 

of abandoned Turkish ‘chateaux’ at Burj 

al-Babas yet, it's worth seeing – it gives you 

some idea of the Pharaonic scale of ambition 

of some developers, and the massive debt 

hangover, too. 

Given that construction is already one 

of the industries with the longest payment 

terms and the longest payment delays, that 

could result in severe pain for suppliers – so 

mind how you go. 

Someting fishy 

LANDIA’S fourth BioChop is heading for 

the Faroes. The machine breaks down dead 

fish into silage for biogas production or pet 

food, which isn't a glamorous business but 

is a good way of dealing with unwanted fish 

morts. 

The big lesson here is never to 

underestimate the power of the 'long tail', 

as internet citizens say. Once you've got a 

customer, keep them happy and sell them 

more. It works in domestic markets and it 

works extremely well for export too. 

EXCHANGE RATES VISIT 

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OPINION 

DISPUTING 

TERMS 

The importance of setting different 

terms for different regions. 

AUTHOR – Jamie Ashford 

IN international business it is common 

practice for companies to enter 

agreements based on their standard 

operating terms – and sensibly so. 

The agreed terms are likely to govern 

the entire relationship with a trade 

partner and ensuring their accuracy, relevance, 

and incorporation will have a profound impact 

when it comes to potential future conflict. 

While it is common for companies to ensure 

their terms are incorporated, it is less common 

for them to employ the consistent practice of 

revisiting their terms on a regular basis. 

Regularly reviewing terms ensures their 

relevance to a growing business and an evolving 

business environment. It is usually only at the 

point of an issue or dispute a company’s terms 

are brought into question. Most often, this is too 

late. Has this happened to you? Or could it? To 

avoid being caught out in the future here are 

some key considerations. 

GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION 

In the event of a dispute, it is in the interest of 

both parties to have clarity on certain issues. In 

international trade one of the most fundamental 

concerns is clarifying the law upon which the 

agreement is governed. 

When conducting business with an 

international company, you cannot assume 

that the law of your country is applicable. If it 

is not expressed in the agreement, you may find 

that your customer’s law applies, which in the 

event of a dispute may lead to a longer judicial 

process and/or translation fees. It is therefore 

imperative that you include a governing law 

clause. 

In addition to selecting the applicable law, 

agreements ought to express the relevant 

jurisdiction (i.e. where court proceedings will 

take place in the event of a dispute) and possibly 

the forum (i.e. mediation or arbitration may be 

more suitable than immediately taking a case to 

Court). 

Companies often fail to reconsider their 

law and jurisdiction clause when entering 

new international agreements. Or worse, use 

the same terms for their group companies 

in all countries in which they operate. Be 

mindful, especially when conducting business 

internationally, one size certainly does not fit 

all. So, why not make your country’s law and 

jurisdiction applicable for all your business 

agreements? 

A risk with selecting your own country’s 

law and jurisdiction for all agreements is if a 

claim is successful on your own turf, it may not 

automatically mean the title (i.e. the judgment 

obtained) is enforceable against a debtor based 

elsewhere. In some scenarios, it is preferable to 

sue them in their ‘own back yard’. 

If your standard terms omit a law and 

jurisdiction clause, or if the clause appears 

poorly drafted, you could be setting yourself 

up for a long and costly process in the event a 

dispute arises. Seek legal advice! A good lawyer 

can advise upon which governing law and 

jurisdiction would be most suitable. 

RIGHT TO COSTS 

In many jurisdictions, there will be laws 

governing how costs will be awarded in a 

dispute. Often, they allow the successful party 

to recover what is reasonable and proportionate. 

However, despite this right, it is still advisable to 

include provision for costs within your terms. 

This may remove scope for a dispute on the 

issue and in some cases will strengthen your 

right to recover costs in the pre-legal phase. 

RIGHT TO INTEREST 

As with costs, there will often be a provision to 

recover statutory interest on overdue invoices 

by law. However, within your standard terms, 

you have the flexibility to elect alternate rates, 

which in most cases will override the statutory 

rates so can be set higher. 

On this point, it is advisable to include a note 

on your invoices reminding customers of your 

contractual right to claim interest. This has 

two benefits: firstly it encourages customers 

to pay on time; and secondly it weakens any 

later argument from your customer about the 

incorporation of the interest rate clause. 

RETENTION OF TITLE (ROT) 

If your trade is the supply of goods, it would 

be prudent to retain title on those goods after 


OPINION 

AUTHOR – Jamie Ashford 

Jamie Ashford 

International Debt 

Recovery Lawyer 

delivery, which in essence means they still 

belong to you until expressed conditions are 

met i.e. until the goods are paid for in full by 

your customer. In the event goods are not paid 

for, if you have retained title, you may have a 

right to take them back, which should mitigate 

your loss. 

Please note the law on retaining title varies 

considerably from country to country, so you 

may wish to seek legal advice and/or vary the 

clause depending on who you are contracting 

with. 

DELIVERY OF GOODS 

Disputes in respect of sale of goods often center 

around issues occurring during transit. For 

this reason, you should ensure that your terms 

accurately and unequivocally set out where your 

responsibilities end and where the receiver’s 

responsibilities begin, or vice versa. 

A pre-defined series of commercial terms 

(Incoterms/ International Commercial Terms) 

are commonly used and include among other 

things; ‘the seller electing the location of where 

the goods will be available’ (EXW/Ex Works) or 

‘the seller delivers the goods at their own risk to 

a named location’ (FCA/Free Carrier) etc. 

VARIATION/AMENDMENT 

On occasion, there will be clauses within your 

terms and conditions that need amending. This 

is often the result of a change in the commercial 

relationship, or a structural change within your 

business. It could be something as simple as 

changing the address to which formal notices 

are to be served, or as extreme as your core price 

or credit terms. 

While it is 

common for 

companies to 

ensure their terms 

are incorporated, 

it is less common 

for them to employ 

the consistent 

practice of 

revisiting their 

terms on a regular 

basis. 

It isn’t uncommon for a variation clause to 

allow unilateral changes meaning you shouldn’t 

have to wait for the express agreement of the 

other party to make the change. However, before 

relying upon a unilateral clause, it would be 

sensible to ensure its enforceability by seeking 

legal advice. Bear in mind that in situations 

where a trade partner’s terms apply it may also 

have a unilateral right to amend. 

Your terms should clarify how to validate an 

amendment. 

Although relatively rare for assignments to take 

place, it certainly isn’t unheard of, especially in 

the event your company is undergoing structural 

changes. A well-drafted assignment clause could 

allow you greater flexibility shaping a ‘new look’, 

while simultaneously retaining vital business. 

The above suggestions are just a few of the 

clauses you may wish to consider revising and/ 

or adding to your standard terms. In addition, 

you may also wish to consider how your 

standard terms are incorporated by your staff 

into your agreements on a contract-by-contract 

basis. It is important that you leave no doubt in 

the mind of your trading partners that it is your 

terms that apply. 

If you are a global entity or part of a group 

company, you should be particularly mindful 

as to whether your terms have been suitably 

adapted for international trade. Don’t delay, 

check them today. 

Jamie Ashford, International Debt Recovery 

Lawyer, Bierens Debt Recovery Lawyers. 


ADVERTORIAL 

THE FORGOTTEN 

ART OF E-BILLING 

Finding the most efficient approach 

to the collections process requires 

investment in intelligent automation. 

AUTHOR – Joe Pettit 

IN the 60s, the communication 

of business processes between 

companies was slow and errorprone. 

Instead of electronically 

exchanging invoices and other 

essential business documents, 

trading partners had to send each other 

paper documents to fulfil their requests. 

Slow processes, delays and errors were an 

obstacle for companies who wanted fast 

shipments, fast payments, and who valued 

accurate information exchanges with their 

business partners. 

The introduction of electronic data 

interchange (EDI)(1) and emails should have 

resulted in an electronic revolution that 

changed the credit management landscape, 

but did it? While we have moved on, mainstream 

credit management departments are 

still grappling with the paper hangovers of 

the 60s. It appears that many UK companies 

have forgotten the art of e-billing and how 

this simple change can transform cash 

collection. 

Today collections teams are under intense 

pressure to meet collection targets, while 

maintaining a healthy relationship with 

the customer. The need for e-billing and 

intelligent AR automation has never been 

greater. A new breed of technology has 

emerged that’s helping tech-savvy credit 

leaders who refuse to allow cashflow to be 

held to ransom, but are you being left behind? 

ULTIMATE FLEXIBILITY 

No matter how bespoke your customer 

billing requirements, getting the invoice 

delivered in a format that meets these 

demands is key to getting paid faster. The 

flexibility e-billing provides from both 

a customer and organisational view is 

impressive. Today, the technology is available 

to support servicing the customer better, 

while releasing the collection team to chase 

real debt. 

SAVING THE DAY AND THE PLANET 

For credit leaders e-billing is a critical factor 

for eliminating paper billing, reducing print 

and post and lowering their organisations’ 

carbon footprint and costs. 

E-BILLING IS SIMPLE 

Setting up e-billing is not as complicated as 

one might expect. Integrating e-billing into a 

collections strategy gives credit management 

teams valuable invoice receipt information, 

helping them to take corrective action long 

before the due date. 

Indeed, organisations which adopt 

e-billing are incredibly successful in 

cash collection. Improved cashflow, 

communications and reduced DSO are only 

a few of the benefits forward thinking AR 

departments are experiencing. The time 

savings and freedom to chase real debt lifts 

morale and improves internal and external 

relationships. Customers utilising selfservice 

portals are rewarded with transparent 

transactional information which facilitates 

speedier cash collection. The news is that 

organisations embracing e-billing by rolling 

out new initiatives, can comfortably achieve 

an 87 percent paper to e-billing conversion 

rate(2). 

E-BILLING AND CUSTOMER ADOPTION 

For organisations embarking on this 

transformational journey they should first 

consider their audience demographics. This 

research helps identify clusters of customers 

and how they are best served, not only for 

invoice delivery but preferences throughout 

the collection process. Communications 

and delivery channel options should be 

provided to ensure adherence of customers’ 

preferences. 

For positive customer relationships 

everything needs to be transparent, satisfying 

the customer who requires print and post, to 

the business who still work with fax, email, 

or just a URL, and finally those customers 

that need EDI. Unless you offer all the 

options, you will find it challenging to 

satisfy and maintain progressive business 

relationships. Providing customers with the 

option to work within their business process 

is the way forward. 

ADAPT OR DIE 

Consolidated invoicing, in all forms, involves 

heavy lifting by collections teams to ensure 

that customer invoices expedite in a timely 


ADVERTORIAL 

‘I never received 

the invoice, I didn't 

get the statement’, 

without any 

validation of the 

invoice, then cash 

collection effort 

will always be 

disrupted. 

and efficient manner. The work doesn’t 

stop there, throw in the individual 

payment arrangements made by the 

sales team and the pressure builds on an 

already overstretched collections team, 

trying to meet the needs of the business, 

and the customer and the whole process 

starts to wobble. 

Sadly, tactical digging-in and getting 

the job done ensues, at the cost of 

strategic direction. A direction that could 

bring about positive change, in terms 

of systems and platforms that assist 

the collection teams automate invoice 

to cash cycle. Many organisations are 

lost in their bespoke systems. Just when 

the team come up for air, another monthend 

hits them, and so the cycle continues. 

These organisations perpetuate their 

inefficiencies and are particularly 

risk-averse when it comes to new 

collection techniques and technologies. 

Long-term these choices don’t bode 

well in today’s adapt or die business 

landscape. 

THE PROCESS STARTS WITH BILLING 

When considering how billing influences 

the complete collection process, the 

process starts with billing. Get billing 

wrong, and it doesn't matter how effective 

the collection processes are. If customers 

are continually reporting that, ‘I never 

received the invoice, I didn't get the 

statement’, without any validation of 

the invoice, then cash collection effort 

will always be disrupted. Underinvestment 

at the start of the process; namely, 

‘e-billing’ will have a detrimental impact on 

cashflow. Investment starts with e-billing 

and ends with cash allocation systems. 

E-BILLING DOESN’T STOP WITH 

INVOICES 

Too many e-billing systems concentrate 

only on invoices with other key customer 

documents being seldom considered. 

About Joe Pettit 

Joe is an e-billing and 

collection expert and 

evangelist. He has worked 

with numerous industries 

throughout his career, helping 

them to achieve more efficient 

processes. As a member of 

the Data Interconnect team, 

Joe brings his knowledge 

and expertise to bear and has 

crafted Corrivo Billing, Dispute, 

Collection and Allocation to 

provide one powerful suite of 

AR automated collection tools 

that help organisations reach 

their collection targets faster. 

If your e-billing or your billing strategy 

only covers thinking around invoices, it is 

one dimensional, and will never provide 

the flexibility to deliver the full suite of 

documents customers require. 

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT 

E-BILLING IS SELF-FUNDING 

E-billing projects are self-funding, the 

reduction in postage costs, manual 

handling savings, and the lowered 

outbound call costs, offset the e-billing 

system expenditure. Putting e-billing front 

and centre of your payment process, will 

have a positive effect on your cashflow and 

automatically queue up better collections, 

disputes and allocations management. 

SOURCE 

[1] The history of EDI – by Steve Brewer. 

[2] Data Interconnect Customer 

conversion rate. 


CICM Learning 

Conference 

2019 

MANAGING RISK 

IN UNCERTAIN TIMES 

Thursday 20 June 2019 

LIMITED 

FREE MEMBER 

PLACES – 

BOOK TODAY! 

This year we have put together an exciting and varied programme based around 

the theme of ‘Managing risk in uncertain times’. All the basic principles of 

cashflow and credit management are even more important in times of uncertainty 

and change: we have a programme of activity, discussion, debate and workshop. 

To find out more and to book your place visit www.cicm.com 

info@cicm.com 

www.cicm.com 

01780 722900

AWARD WINNERS 

WINNING TICKET 

Credit Management asked the winners of the 2019 

British Credit Awards what it means to them to win 

one of the prestigious awards. 

Managing Risk Award: 

Vodafone UK Credit 

and Risk Team 

VODAFONE was absolutely thrilled to 

win at the CICM Awards earlier this year 

within the category of Managing Credit 

Risk. 

2018 was a turn-around year for the 

credit risk area at Vodafone, with the 

team growing in capacity, knowledge 

and skills, which all helped to deliver 

instrumental changes to our decision 

making across the customer lifecycle 

and as a result has led to significant 

benefits to our operational performance 

and customer profitability. 

Being shortlisted and then going on 

to win the award is evidence of all of the 

effort from the team here at Vodafone. 

The industry level recognition of 

the huge achievements over the last 

year, has also further motivated an 

already fantastic team to continue to 

drive improvements in their ongoing 

activities. 

Penelope Clarke 

Rising Star of the 

Year Award: 

Paradigm Housing 

WINNING CICM’s Rising Star of the 

Year Award means so much to me 

and I am so thankful to have won. 

The award has been instrumental in 

raising my profile and opening doors 

to new and exciting opportunities. 

Prior to joining CICM I was anxious 

about starting my Credit Management 

course. It had been 20 years since I 

was last in education and the thought 

of studying part time while working 

seemed overwhelming. 

I am really glad I did, the course and 

the range of networking events held 

by CICM have been fantastic! Winning 

the award has set me on a trajectory, 

it has given me a boldness to continue 

pushing forward in my profession, 

to overcome hurdles and set new 

standards in both Credit Management 

and the Housing Sector. I am excited to 

see all that the future holds. 

Salma Shah 

Credit Professional of the Year and Winner of 

Winners: 

npower Business Solutions 

TO win Credit Professional of the Year was incredible, but to then hear my name 

being called out as ‘Winner of Winners’ was beyond belief. As someone who is 

passionate about the world of credit, striving to make a difference within the 

company I work for and the people I work with, it was an absolute honour to even 

be nominated at such a prestigious event and to be shortlisted against some great 

people – and, as it transpired, some great companies. 

I’m always excited by the challenges we face in our sector and it is this that 

encourages me to keep on top of my game and to ensure I am always developing, 

both as a professional and a person. I am privileged to have a good team around 

me and therefore it is very important to me that their development and futures are 

invested in too. 

I am very humbled to have won these awards yet feel there is still much for me to 

both learn from and bring to our most wonderful industry. 

Matthew Roberts MCICM 

Learning and 

Development Award: 

ABB 

WINNING this award is so important 

as it recognises the efforts of 

everyone; the learners, the course 

developers and deliverers, the 

local line management and the 

administrators. It legitimises, and 

values, the investment in learning 

and development (L&D). So often, 

Learning and Development can be 

seen by managers as an imposition 

yet when the results of the programme 

(in terms of improved personal, 

team and business performance) are 

viewed, it reinforces the belief of all 

L&D professionals that ‘training is 

important and effective’. 

The judges commented that the 

award was given due to the level of 

support given to the learners. This 

vindicates our approach to being 

helpful to the learners, allowing them 

time and space to develop without 

undue pressure, and providing positive 

motivation to achieve their outcomes. 

The programme itself is unique 

in that the design aims to provide 

a full understanding of the order 

to cash cycle, so that wherever a 

learner is situated in the process 

they understand the effect of those 

upstream, and how they affect those 

downstream. This has led to numerous 

examples of better teamwork at the 

interfaces. Winning this award also 

recognises that design philosophy. 

David Dyer training provider from 

Improvement Through People on 

behalf of ABB 


Peninsula Case study 

Peninsula helps small businesses worldwide, but how? 

Consisting of 13 companies worldwide, Peninsula 

has been providing professional services to 

small businesses across the UK since 1983. 

Originally specialising in employment law and HR, 

Peninsula has since expanded to cover health, 

safety management, insurance and employee 

wellbeing. 

In the past five years, Peninsula has acquired and 

absorbed a number of companies worldwide. 

Carl Lancaster, Group Head of Collections, 

explained: “As we grew, it became clear that our 

existing credit management systems weren’t able 

to cope with the growing volume of transactions 

and the influx of business we were experiencing 

as a result of the acquisitions.” Based on this, 

Peninsula decided it was time to look for a new 

credit management solution. Peninsula invited the 

top five credit management software companies 

to pitch their solutions in order for it to decide 

which was would be best-suited to its business. 

Following tender negotiations, the decision was 

made to adopt Onguard’s CreditManager. 

RESULTS AND BENEFITS 

• Cash flow increase of 20% 

• Card payments have doubled 

per day 

• Smooth implementation 

• Improved customer 

communication 

HANDLING A GROWING 

VOLUME OF TRANSACTIONS 

When looking at a new credit 

management software solution, Peninsula had 

several requirements. Not only was it vital that 

the new system could deal with the large volume 

of transactions Peninsula was processing but it 

was also required to consolidate all debts across 

the group. Peninsula also wanted the solution 

to improve the quality of communication with 

clients, both in terms of its visual impact and its 

content, produce consistent outputs and improve 

the resultant reporting. 

According to Lancaster: “We chose Onguard 

primarily due to the fact it offers greater flexibility 

in terms of its workflow integration. We also saw 

that there would be potential in the future to 

take on new features and gain a wider range of 

capabilities should we want to. Additionally, we 

found that it offered a great user-experience as 

the software is user-friendly and intuitive.” 

WHY ONGUARD? 

“Onguard has been very involved in the 

implementation of the new software and has 

been key to the delivery. We are convinced we 

made the right decision in choosing Onguard, 

implementation has been running smoothly and 

we are happy with what the solution has allowed 

us to achieve so far.” 

ATRADIUS, ONGUARD AND THE CICM INVITE YOU TO JOIN US AT A 

DYNAMIC AND PRACTICAL SEMINAR ON: ‘CREDIT MANAGEMENT 

– WHERE IT’S BEEN, WHERE IT IS, AND WHERE IT’S GOING’. 

SIGN UP VIA WWW.ONGUARD.COM/CMEVENT

Redefining order-to-cash 

Onguard is specialist in credit management software and market leader in innovative solutions 

for order-to-cash. Our integrated platform ensures an optimal connection of all processes in the 

order-to-cash chain and allows sharing of critical data. 

Intelligent tools that can seamlessly be interconnected and offer overview and control of the 

payment process, as well as contribute to a sustainable customer relationship. In more than 50 

countries the Onguard platform is successfully used for successful credit management. 

Find out more at: www.onguard.com/cm or call us at +44 (0) 20 396 683 24.

PAYMENT TRENDS 

Topsy Turvy 

The latest monthly business to business 

payment performance statistics. 

AUTHOR – Jason Braidwood FCICM(Grad) 

THE most recent payment performance 

statistics were encouraging, with 

the majority of sectors and regions 

successfully reducing their payment 

terms. This month’s results provide 

more fluctuation, however, with 

a number of sectors and regions moving back 

in the wrong direction and only a few making 

improvements. The average Days Beyond Terms 

(DBT) figures across regions and sectors increased 

by 0.6 and 0.9 days respectively. 

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT 

It has been a disappointing month for the majority 

of sectors, with all but five of the 22 sectors 

increasing their payment terms. The biggest 

improvements have been in the Financial and 

Insurance and Real Estate sectors, reducing DBT by 

5.7 and 4.0 days respectively. Public Administration 

continued its improvement with a further reduction 

of 2.3 taking its overall DBT to 5.4 days, making it 

the best performing sector. Manufacturing (-2.3) 

and Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (-0.7) also 

reduced their DBT. 

It’s been a particularly poor month for the 

Business from Home and Transportation and 

Storage sectors, with both increasing DBT by 5.5 

days. Business Admin and Support also struggled, 

with payment terms increasing by 4.1 days. A 

further increase of 1.4 days means that Mining and 

Quarrying remains the worst performing sector 

with an overall DBT of 22.6 days. 

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT 

The regional standings are similarly 

underwhelming, with all but three of 

the regions increasing payment terms. 

Northern Ireland continued its slump, 

remaining the worst performing region 

after a further increase of 2.9 days. Perhaps 

surprisingly, Scotland also had a poor 

month, also experiencing an increase of 2.9 

days to its payment terms. 

There have been more positive signs 

from the West Midlands however, with a 

further reduction of 1.2 days making it the 

new best performing region with an overall 

DBT of 12.5 days. Wales (-0.2) and the North 

West (-0.1) were the other regions to make 

improvements. 

Jason Braidwood FCICM(Grad) is Head of 

Credit and Collections at Creditsafe for 

Business Solutions. 


PAYMENT TRENDS 

Top Five Prompter Payers 

Sector April 19 Change from March 19 

Public Administration 5.4 -2.3 

International Bodies 7.0 2.4 

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 8.7 -0.7 

Health and Social 9.4 0.7 

Education 10.0 1.6 

Getting Better 

-5.7 Financial and Insurance 

-4.0 Real Estate 

-2.3 Public Administration 

-2.3 Manufacturing 

-0.7 Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 

Top Five Prompter Payers 

Region March19 Change from April 19 

Yorkshire and Humberside 11.8 0.6 

West Midlands 12.5 -1.2 

South West 12.7 0.8 

Scotland 12.8 2.9 

Wales 13.2 -0.2 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers 

Sector April 19 Change from March 19 

Mining and Quarrying 22.6 1.4 

Business from Home 18.9 5.5 

Transportation and Storage 18.4 5.5 

Business Admin and Support 17.8 4.1 

Dormant 16.9 2.9 

Getting Worse 

0.1 Entertainment 

0.9 Energy Supply 

1.2 Construction 

1.4 Mining and Quarrying 

2.4 International Bodies 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers 

Region March 19 Change from April 19 

Northern Ireland 17.8 -2.9 

London 15.0 1.6 

East Anglia 13.8 1.6 

South East 13.6 2.4 

North West 13.5 -0.1 

Region 

Getting Better – Getting Worse 

-2.9 

-1.2 

-0.2 

-0.1 

1.6 

2.9 

2.4 

0.8 

1.6 

Northern Ireland 

West Midlands 

Wales 

North West 

East Anglia 

Scotland 

South East 

South West 

London 

NORTHERN 

IRELAND 

-2.9 DBT 

SCOTLAND 

2.9 DBT 

NORTH 

WEST 

-0.1 DBT 

YORKSHIRE & 

HUMBERSIDE 

0.6 DBT 

WALES 

-0.2 DBT 

WEST 

MIDLANDS 

-1.2 DBT 

EAST 

ANGLIA 

1.6 DBT 

There have been more positive signs 

from the West Midlands however, with 

a further reduction of 1.2 days making 

it the new best performing region with 

an overall DBT of 12.5 days. 

SOUTH 

WEST 

0.8 DBT 

LONDON 

1.6 DBT 

SOUTH 

EAST 

2.4 DBT 


LEGAL MATTERS 

Cash Flows 

A polluted river and ill-considered dividends 

led to an interesting case of fraud. 

AUTHOR – Peter Walker 

THE effects of a river 

polluted with polychlorinated 

biphenyls – thankfully 

shortened to PCBs 

– have flowed from its 

source in the USA to 

London’s Court of Appeal, where there 

was a significant judgment in the area 

of defrauding creditor. Section 423 of the 

Insolvency Act 1986 regarding ‘transactions 

defrauding creditors’ figured prominently 

in the case. The judgment started 

with a reference to its chemical origins in 

BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA [2019] EWCA 

Civ 112. 

Chemicals caused the pollution of 

the Lower Fox River in Wisconsin in 

the 50s and 60s. In 1978 BAT Industries 

had acquired paper businesses 

‘responsible for extensive pollution’ of 

the river, but the claims in the USA under 

the Comprehensive Environmental 

Response, Compensation and Liability 

Act 1980 (CERCLA) only commenced 

in the 90s. Businesses manufacturing 

carbonless paper had dumped the 

resulting toxic chemicals into the river. 

Carbonless paper was useful in the days 

before the convenience of personal 

computers and printers, because you 

could write on the top paper and the 

writing would be transferred to perhaps 

as many as five or six pages underneath. 

In the 80s I designed for a company a 

stock control and ordering system based 

on this technology, when I was unaware 

of the toxic results of the manufacturing 

of this paper. 

Much later in 1998 the Lower Fox River 

paper manufacturing businesses agreed 

among themselves how to share the 

environmental liabilities. The CERCLA 

obligations embraced cleaning-up 

costs and damages of natural resources 

including the river pollution. There were, 

however, various changes of ownership 

of the companies and consequent 

indemnities against liabilities. 

In the year 2000, for example, a 

company known as Sequana bought 

another company known as AWA, 

which owned the paper manufacturing 

companies. It later sold those businesses 

subject to an indirect indemnity relating 

to the agreement made in 1998. It also 

purchased a guaranteed investment 

policy to provide funds for all aspects 

of the Lower Fox River liability. By 

2008 its value was US$250 million, but 

consequently AWA ceased to be a trading 

company. 

BALANCE SHEET AND DIVIDEND 

It was, however, a subsidiary of Sequana, 

to which it paid the proceeds of the sale 

of the businesses and other receipts. This 

indebtedness was an asset in AWA’s books 

as was the policy, but on the other hand it 

had contingent indemnity liabilities. Its 

balance sheet showed net assets of €517 

million made up of share capital of €318.6 

million, a share premium account of 

€69.8 million and distributable reserves 

of €128.6 million. 

In the light of this information the 

Directors of AWA decided in December 

2008 to pay a dividend of €443 million. 

To do that the paid-up share capital 

was reduced to €1 million, and the 

share premium account was cancelled. 

No money changed hands, but the 

indebtedness of Sequana was reduced to 

€142.5 million. 

That was December, but early in the 

following year there was the question 

of whether the contingent liability 

concerning the environmental liability 

should be included in the accounts 

for the year ended 31 December 2008. 

There was, of course, the guaranteed 

investment policy, and it was decided 

that it was sufficient to cover any 

contingent liability, so there was no need 

to include a provision for such a liability 

in the accounts. I am mystified at such 

a conclusion, but perhaps I am just a 

grumpy old-fashioned accountant. There 

was consequently a distributable reserve 

of €137 million in the balance sheet. 

The directors of AWA therefore decided 

in May to pay a dividend of around €135 

million to the parent company Sequana. 

No money changed hands, because the 

indebtedness of that company to its 

subsidiary was reduced by that amount 

to about €3.1 million. The decision to 

pay this dividend was influenced by the 

desire of the Sequana directors to sell 

AWA to another company. The directors 

thought that the sale of AWA under these 

conditions would mean that Sequana had 

limited, perhaps excluded, any guarantee 

under the Lower Fox River risk. 

COULD OR SHOULD NOT PAY 

Both dividends of December and of May 

were challenged in the lower court on 

the basis that they were not lawfully 

paid in accordance with Part 23 of 

the Companies Act 2006 (a ‘could-notpay’ 

claim). The second challenge was 

that the dividend was in breach of the 

directors’ duties regarding creditors (a 

‘should-not-pay’ claim). Mrs Justice Rose, 

however, decided that the claim against 

the directors in respect of the December 

dividend failed. She also concluded 

that the May dividend was caught by 

the provisions of section 423(1) of the 

Insolvency Act 1986. 

That section defines ‘transactions 

defrauding creditors’. They include gifts 

or transactions for which there is no 

consideration (s 423(1)(a)). There are 

also transactions at an undervalue (s 

423(1(c)). One remedy is to restore the 

original position as if the transaction 

had not happened (s 423(2)(a)), while 

another is to make an order protecting 

the interests of the transaction’s victims 

(s423(2)(b)). The court, for example, may 

only make an order if the purpose was 

to place the assets beyond the reach of 

someone making or potentially making a 

claim (s423(3)(a)). The court alternatively 

should be satisfied that the purpose of the 

transaction was to prejudice the position 

of an actual or potential claimant. 

In the Court of Appeal Richards LJ 

asked if a dividend was a transaction at 

an undervalue, and he answered himself 

that the declaration of a dividend created 

a debt owed by the company to its 

shareholders. It was also not a transaction 

as a gift, because a dividend was a return 

on the shareholders’ investment. 

Richards LJ then considered whether 

a dividend was a transaction for no 

consideration. He favoured the view of 

Lord Millett in a tax case, Inland Revenue 

Commissioners v Laird Group plc [2003] 1 

WLR 2476. At that time Lord Millett said 


LEGAL MATTERS 

AUTHOR – Peter Walker 

that the directors in exercising their powers to declare a dividend 

were effectively releasing funds due to the shareholders. 

But section 423 supposes that there is a transaction. Richards 

LJ noted, however, that the section refers to a gift, so it is wider 

than, say, a contractual bilateral transaction with consideration 

between two parties. Lord Reid in another case, Greenberg v 

IRC [1972] AC 109, where he was considering whether dividends 

were transactions relating to securities, said that they could be 

activities in which only one person was involved. Richards LJ 

therefore concluded that a dividend could be a transaction. 

He then considered the section’s statutory purpose. In this 

respect AWA was a non-trading company set up to contain the 

Lower Fox River liability. Richards LJ agreed with the finding 

of the lower court that the first dividend had been declared 

lawfully, but circumstancess had changed by the time of the 

May dividend. At that time the directors wanted to sell the 

company to prevent claims. That second dividend prejudiced 

the creditors because of the depletion of AWA’s assets, with the 

result it had no call on Sequana. Sequana would have to pay 

US$138.4 million to BTI, the successor to BAT, as recompense 

for the amount paid by BAT for clean-up costs plus interest. 

DIRECTORS’ DUTIES 

There were other issues considered by the Court of Appeal, such 

as the ‘general duties of directors defined in the Companies Act 

2006. Section 172 refers to the need for directors to act in good 

faith ‘to promote the success of the company for the benefit 

of its members as a whole’. There is a list of considerations 

including the likely consequences of any decision in the long 

term (s172(1)(a)), the impact of the company’s operations on 

the community and the environment (s172(1)(d), and there are 

others. S172(3) adds the duty of the directors, subject to some 

provisos ‘to consider or act in the interests of the creditors of 

the company’. 

In this respect the accounts considered by the directors were 

important, but they revealed no deficit in the balance sheet at 

the time the directors were considering the May, or second, 

dividend. There was no duty in relation to creditors at that time. 

The judges of the Court of Appeal furthermore considered 

other situations where that duty may be triggered. Richards 

LJ observed that in other cases the companies concerned were 

insolvent. 

A DIVIDEND FOR CREDITORS 

Insolvent companies are sometimes a depressing factor in the 

work of credit managers, but the judgment in the Sequana case 

can be helpful to creditors. Directors’ decisions to pay dividends 

can be challenged if they amount to transactions defrauding 

creditors. Those directors must have regard to the financial 

state of the company, if they are considering the declaration of a 

dividend or of a reduction of capital. If there is any doubt about 

the financial health of the company, particularly with regards 

to contingent liabilities, the directors must take professional 

advice. 

Those reviewing the affairs of an insolvent company 

should check if there have been declarations of dividends in 

circumstances covered by section 423 of the Insolvency Act 

1986. It is to be hoped that if the Court of Appeal’s judgment 

should be appealed to the Supreme Court, that the principle 

will be upheld. 

Peter Walker is a freelance business writer. 


INTRODUCING OUR 

CORPORATE PARTNERS 

For further information and to discuss the opportunities of entering into a 

Corporate Partnership with the CICM, please contact corporatepartners@cicm.com 

Hays Credit Management is a national specialist 

division dedicated exclusively to the recruitment of 

credit management and receivables professionals, 

at all levels, in the public and private sectors. As 

the CICM’s only Premium Corporate Partner, we 

are best placed to help all clients’ and candidates’ 

recruitment needs as well providing guidance on 

CV writing, career advice, salary bench-marking, 

marketing of vacancies, advertising and campaign 

led recruitment, competency-based interviewing, 

career and recruitment trends. 

T: 07834 260029 

E: karen.young@hays.com 

W: www.hays.co.uk/creditcontrol 

The Company Watch platform provides risk analysis 

and data modelling tools to organisations around 

the world that rely on our ability to accurately predict 

their exposure to financial risk. Our H-Score® 

predicted 92 percent of quoted company insolvencies 

and our TextScore® accuracy rate was 93 

percent. Our scores are trusted by credit professionals 

within banks, corporates, investment houses 

and public sector bodies because, unlike other credit 

reference agencies, we are transparent and flexible 

in our approach. 

T: +44 (0)20 7043 3300 

E: info@companywatch.net 

W: www.companywatch.net 

HighRadius is a Fintech enterprise Software-as-a-Service 

(SaaS) company. Its Integrated Receivables platform 

reduces cycle times in the Order to Cash process through 

automation of receivables and payments across credit, 

e-invoicing and payment processing, cash allocation, 

dispute resolution and collections. Powered by the RivanaTM 

Artificial Intelligence Engine and Freeda Digital 

Assistant for Order to Cash teams, HighRadius enables 

more than 450 organisations to leverage machine 

learning to predict future outcomes and automate routine 

labour intensive tasks. 

T: +44 7399 406889 

E: gwyn.roberts@highradius.com 

W: www.highradius.com 

Forums International has been running Credit and 

Industry Forums since 1991 covering a range of 

industry sectors and international trading. Attendance 

is for credit professionals of all levels. Our forums 

are not just meetings but communities which 

aim to prepare our members for the challenges 

ahead. Attending for the first time is free for you to 

gauge the benefits and meet the members and we 

only have pre-approved Partners, so you will never 

intentionally be sold to. 

Chris Sanders Consulting (Sanders Consulting 

Associates) has three areas of activity providing 

credit management leadership and performance 

improvement, international working capital 

improvement consulting assignments and 

managing the CICMQ Best Practice Accreditation 

programme on behalf of the CICM. Plans for 

2019 include international client assignments in 

India, China, USA, Middle East and the ongoing 

development of the CICMQ Programme. 

Key IVR provide a suite of products to assist 

companies across Europe with credit management. 

The service gives the end-user the means to make 

a payment when and how they choose. Key IVR 

also provides a state-of-the-art outbound platform 

delivering automated messages by voice and 

SMS. In a credit management environment, these 

services are used to cost-effectively contact debtors 

and connect them back into a contact centre or 

automated payment line. 

T: +44 (0)1246 555055 

E: info@forumsinternational.co.uk 

W: www.forumsinternational.co.uk 

T: +44(0)7747 761641 

E: chris@chrissandersconsulting.com 

W: www.chrissandersconsulting.com 

T: +44 (0) 1302 513 000 

E: sales@keyivr 

W: www.keyivr.co.uk 

American Express® is a globally recognised provider 

of business payment solutions, providing flexible 

capabilities to help companies drive growth. These 

solutions support buyers and suppliers across the 

supply chain with working capital and cashflow. 

By creating an additional lever to help support 

supplier/client relationships American Express is 

proud to be an innovator in the business payments 

space. 

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W: www.americanexpress.com 

Building on our mature and hugely successful 

product and world class support service, we are 

re-imagining our risk awareness module in 2019 to 

allow for hugely flexible automated worklists and 

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Creditsafe), this makes Credica a single port-of-call 

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T: 01235 856400 

E: info@credica.co.uk 

W: www.credica.co.uk 

Bottomline Technologies (NASDAQ: EPAY) helps 

businesses pay and get paid. Businesses and banks 

rely on Bottomline for domestic and international 

payments, effective cash management tools, automated 

workflows for payment processing and bill review 

and state of the art fraud detection, behavioural 

analytics and regulatory compliance. Every day, we 

help our customers by making complex business 

payments simple, secure and seamless. 

T: 0870 081 8250 

E: emea-info@bottomline.com 

W: www.bottomline.com/uk 


Each of our Corporate Partners is carefully selected for 

their commitment to the profession and best practice in the 

Credit Industry and the quality of services they provide. 

We are delighted to showcase them here. 

THEY'RE WAITING TO TALK TO YOU... 

Onguard is a specialist in credit management 

software and a market leader in innovative solutions 

for Order to Cash. Our integrated platform ensures 

an optimal connection of all processes in the Order 

to Cash chain and allows sharing of critical data. Our 

intelligent tools can seamlessly interconnect and 

offer overview and control of the payment process, 

as well as contribute to a sustainable customer relationship. 

The Onguard platform is successfully used 

for successful credit management in more than 50 

countries. 

T: +31 (0)88 256 66 66 

E: ruurd.bakker@onguard.com 

W: www.onguard.com 

The Atradius Collections business model is to support 

businesses and their recoveries. We are seeing a 

deterioration and increase in unpaid invoices placing 

pressures on cashflow for those businesses. Brexit 

is causing uncertainty and we are seeing a significant 

impact on the UK economy with an increase in 

insolvencies, now also impacting the continent and 

spreading. Our geographical presence is expanding 

and with a single IT platform across the globe we can 

provide greater efficiencies and effectiveness to our 

clients to recover their unpaid invoices. 

T: +44 (0)2920 824700 

W: www.atradiuscollections.com/uk/ 

With 130+ years of experience, Graydon is a leading 

provider of business information, analytics, insights 

and solutions. Graydon helps its customers to make 

fast, accurate decisions, enabling them to minimise 

risk and identify fraud as well as optimise opportunities 

with their commercial relationships. Graydon 

uses 130+ international databases and the information 

of 90+ million companies. Graydon has offices in 

London, Cardiff, Amsterdam and Antwerp. Since 2016, 

Graydon has been part of Atradius, one of the world’s 

largest credit insurance companies. 

T: +44 (0)208 515 1400 

E: customerservices@graydon.co.uk 

W: www.graydon.co.uk 

Rimilia provides intelligent, finance automation 

solutions that enable customers to get paid on time 

and control their cashflow and cash collection in 

real time. Rimilia’s software solutions use sophisticated 

analytics and artificial intelligence to predict 

customer payment behaviour and easily match and 

reconcile payments, removing the uncertainty of 

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E: enquiries@rimilia.com 

W: www.rimilia.com 

Improve cash flow, cash collection and prevent late 

payment with Corrivo from Data Interconnect. 

Corrivo, intelligent invoice to cash automation 

highlights where accounts receivable teams should 

focus their effort for best results. Easy-to-learn, 

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teams up and running fast. Minimal IT input required. 

Real-time dashboards, reporting and self-service 

customer portals, improve customer communication 

and satisfaction scores. Cost-effective, flexible Corrivo, 

super-charges your cash collection effort. 

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E: sales@datainterconnect.co.uk 

W: www.datainterconnect.com 

Dun & Bradstreet Finance Solutions enable modern 

finance leaders and credit professionals to improve 

business performance through more effective risk 

management, identification of growth opportunities, 

and better integration of data and insights 

across the business. Powered by our Data Cloud, 

our solutions provide access to the world’s most 

comprehensive commercial data and insights 

supplying a continually updated view of business 

relationships that help finance and credit teams 

stay ahead of market shifts and customer changes. 

T: (0800) 001-234 

W: www.dnb.co.uk 

Shared Services Forum UK Limited 

Shared Services Forum UK is a not-for-profit 

membership organisation. with one vision, to form 

the largest community of people from the business 

world and facilitate a platform for them to work 

together to mutual benefits. 

Benefits include; networking with like-minded 

professionals in Shared Services. The criteria is a 

willingness to engage in our lively community and 

help shape our growth and development. 

T: 07864 652518 

E: forum.manager@sharedservicesforumuk.com 

W: www.sharedservicesforumuk.com 

C2FO turns receivables into cashflow and payables 

into income, uniquely connecting buyers and 

suppliers to allow discounts in exchange for 

early payment of approved invoices. Suppliers 

access additional liquidity sources by accelerating 

payments from buyers when required in just two 

clicks, at a rate that works for them. Buyers, often 

corporates with global supply chains, benefit from 

the C2FO solution by improving gross margin while 

strengthening the financial health of supply chains 

through ethical business practices. 

T: 07799 692193 

E: anna.donadelli@c2fo.com 

W: www.c2fo.com 

Tinubu Square is a trusted source of trade credit 

intelligence for credit insurers and for corporate 

customers. The company’s B2B Credit Risk 

Intelligence solutions include the Tinubu Risk 

Management Center, a cloud-based SaaS platform; 

the Tinubu Credit Intelligence service and the 

Tinubu Risk Analyst advisory service. Over 250 

companies rely on Tinubu Square to protect their 

greatest assets: customer receivables. 

T: +44 (0)207 469 2577 / 

E: uksales@tinubu.com 

W: www.tinubu.com. 


INTRODUCING 

OUR 

CORPORATE 

PARTNERS 

For further information and 

to discuss the opportunities 

of entering into a Corporate 

Partnership with the CICM, 

please contact 

corporatepartners@cicm.com 

THEY'RE 

WAITING TO 

TALK TO YOU... 

Serrala optimizes the Universe of Payments for 

organisations seeking efficient cash visibility 

and secure financial processes. As an SAP 

Partner, Serrala supports over 3,500 companies 

worldwide. With more than 30 years of experience 

and thousands of successful customer projects, 

including solutions for the entire order-to-cash 

process, Serrala provides credit managers and 

receivables professionals with the solutions they 

need to successfully protect their business against 

credit risk exposure and bad debt loss. 

T: +44 118 207 0450 

E: contact@serrala.com 

W: www.serrala.com 

Esker’s Accounts Receivable (AR) solution removes 

the all-too-common obstacles preventing today’s 

businesses from collecting receivables in a timely 

manner. From invoice delivery to cash application, 

Esker automates each step. Esker's automated AR 

system powered by TermSync helps companies 

modernise without replacing their core billing and 

collections processes. By simply automating what 

should be automated, customers get the post-sale 

experience they deserve and your team gets the 

tools they need. 

T: +44 (0)1332 548176 

E: sam.townsend@esker.co.uk 

W: www.esker.co.uk 

2019 CICM 

EVENTS NOT 

TO MISSED 

Workshops 

Round 

Table Events 

New CICM 

Learning 

Conference 

CICM Best 

Practice 

Webinars 

Just another great 

reason to be a member 

See full programme at 

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www.cicm.com | +44 (0)1780 722902 


CASE STUDY 

Table 

Turning 

Following last month’s sector focus, 

Credit Management takes a look at one restaurant 

that has turned its fortunes around. 

WHEN a newly opened 

French-English 

restaurant in Monmouth 

struggled 

for funding from 

its bank, it was a 

funding solution from Liberis Finance, 

and hard work from the owners, that saved 

the day. And now the future looks very 

bright indeed, with plans to increase the 

capacity, refurbish the dining room and 

invest in a new kitchen garden. 

Owner Paul Smith had previously 

worked as a chef in kitchens all over 

the world. Over the years he became 

somewhat disillusioned with cooking as 

he noticed a number of restaurants that 

were resorting to using sous vide meals 

that could be microwaved instead of 

serving fresh cooked food. 

Changing course, he set up his own 

building company and worked for 

Network Rail for 24 years. When his wife 

Shelley, a professional gardener, suggested 

embarking on a new business venture in 

South Wales six years ago, Paul jumped at 

the chance. 

The couple renovated a dilapidated 

outbuilding and began selling imported 

plants from Holland and serving tea and 

cakes, calling their new business The 

Potting Shed. Soon the food side of the 

business took over and they were serving 

breakfasts and light lunches. 

But then, four years ago, the landlord 

decided not to renew their lease. Paul and 

Shelley moved the business into a 19th 

century barn in nearby Whitchurch. The 

restaurant’s reputation continued to grow 

and it began serving Sunday lunches and 

evening meals such as locally-sourced 

sea bass with lemon and herb butter, and 

Tournedos Rossini. 

As a new business, they struggled 

to find funding from their bank, just at 

the point that their cashflow was being 

squeezed with the quieter months ahead. 

That’s when their landlord suggested 

talking to Liberis. Through its Business 

Cash Advance solution, £5,000 in funding 

relieved the immediate cashflow pressure 

and also gave the couple a budget for 

some advertising. The advance is linked 

directly to the business’ customer card 

transactions; in this case, 15 percent of 

each card transaction is automatically 

taken until the advance amount has been 

paid. This means the payments are better 

matched to a company’s cashflow. 

“We have now been able to partfund 

the renovation and expansion of 

our business. It’s stress and hassle free, 

completely seamless and it means all our 

effort and energy can be invested in the 

restaurant.” 

Paul and Shelley have big plans 

for the restaurant. Further funding is 

part-financing the construction of an 

Orangery. It will also help to pay for the 

creation of a kitchen garden where many 

of the vegetables such as tomatoes, edible 

flowers and herbs from the menu are 

grown. 

“Considering where we started with 

the business just six years ago, the growth 

has been fantastic. Once the expansion 

is completed our turnover will be 

transformed which will allow us to cater 

for more people and events.” 


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The CICM is the largest recognised professional body in the world for the credit community. When 

you join us, our network of members across the world becomes your professional family. 

We have been promoting the importance of credit management, influencing government policy and 

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being, and our passion for expertise in the credit and collections profession is second to none. 

info@cicm.com 

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Tailored 

and bespoke 

training for 

your credit 

team 

Your specialism is 

our specialism 

At the CICM we know that credit and collections is a unique profession, and your business 

calls for a training solution that is not ‘off-the-peg’. 

We take pride in delivering practical and effective learning to credit and collections teams. 

Our training is designed and tailored to your business needs and to deliver results. 

Your team will learn from our specialist trainers, who all have vast experience in the 

profession and will share their real experiences and successes. 

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Tailored and bespoke training in... 

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EDUCATION – INTERVIEW 

Chain 

Reaction 

Global value chains have created huge 

opportunity – and risk – for UK exporters. 

Jon Walden 

THERE is little doubt that the 

development AUTHOR of global - Ga 

value 

chains, often involving exciting 

new and emerging markets, has 

created huge opportunities for UK 

exporters. However, risk has to be 

carefully managed. International trade is complex 

– every transaction involves four key pillars – 

Commercial, Transport, Regulatory and Finance 

– and the weak-point is always the intrinsic links 

between these pillars. Commercial is all about 

contracting, transport is the physical movement 

of the goods across international borders, 

regulatory encompasses customs, licensing and 

standards issues and, last but certainly not least, 

the financial pillar is about getting paid the right 

amount, in the right currency, at the right time. 

IS THERE A TOOL TO STRENGTHEN THE 

WEAK-POINT, THE LINKAGES? 

Yes, this is the good news. Incoterms 

(International Commercial Terms) provides the 

glue to hold the pillars together. It is generally 

said that selection of the most appropriate 

Incoterm at contracting stage reduces the 

occurrence of disputes between the contracting 

parties and provides a level of certainty 

throughout the four pillars of the contract. 

CAN YOU GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF THIS? 

One of the key elements of Incoterms is that the 

term used identifies exactly where legal delivery 

by the seller or exporter, to the buyer takes place. 

It can be confusing, for some of the terms legal 

delivery is on despatch and physical delivery is, 

actually, on arrival at the agreed geographical 

point. Even though Incoterms do not determine 

the point of revenue recognition it has become 

a widespread norm to link legal delivery with 

the point at which revenue is recognised. Also, 

legal delivery is where documents have to be 

made available by the seller to the buyer, often 

triggering payment through such mechanisms as 

documentary presentations under documentary 

letters of credit and documentary collections. 

Thus, a clear link between the commercial pillar, 

which identifies the Incoterm to be used, and the 

financial pillar. 

WHO PUBLISHES INCOTERMS AND HOW 

REGULARLY ARE THEY USED? 

Incoterms are published by the International 

Chamber of Commerce, the first version was in 

1936. Statistics vary but by far the majority of 

cross border trade is contracted using Incoterms, 

possibly over 90 percent. Having said that, they 

are often used incorrectly and inappropriately. 

DO THE TERMS REFLECT CURRENT 

PRACTICE IN EXPORTING AND 

IMPORTING? 

This is a very important point. The way 

companies trade internationally, and the 

processes and procedures applied, change 

frequently. For example, traditional port-toport 

or airport-to-airport logistics models are 

quickly migrating to a door to door basis. New 

procedures are constantly introduced, a recent 

example is the requirement for exporters 

to legally declare the weight of cargoes in 

containers, known as Verifying Gross Mass. Some 

changes are not nearly as quick as expected, for 

example, the migration to electronic messages 

in place of paper documents. Incoterms have to 

reflect real and current practice otherwise they 

become ineffective. 

HOW ARE THEY KEPT UP-TO-DATE 

AND RELEVANT? 

Incoterms tend to be reviewed every ten years. 

There is no rule about this but the cycle seems 

to work well. The current version is Incoterms 

2010 but Incoterms 2020 is on the way and will 

take effect from 1 January 2020. The review 

process takes around three years and involves 

opinions, discussions and critical analysis from 

International Chamber of Commerce national 

committees, globally. It really is a very thorough, 

informed and detailed process. 

CAN EXPORTERS AND 

IMPORTERS EXPECT MANY CHANGES? 

The final draft of Incoterms 2020 has been 

agreed, the content is embargoed until global 

launch in September this year. As usual, 

companies can expect some very critical and 

fundamental changes and also a number of 

smaller updates, enhancements and investments. 

At this stage, do not believe anything Google 

contributors may say, or predict, on the subject 

– just look forward to the September release. 

Incoterms are the most important protocol in 

international trade contracting and it is hugely 

important to understand the changes, ensuring 

the terms are applied correctly and effectively. 

IT SEEMS INCOTERMS ARE REALLY 

IMPORTANT IN EXPORT TRANSACTIONS. 

WHO NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND THEM? 

Everyone involved in the export process but, 

critically, finance, credit control, shipping, 

documentation/invoicing, order processing sales 

and export managers. 


CICM 

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HR MATTERS ROUNDUP 

COMPENSATION 

CULTURE 

A case of an agency worker that is paid a different rate 

to a permanent employee and makes a claim. 

AUTHOR – Gareth Edwards 

DATA from a recent ONS 

Labour Force Survey 

suggested that the total 

number of agency workers 

in the UK currently stands 

at around 865,000 and this 

figure is expected to rise to one million by 

2020. With rules being in place for some 

years now – in the form of the Agency 

Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR) – a recent 

case involving London Underground and 

the Court of Appeal should be of interest 

to hirers. In this case, the Court held 

that the hirer (or end-user) should pay 

compensation to agency workers supplied 

by an independent agency. 

THE LONDON UNDERGROUND CASE 

An agency, Trainpeople.co.uk (TP), 

placed the claimants on a temporary 

basis to work for London Underground 

(LU). The claimants were being paid less 

than comparable employees that were 

employed directly by LU, contrary to the 

AWR. Although LU flagged this issue and 

readjusted the payment to TP as well as 

making a payment in respect of back pay 

to TP for them to pass on to the claimants, 

TP failed to pay the claimants any of the 

extra money and subsequently went into 

liquidation. 

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) 

held that LU was accountable for 50 percent 

of the failure but that they did not have to 

pay the compensation to the claimants 

as it was not ‘just and equitable’ because 

they had already paid the back pay once. 

The Court of Appeal (CoA) overturned the 

second aspect, finding that given LU was 

liable for 50 percent of the failure, it should 

pay 50 percent of the compensation owed 

to the claimants regardless of the payment 

already made to TP. 

WHAT IS THE LAW? 

Under the AWR, once an agency worker 

has worked for 12 continuous weeks in the 

same role, they are entitled to ‘the same 

basic working and employment conditions’ 

as they would have been entitled to, had 

they been recruited by the hirer directly to 

do the same job. This includes the right to 

be paid the same for the work they do as 

direct recruits. 

Where there has been an infringement 

of the AWR, for instance where agency 

workers have been paid less than directly 

employed workers, those workers can bring 

a claim against whoever is ‘responsible for’ 

the infringement. If a claim is brought, the 

tribunal must identify the responsibility of 

the hirer and the temporary work agency. 

The temporary work agency and the 

hirer will be liable for their share of any 

infringement, attributed on a percentage 

basis. Once liability is decided, the tribunal 

must decide whether to order either the 

temporary work agency or the hirer to pay 

compensation. 

WHY WAS THE HIRER LIABLE? 

The initial reason for the agency workers 

being paid less, was due to both TP and 

LU mistakenly relying on the exception 

known as the Swedish Derogation. Under 

this exception, agency workers forego 

their right to equalised pay arrangements 

if they are employed by their agency and 

receive pay from the agency in between 

assignments. 

LU was not at fault for this original error, 

but LU was at fault because as a result of 

various errors at their end. The information 

that TP needed to enable them to pay the 

workers the increased amount was not 

provided until eight months after the issue 

had been flagged – this information should 

have been provided to TP within around a 

month. 

The following factors were taken into 

account when deciding if LU were liable 

and by how much: it was LU's choice to use 

agency workers in the first place because 

of the savings that they would make; it was 

LU's choice to contract with TP, rather than 

another agency; LU was partly responsible 

for the original under-payment; and the 

claimants were in a weaker ‘bargaining 

position’ than either TP or LU. 

BEST PRACTICE 

This decision has resulted in LU paying 

back pay to the agency workers twice – once 

to TP and once to the agency workers direct 

following TP's demise. This highlights the 

importance of carrying out proportionate 

checks about the financial stability of 

temporary work agencies before entering 

into contracts with them and building 

appropriate safeguards into the contracts 

themselves. 

Whether the AWR apply and what 

rights they will confer on workers will vary 

depending on the status of those workers. 

Hirers and agencies should not rely on the 

word of the other party as to whether or not 

the AWR apply. 

Although the Swedish Derogation 

exception is due to be abolished in 2020, 

establishing whether or not the AWR 

apply will remain a crucial and often 

complex exercise. Hirers and agencies 

should work together and ensure that any 

information required is provided as early as 

possible. 

Gareth Edwards is a partner in the 

employment team at Veale Wasbrough 

Vizards.gedwards@vwv.co.uk 


ANNUAL 

GENERAL 

MEETING 

The fifth Annual General Meeting of the Chartered 

Institute of Credit Management will be held on 

Thursday 13 June 2019 at CICM HQ, The Water Mill, 

Station Road, South Luffenham, Oakham, LE15 8NB at 

13:00 (or at the rising of the Advisory Council from its 

preceding meeting, whichever is later). 

By order of the Executive Board 


Chief Executive 

To read the Notice, visit: 

http://www.cicm.com/about-cicm/governance/ 

THAMES VALLEY AND SUSSEX AND SURREY 

Annual Southern 

Branch Credit Day 

25 June 2019 – 09:00 -16:00 

FREE OF CHARGE – REFRESHMENTS SERVED 

CPD 

6 

Care about your career? 

Want to expand your network? 

Still want to ‘stay relevant’? 

Please join your local CICM 

branches and Philip King FCICM, 

from CICM HQ for a day dedicated 

to providing you with the latest 

developments in a variety of credit 

related areas. Hear from speakers 

representing industries such as 

Credit Risk, Collections, Litigation 

and Cash application. 

Venue 

Verizon, Basingstoke Road, 

Reading RG2 6DA 

(J11 of M4) 

Other subjects will also be covered 

including diversity and of course 

BREXIT! 

Guest speaker - Sir John Madejski 

Organiser 

For more information please visit the 

Thames Valley or Sussex & Surrey branch 

pages at www.cicm.com.

SOAPBOX CHALLENGE 

SLAMMING 

SUPPRESSANTS 

The rise in celebrity endorsements on social media. 

AS someone who is a part of the Generation 

Z community, whenever I venture onto my 

various social media I am suddenly bombarded 

with campaigns and sponsorships trying to 

shove ‘slim tea’ or ‘gummy hair bears’ down my 

throat through my eyes. The illusion of celebrity 

endorsement on these sites gives the pretence that these are the 

products you need in your life. And yes, I am aware that the whole 

point of advertising is to make you feel that you need the product 

in your life, and I concur that isn’t evil or bad, it is just simply 

good advertising. However, given platforms like Instagram, which 

is most popular with my age demographic, already promote the 

appearance of ‘the perfect life’, and how amazing someone looks, 

and what a wonderful time that person is having. In conjunction 

with this, it seems that the only way they can look like their role 

models and their favourite celebrities, is to starve themselves and 

only eat foods that make you not want to eat. 

The Kardashians are known for their prominent presence on 

various platforms. They are also very well known for their ad 

campaigns on appetite suppressant foods. Kim Kardashian most 

notably posted on Instagram that she was ‘in love’ with these meal 

replacement lollipops and drinks that prevent hunger – they were 

apparently ‘unreal’. However, Jameela Jamil took to Twitter to 

slash apart the ad, labelling it ‘terrible and toxic’. Jamil says she 

was speaking up for the young girls who will see these kinds of 

pictures, and instead of swallowing these questionable ideals, 

they should be able to say: “they live a good life working hard and 

being successful and playing with their kids and having fun with 

friends and be able to say other things at the end of your life apart 

from ‘I had a flat stomach’”. I couldn’t agree more. 

This is a harmful thing to promote onto young impressionable 

teenagers. It’s not enough for these people who are only valued 

for their appearances. Celebrities endorsing such products project 

these insecurities into the minds of all who see these ads which can 

lead to body dysmorphic thoughts, eating disorders, depression 

and much worse. These adverts are essentially saying that it is so 

important to look good on these apps that you should resort to 

not doing the thing that gives you life, that is eating regular food. 

How stupid is that? If someone told you that you shouldn’t eat, you 

would not listen to them because you need food to survive and it’s 

good for you. Yet when it is jazzed up in the form of a lollipop and 

a celebrity, it suddenly is the ‘new craze’ or ‘it’s trendy’ when in 

reality, you have just been brainwashed by a celebrity endorsing 

chemical sweets. 

I could say that this shows good marketing skills and that it 

is the fault of the people who don’t do their research on the 

product, and leave each person to their opinions and conclusions. 

However, that would mean I would be denying the fact that these 

companies are preying on and exploiting vulnerable children and 

promoting anorexic thinking. People could go on to see these 

images constantly, and most likely end up with numerous mental 

health issues, but hey, at least they’ll be skinny. There needs to be 

a balance and social media companies need to do more to protect 

the young and impressionable. 

Max Cohen is young but has good intentions. 

The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / June 2019 / PAGE 52 

SOAPBOX 

challenge

REVIEW 

Technically speaking 

Credit Management asked members of the CICM 

Think Tank what tech they can’t do without and why. 

Martin Roseweir, 

Bill Gosling. 

THE one piece of software that we 

rely on day in and day out is Workday, 

which we use for both our Financial 

Management functions and our Human 

Capital Management. 

Having direct access to run 

numerous financial reports from 

your desktop allows us to keep a 

temperature check on the business 

easily. Whether this is reviewing 

full monthly Profit and Loss (PnLs), 

budgets by cost centre, salaries or 

spends by supplier, the software gives 

a complete 360 degree view of the 

business. 

Being able to access financial 

information on the go, complete 

expenses, review and approve invoices, 

review revenue projections, ensures 

that the business doesn’t slow down 

when we are out of the office. 

From a Human Capital Management 

standpoint reviewing resource, 

requesting vacations and completing 

performance reviews are just a small 

selection of the functionality that 

Workday gives us. 

Additionally, Workday Learning 

allows us to deliver bespoke and 

targeted training right into the inbox of 

our staff. This computer-based training 

can take many different formats 

including videos and PowerPoint 

presentations with full reporting to 

allow us to track in detail all training 

that has been completed. 

This is only a small sample of what 

Workday brings to our business, in 

reality it is one of the most powerful 

systems we have adopted in recent 

years. 

Nigel Fields FCICM , 

Twentieth Century Fox. 

THIS is an easy one for me and my 

team. We are now all using Microsoft 

OneNote. This is a completely free 

application from Microsoft (advert 

free too) so is available for everyone 

and available on all platforms 

including desktop and mobile and 

even Mac. 

OneNote is a digital notebook that 

automatically backs up to Microsoft’s 

Office 365 Cloud. OneNote notebooks 

can be shared (or kept private) for 

real-time collaboration. It allows 

me to capture just about anything; 

writing notes, recording audio, adding 

pictures or videos, or attaching other 

documents. I can then organise 

everything into sections, and pages 

and share across groups. The notes 

are also saved to the cloud so I can 

switch from PC to phone and pick up 

right where I left off. 

My team and I now all share 

various documents, tasks and meeting 

notes, we store in a very organised 

way (built in function) that makes it 

all very easy to find. I spend at least 50 

percent of my time in meetings and 

calls so inevitably, I come out with 

lots of ideas, questions, follow ups or 

to-dos. Before using OneNote, I would 

try to capture this all in a regular 

notebooks but as someone who has 

extremely bad hand writing; and has 

a hard time keeping up with slips of 

paper, I was constantly losing things. 

Frances Coulson FCICM, 

Moon Beever Solicitors. 

I suppose we can all ‘do without’ 

technology but as more and more 

pressure on time mounts we need it to 

stay on top of things. I find the ability to 

respond to emails, which are then autosaved 

and time recorded to my files 

while I am out and about, absolutely 

invaluable. 

Before I had this facility I effectively 

had to replicate every day capturing 

advices given unless I wanted to lug a 

heavy laptop everywhere. Another must 

have is Mimecast – I can find almost 

anything and it facilitates large data 

transfers securely. 

Finally, I simply cannot do without 

my family, my horses and dogs 

otherwise I really would explode! Life 

outside work should be more important 

than work (work to live don’t live to 

work) but if you enjoy work as I do then 

you can manage a balance of both! 


CAREERS ADVICE 

Changing skillset 

Some of the skills required by a modern credit 

professional might be quite unexpected. 

AUTHOR – Karen Young 

Karen Young 

AS skills shortages continue 

to affect a variety of 

sectors across the globe, 

the core skills needed for 

a role in credit management 

have also remained 

in demand. Almost half of accountancy 

and finance employers (43 percent) revealed 

in the ‘Hays Salary and Recruiting 

Trends 2019’ guide that finance skills 

were most needed by their organisations. 

However, to get ahead in today’s 

competitive recruitment environment, 

credit professionals need to possess more 

than just core finance abilities. So, what 

are the other skills a credit professional 

needs and how can they utilise these in a 

current or future role? 

A CREATIVE APPROACH 

Technology is influencing our world 

of work at a faster pace than it ever has 

before, changing the skills landscape 

dramatically. As roles are adapting and 

evolving, it is innate, human skills, such 

as our creativity, which will hold the 

highest value. As creative skills cannot 

be borrowed, replicated or programmed 

by a machine, these skills will remain 

unaffected by automation and their 

demand across all professions will only 

continue to rise. 

Equally, employers 

favour jobseekers who 

are comfortable speaking 

with people at all levels 

of an organisation in a 

professional manner. 

Creativity is valuable to a role in 

credit management as it is a crucial 

part of problem solving, strategising 

and generating the ideas that will drive 

businesses forward. Although for many 

credit professionals numerical skills come 

more naturally than creative ones, taking 

a creative approach to work is important. 

With creativity set to become an even 

more desirable skill requirement over the 

next decade, professionals in credit are 

encouraged to focus on this aspect of their 

role in the near future. A first step for 

credit professionals to take is changing 

longstanding habits and routines inside 

and outside of work. If you’ve been in 

your current role for a long period of time, 

you may benefit from revaluating your 

routine to eliminate elements that may be 

hampering your ability to think creatively. 

Question whether your current set-up is 

allowing you to be engaged, inquisitive 

and innovative inside and outside of your 

work. 

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS 

Maintaining a creative approach to 

your work is crucial to your career, but 

developing creativity is ill-spent if you 

don’t possess the ability to communicate 

it effectively. Good communication is 

the difference between bringing an 

innovative idea to the table and making 

it have a proper impact on the business. 

Employers in credit want professionals 

who can keep discussions on-task and 

professional, who listen to employees and 

respect other’s ideas. Equally, employers 

favour jobseekers who are comfortable 

speaking with people at all levels of an 

organisation in a professional manner. 

For credit professionals to work 

successfully with their customers 

and clients, communication skills are 

vital. This involves building positive 

relationships with customers and clients 

who will have different requirements 

and maintaining clear channels of 

communication. As well as external 

communication, working successfully 

with colleagues within your organisation 

also requires good communication skills 

and can be instrumental in advancing 

your career. 

Good communication depends on being 

clear and concise, and not overloading 

a colleague when an immediate action 

may be more necessary. While a focus on 

detail is important in the technical aspect 

of credit management, knowing when to 

keep it short will serve you well. As an 

extension of this, knowing when to speak 

up versus when to appreciate a calmer 

moment is an ability that goes with a 

strong communicator. 

WILLINGNESS TO LEARN 

A willingness to learn is the most 

requested soft skill in the world of 

work today. Hiring managers across all 

disciplines want the ideal candidate to 

be proactive and take the initiative to 

continuously develop themselves and 

their career. According to our research, 

career development and CPD was the 

most important benefit for 15 percent of 

accountancy and finance staff, indicating 

that this section are committed to their 

learning and development. 

Maintaining a willingness to learn 

will be crucial for credit professionals 

considering the emergence of AI in 

the workplace. In-demand skills are 

still changing in the face of constant 

technology innovation so credit 

professionals are encouraged to embrace 

new skills in their roles to ensure they can 

continue to develop and progress in their 

careers. As almost half of accountancy 

and finance staff (46 percent) feel there is 

no scope for career progression in their 

current organisation, remaining open to 

learning new skills may help those feeling 

pessimistic about their career prospects. 

In today’s connected world there are 

so many accessible ways to learn. Outside 

of work credit professionals can benefit 

from taking advantage of listening to 

webinars and podcasts on their commute 

as well as staying up to date with news and 

movements in financial markets. While 

at work, seek customer feedback and stay 

up-to-date with what your competition is 

doing. By keeping an eye on changes not 

only within credit management, but also 

with regards to the sector you work in, 

your knowledge will develop to spot new 

gaps in your industry, and potentially 

seek to bridge them. 

Karen Young is Director at Hays 

Credit Management. 


www.cicm.com 

‘‘ 

If you are serious 

in furthering your 

career in credit 

management, 

being a member 

is essential 

Andrew Barbaro 

FCICM 

The value 

of CICM 

membership 

Andrew Barbaro FCICM 

Director of Customer Financial Services MEA 

Emerson Automation Solutions is a Fellow of 

the CICM. 

Read more about his story and join your 

credit community by visiting: 

www.cicm.com/value-of-cicm-membership/ 

info@cicm.com 

www.cicm.com 

01780 722900

NEW AND UPGRADED MEMBERS 

Do you know someone who would benefit from CICM membership? Or have 

you considered applying to upgrade your membership? See our website 

www.cicm.com/membership-types for more detail, or call us on 01780 722903 

Studying Members 

NEW MEMBERS 

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Congratulations to our current members who have upgraded their membership 

Upgraded members 

David Kerr FCICM 

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Key Account Manager at Arvato Financial Solutions 

TOM HOPE MCICM 

“I recently applied to be upgraded to MCICM as I feel it’s vitally 

important to be part of CICM for the learning and development it 

provides; so I can meet my future goals for career progression. It also 

gives employers reassurance that you meet a recognisable standard 

and raises your profile.” 


As the Winners of the Legal Team 

of the Year 2019, Debt Recovery 

is nothing new to Keebles. 

We recovered over £5.7 million of 

debt for clients this financial year 

Having practised successfully in this area for 

many decades, you can be confident inour 

experience and ability. 

We appreciate the needs of our clients and 

understand that each client’srequirements 

are different. Whether you are alarge 

organisation requiring regular management 

reports and file reviews, orasmall business 

growing rapidly, but with little experience 

of the debt recovery process, wehave the 

flexibility tocater for your needs. 

We work closely with our clients and will 

tailor aservice level agreement sothat 

we both know exactly what needs tobe 

achieved and at what cost. 

No Recovery No Fee 

We do not charge for issuing aLetter Before 

Action. Wewill only charge you commission, 

at an agreed rate, onany sums recovered. 

If we are unable to recover your debt at this 

stage itwill cost you nothing. 

No Hidden Costs 

For many cases, where it is necessary 

to issue legal proceedings, we can offer 

service on afixed fee basis with nohidden 

costs and, where possible, wewill make 

additional claims on your behalf for interest 

and compensation under The Late Payment 

of Commercial Debts legislation to further 

minimise the recovery cost to you. 

Success is the Key 

Over the past 5years we have successfully 

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full or by way ofanagreed settlement. 

Call now totalk to amember of 

the Debt Recovery Team: 

0113 399 3470 

charise.marsden@keebles.com 

www.keebles.com

BE ONE CLICK AWAY 

FROM OUR WEBSITE 

How to set up a great one click link to the CICM website on 

your mobile phone. Follow these four simple steps... 

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 

Go to cicm.com > Click highlighted icon at bottom of screen > Click add to Home screen icon 

> Click add icon at top right of screen > CICM icon will appear on your screen 

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 

Open cicm.com in Google Chrome browser > Tap Menu button > Tap add shortcut to Home screen 

> Icon will appear on your screen. Menu button on other Android devices may be displayed differently. 

THE RECOGNISED STANDARD IN CREDIT MANAGEMENT 

T: +44 (0)1780 722900 | WWW.CICM.COM 


BRANCH NEWS 

60SECONDS 

WITH 

FULL NAME: Claire Cape. 

CURRENT JOB TITLE: Credit Control 

Supervisor. 

CURRENT COMPANY NAME: MWUK. 

YEARS IN CREDIT MANAGEMENT: Ten 

YEARS IN CURRENT ROLE: Seven. 

Tracking debtors down 

Sheffield Branch 

SHEFFIELD Branch members and 

guests gathered at the Mercure 

Parkway Hotel for the second 

branch meeting of 2019. After 

networking over refreshments 

and an early evening buffet, Mark Hodgson 

and Karl Brooker of Tremark Investigations 

in Leeds gave an enlightening and detailed 

presentation on the lawful investigation, 

surveillance, tracing and profiling of 

debtors. 

Mark is Founder and Managing Director 

of Tremark and explained the historical 

journey of the business of investigators and 

the regulations and statutes that prevent or 

legitimise the enquiries of others. He went 

on to highlight the high-profile Government 

inquiries such as Operation Motorman that 

resulted in the Private Security Industry 

Act 2001 and the ‘phone hacking’ scandals 

of the last few years culminating in the 

Leverson Inquiry. This was followed by the 

game changing GDPR imposing good data 

practice, compliance and accountability. 

We then heard in more detail about 

the impact of data protection, legitimising 

conditions such as consent and legitimate 

interest, and followed through a detained 

investigative matrix for legitimate 

information gathering, data enhancement 

techniques, tracing and profiling. There 

was practical help for members and guests 

with how to guides for GDPR Impact 

Assessments when instructing outsource 

companies to make legitimate enquiries on 

their behalf. Finally, there was a short video 

of surveillance footage taken by Mark’s 

team highlighting the potential difficulties 

in gathering usable evidence, and how it 

became a successful operation that had 

broken a fraudulent holiday compensation 

claim scam leading to numerous arrests 

and a change in the law. 

After a short question and answer 

session Mark conducted a prize draw 

sponsored by Tremark with the winning 

member receiving a bottle of bubbly! 

Author: Myron Fedak MCICM 

WE WANT 

YOUR NEWS! 

Get in touch with Andrew Morris by emailing 

andrew.morris@cicm.com with your branch 

news and event reports. Please only send up 

to 400 words and any images need to be high 

resolution to be printable, so 1MB plus. 

HOW DID YOU GET INTO CREDIT 

MANAGEMENT? Quite by accident! I was 

covering reception as a temp and credit 

control needed someone to assist with their 

admin. I started to call for remittances and 

the rest is history. I was lucky to have the 

mentor I did and still do. 

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT 

WHERE YOU WORK? The great team of 

people I have around me in the department. 

They are all exceptional at what they do. 

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU? The ethos of the 

business and setting a great example to my 

colleagues. 

WHAT SKILL DO YOU THINK HAS 

HELPED YOU MOST IN YOUR CREDIT 

CAREER SO FAR? The ability to adapt with 

the changing environment and requirements 

of the role. Strong communication skills are 

also very important. 

NAME THREE PEOPLE YOU WOULD 

INVITE TO A DINNER PARTY AND 

WHY? David Attenborough, Nick Cave and 

Christopher Walken. The knowledge, the 

music, the life. 

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PASTIME/ 

RELAXATION ACTIVITY? Singing. 

Anywhere, anytime, anything! 

WHAT IS THE BEST/WORST QUALITY 

IN A LEADER? Patience/impatience. 

WHO IS YOUR BUSINESS OR PERSONAL 

HERO? Marie Bailey. My mentor and 

current manager. We have been together for 

over ten years now and I still learn so much 

from her. 

WHAT CAN'T YOU LIVE WITHOUT? My 

family. 

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR MOST 

REWARDING MOMENT IN YOUR 

CREDIT CAREER? Every day is rewarding 

but becoming Supervisor was the most 

rewarding so far. 

WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU THE MOST 

ABOUT WORKING IN CREDIT? That it’s 

more than just numbers. 

IF YOU WEREN’T WORKING IN 

CREDIT MANAGEMENT, WHAT 

WOULD YOU BE DOING? Counselling or 

nursing. 


TAKE CONTROL OF 

YOUR CREDIT CAREER 

GLOBAL CREDIT MANAGER 

TRUSTED BUSINESS PARTNER, 

BIAS TO ACTION, SIMPLIFY 

London (zone 1), market leading salary 

+ targeted bonus + excellent benefits 

A fantastic opportunity has arisen for a global credit 

manager to join a large, global B2B travel/tech company 

based in central London. In this key role you will lead a 

global credit team, building trusted long term relationships 

with customers and senior internal stakeholders, defining 

strategy, implementing processes/systems and mentoring 

your team to success. Significant international client 

experience including working with multiple currencies, 

group treasury operations and collateralisation strategies 

is essential. This excellent opportunity will suit an 

experienced global credit professional who has a desire 

to build a market leading credit operation, with a passion 

to nurture and develop the talent in their team and an 

ability to promote creativity, accountability and a focus 

on continuous improvement. Ref: 3591741 

Contact Julia Foster on 020 3465 0020 

or email julia.foster2@hays.com 

CREDIT ACCOUNTS SUPERVISOR 

MANAGE CREDIT RISK 

Newark, £28,000 + benefits + study support 

A highly entrepreneurial service provider is looking 

for a commercially minded credit specialist to take 

responsibility for all aspects of credit, managing a team of 

four in sales and purchase ledger. You will focus on credit 

risk, managing customer credit limits, credit facilities, 

escalation issues and aged debt including non-UK 

customer accounts, daily bank reconciliations and sales 

credit notes. Ideally, you will have varied B2B exposure 

and strong communication and staff management skills. 

Previous people management experience is essential. 

This is a great opportunity to join a growing company 

and to widen your exposure to other ledgers and 

commercial areas of the business. Ref: 3134053 

STRATEGIC PEOPLE MANAGER 

COACH A WINNING TEAM 

Glasgow, c.£40,000 

An opportunity has arisen for a strategic people manager 

to join a transactional finance team looking after credit 

management. Reporting into the senior management 

team you will be responsible for driving efficiencies within 

the credit process, coaching, mentoring and setting KPIs 

for the team and assisting the senior management team 

to set key deliverables. You will be a motivating people 

manager and be a hands-on leader. Hours of work are 

Monday to Thursday 8am-5pm, with a 4pm finish on 

a Friday although this is flexible and the organisation 

is easily accessible by public transport. Ref: 3579762 

Contact Lauren Hamilton on 0141 212 3665 

or email lauren.hamilton@hays.com 

CREDIT CONTROLLER 

INNOVATIVE RESEARCH COMPANY 

Watford, £26,400 + benefits + study support 

This innovative, world-leading multi-site business is 

looking for a credit controller to join its team in Watford. 

The company is well-established and has been trading 

for nearly 100 years. Your responsibilities will include 

monitoring and chasing debt to minimise DSO and 

resolving queries. You will be part of a company that 

has a strong work ethic and encourages flexibility on 

hours to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Ideally, 

you will have previous credit control experience and 

be a team player. 

Ref: 3579069 

Contact Charlotte Clarke on 01923 205286 

or email charlotte.clarke@hays.com 

Contact Lisa Francis on 01522 313300 

or email lisa.francis@hays.com 

hays.co.uk/creditcontrol 


PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 


CHALLENGE YOURSELF 

Birmingham, £24,000-£26,000 + study support 

This well-known legal firm with offices across the UK 

in the major cities, is looking for a professional services 

credit controller to join its team. Your responsibilities 

will include supporting the Midlands branches, ensuring 

best practice is adhered to and cashflow is maximised. 

You will have strong negotiating and people skills. 

In return, you will receive a competitive salary and 

study support. 

Ref: 3582096 

Contact Peter Kidd on 0121 212 1814 

or email peter.kidd@hays.com 


MAKE A DIFFERENCE 

Poole, up to £25,000 

A rare opportunity has arisen to join a vibrant apparel 

brand based on the South Coast. The role will have a 

strong emphasis on pro-active debtor chasing and this is 

a fantastic role for you if you enjoy working autonomously 

as part of a progressive company. You will have previous 

credit control experience, an excellent telephone manner 

and the ability to build positive working relationships. 

This a great opportunity for a forward-thinking, well 

organised and proactive individual with experience of 

reducing aged debt and cash collection. 

Ref: 3577971 

Contact James Cuesta on 01202 048611 

or email james.cuesta@hays.com 

AR SPECIALIST 

LEAD THE AR FUNCTION WITH IMPACT 

Belfast, £25,000 + study support 

This NI based business is a highly innovative global leader 

in its field and exports to over 55 countries worldwide. 

It is looking for an AR specialist to join its team. You will 

be responsible for operating the accounts receivable 

function for the global business, work closely with the 

Belfast based accounts function and liaise daily with 

sales reps and teams all across the world. With a strong 

background in an AR setting, you will have a high degree 

of accuracy and possess first class communication skills. 

Exposure to export markets and letters of credit would be 

advantageous but not essential. Ref: 3580264 

Contact Nicola McCallum on 028 9044 6911 

or email nicola.mccallum@hays.com 

HEAD OF DEBT RECOVERY 

STRATEGIC RECOVERY AND LITIGATION 

Newcastle, £competitive + benefits 

One of the largest law firms in the North East is looking 

for a head of debt recovery to join and lead its growing 

debt recovery team. You will be part of a firm that has an 

outstanding reputation for its values and vision and provide 

a high quality, efficient, cost effective and bespoke service 

to its existing portfolio of clients. You will be responsible for 

developing relationships with new clients to sell the services 

that the firm offers as part of its strategy for growth. 

Ideally, you will be an excellent communicator and strong 

at building new and existing relationships. This is a fantastic 

role with opportunities for career progression if you have a 

passion to drive and deliver results. Ref: 3585800 

Contact Sarah Smith on 0191 261 3996 

or email sarah.smith2@hays.com 

This is just a small selection of the many 

opportunities we have available for credit 

professionals. To find out more email 

hayscicm@hays.com or visit us online. 


FORTHCOMING EVENTS 

Full list of events can be found on our website: www.cicm.com/events 

We are inviting all members to bring a colleague to a CICM membership 

event, free of charge. For more information, email events@cicm.com 

CICM 

EVENTS 

6 June 

CICM West Midlands Branch 

BIRMINGHAM 

Annual Awards Night and BBQ 

This event is Free for members and nonmembers. 

Contact : Kim Delaney-Bowen. Please visit our 

online events calendar for booking details. 

VENUE: The Studio, 7 Cannon Street, 

Birmingham, B2 5EP 


CICM Thames Valley Branch 

SLOUGH 

Curry Night, Please come and join your local 

Thames Valley committee for a social curry 

evening at Memories of India, Farnham Common, 

Slough. Members and non-members will be 

made most welcome. 

Contact: Please visit our online events calendar 

for booking details. 

VENUE: Memories of India, Ashley House, 

6 Beaconsfield Road, Farnham Common, Slough 

SL2 3QL 


CICM FELLOWS’ CELEBRATORY LUNCH 

London 

We invite all Fellows to help us celebrate 

80 years of CICM at this year’s special 

Fellows’ Celebratory Lunch. 

Contact: Email fellowslunch@cicm.com to book. 

VENUE: Churchhill War Rooms, Clive Steps, 

King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AQ. 


CICM South Wales 

CARDIFF 

Take to the Water 

Contact: This was a popular event last year so 

book asap call Diana Keeling 07921 492348. 

VENUE: Atlantic Wharf Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, 

CF10 5BZ 


CICM Sheffield and Yorkshire Ridings 

WAKEFIELD 

Credit Circuit Training 2CPD. Refreshments to be 

served on arrival. Members and non-members 

will be made most welcome at this FREE event. 

Contact : Paula Uttley. Please visit our online 

events calendar for booking details. 

VENUE: Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, 

Wakefield, WF4 4LG 

UP AND COMING EVENTS 


CICM Sussex and Surrey Branch 

SURREY 

Future Proofing your Credit Function – 2CPD 

We anticipate that this will be a popular event, 

and therefore advance booking is essential 

before 3 June 2019, for booking and catering. 



VENUE: Silvermere Golf and Leisure Ltd 

Redhill Road, Cobham, Surrey KT11 1EF 


CICM London Branch 

LONDON 

Payments and Poppadoms 

Numbers are strictly limited to 24 persons 

maximum so, to reserve your place, please pay 

the £10 deposit by Friday 7 June. 



VENUE: The Coriander, 55 Aldersgate Street, 

Barbican, London EC1A 4LA 


Atradius, Onguard, CICM – Credit 

Management – Where it’s been, where it is 

and where it’s going? 

CARDIFF 

Atradius, Onguard and the CICM invite you to join 

us at a dynamic and practical session on: ‘Credit 

Management – where it’s been, where it is, and 

where it’s going’. 



VENUE: TBC 


CICM LEARNING CONFERENCE 2019 

LONDON 

This year we have put together an exciting and 

varied programme based around the theme of 

‘Managing risk in uncertain times’. All the basic 

principles of cash flow and credit management 

are even more important in times of uncertainty 

and change: we have a programme of activity, 

discussion, debate and workshop. 



VENUE: Arundel House, 6 Temple Place, London, 

WC2R 2PG 


CICM Thames Valley and Sussex & Surrey 

Branch 

READING 

Annual Southern Branch Credit Day 6CPD. 

Members and non-members will be made 

welcome at this FREE event. 


Contact : Please visit our online events calendar 


VENUE : Verizon Reading International Business 

Park, Basingstoke Road, Reading, RG2 6DA 

OTHER EVENTS 


Forums International Webinar 

ONLINE 

The Fastest Growing Industry 

Contact : Please visit our online events calendar 



Forums International 

STRATFORD UPON AVON 

Senior Management Forum 

Contact : For an information pack email 

smf@forumsinternational.co.uk 



STRATFORD UPON AVON 

Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Credit Forum 


pmf@forumsinternational.co.uk 

13-14 June 


LONDON 

International Telecoms Risk Forum (ITRF) 


itrf@forumsinternational.co.uk 



LONDON 

The Fraud Team 


info@forumsinternational.co.uk 

9 July 


BRACKNELL 

Credit Professionals Forum 

Contact : For more information email 

cpf@forumsinternational.co.uk 

VENUE : Coppid Beech Hotel, John Nike Way, 

Bracknell, RG12 8TF 

10 July 


LONDON 

SAP User Group 

Contact : For more information email 

sapug@forumsinternational.co.uk 

VENUE : Moore Stephens, London

3 

YEARS 

IN 2018 


Controller 

Accounts Receivable 

Specialist 

Credit Control 

Supervisor 

Head of 


Billing 

Administrator 

CELEBRATING 30 

YEARS OF MATCHING 

EXCEPTIONAL TALENT 

TO LEADING BRANDS 

ACROSSTHE UK. 

Portfolio Credit Control, part of the Portfolio Group, have been supplying the highest calibre permanent, 

temporary and contract staff for 30 years and our dedicated Consultants have specialist expertise in the 

Credit Control market. 

We’ve opened our Credit Control Division in Manchester 

Centrally located, we are nowable to provide apersonal level of service 

in aclose proximity to our clientsbased in: MANCHESTER &THE NORTH 

WEST •LEEDS &YORKSHIRE •NEWCASTLE &THE NORTH EAST 

Contact one of our dedicated Recruitment Consultants to fill 

your current vacancy or find your next career move! 

LONDON 020 7650 3199 

THIRD FLOOR, 1FINSBURYSQUARE, LONDON EC2A 1AE 

MANCHESTER 0161 836 9949 

THE PENINSULA, VICTORIA PLACE, MANCHESTER M4 4FB 

www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

recruitment@portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

www.facebook.com/theportfoliogroup 

linkedin.com/company/portfolio-credit-control 


WE ARE RATED 9OUT OF 10 

@portfoliocredit

Cr£ditWho? 

CICM Directory of Services 

COLLECTIONS 

COLLECTIONS LEGAL 

COURT ENFORCEMENT SERVICES 

Atradius Collections Ltd 

3 Harbour Drive, 

Capital Waterside, 

Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, CF10 4WZ 

United Kingdom 

T: +44 (0)2920 824700 

W: www.atradiuscollections.com/uk/ 

Atradius Collections Ltd is an established specialist in business 

to business collections. As the collections division of the Atradius 

Crédito y Caución, we have a strong position sharing history, 

knowledge and reputation. 

Annually handling more than 110,000 cases and recovering over 

a billion EUROs in collections at any one time, we deliver when 

it comes to collecting outstanding debts. With over 90 years’ 

experience, we have an in-depth understanding of the importance of 

maintaining customer relationships whilst efficiently and effectively 

collecting monies owed. 

The individual nature of our clients’ customer relationships is 

reflected in the customer focus we provide, structuring our service 

to meet your specific needs. We work closely with clients to provide 

them with a collection strategy that echoes their business character, 

trading patterns and budget. 

For further information contact: Hans Meijer, UK and Ireland Country 

Director (hans.meijer@atradius.com). 

INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIONS 

Premium Collections Limited 

3 Caidan House, Canal Road 

Timperley, Cheshire. WA14 1TD 

T: +44 (0)161 962 4695 

E: paul.daine@premiumcollections.co.uk 

W: www.premiumcollections.co.uk 

For all your credit management requirements Premium Collections 

has the solution to suit you. Operating on a national and international 

basis we can tailor a package of products and services to meet your 

requirements. 

Services include B2B collections, B2C collections, international 

collections, absconder tracing, asset repossessions, status reporting 

and litigation support. 

Managed from our offices in Manchester, Harrogate and Dublin our 

network of 55 partners cover the World. 

Contact Paul Daine FCICM on +44 (0)161 962 4695 or 

paul.daine@premiumcollections.co.uk 

www.premiumcollections.co.uk 

COLLECTIONS LEGAL 

Lovetts Solicitors 

Lovetts, Bramley House, The Guildway, Old Portsmouth 

Road, Guildford, Surrey GU3 1LR 

T: +44(0)1483 457500 E: info@lovetts.co.uk 

W: www.lovetts.co.uk 

Lovetts has been recovering debts for 30 years! When you 

want the right expertise to recover overdue debts why not use a 

specialist? Lovetts’ only line of business is the recovery of 

business debts and any resulting commercial litigation. 

We provide: 

• Letters Before Action, prompting positive outcomes in more than 

80 percent of cases • Overseas Pre-litigation collections with 

multi-lingual capabilities • 24/7 access to our online debt 

management system ‘CaseManager’ 

Don’t just take our word for it, here’s recent customer feedback: 

“...All our service expectations have been exceeded...” 

“...The online system is particularly useful and is extremely easy 

to use... “...Lovetts has a recognisable brand that generates 

successful results...” 

Yuill + Kyle 

Capella, 60 York Street, Glasgow, G2 8JX, Scotland, UK 

T: 0141 572 4251 

E: scowan@yuill-kyle.co.uk 

W: www.debtscotland.com 

Do You Have Trouble Collecting Debts in 

Scotland? We Don’t 

Yuill + Kyle is one of Scotland’s leading debt recovery and credit 

control law firms. With over 100 years of experience, we are 

specialists in resolving disputed and undisputed debts. Our track 

record for successful recoveries means you have just moved one step 

closer to getting your money back. 

How we can help you: 

• Specialist advice for all of your legal matters 

• A responsive and straightforward approach 

• Providing you with solutions-driven advice 

• Delivering cost certainty and value for money 

Our services 

• Pre-sue • Fast track collections • Judgement enforcement 

• Insolvency • Bankruptcy • Liquidation 

CONSULTANCY 

Court Enforcement Services 

Wayne Whitford – Director 

M: +44 (0)7834 748 183 T : +44 (0)1992 663 399 

E : wayne@courtenforcementservices.co.uk 

W: www.courtenforcementservices.co.uk 

High Court Enforcement that will Empower You! 

We help law firms and in-house debt recovery and legal teams to 

enforce CCJs by transferring them up to the High Court. Setting us 

apart in the industry, our unique and Award Winning Field Agent App 

helps to provide information in real time and transparency, empowering 

our clients when they work with us. 

• Free Transfer up process of CCJ’s to High Court 

• Exceptional Recovery Rates 

• Individual Client Attention and Tailored Solutions 

• Real Time Client Access to Cases 

CREDIT INFORMATION 

Company Watch 

Centurion House, 37 Jewry Street, 

LONDON. EC3N 2ER 

T: +44 (0)20 7043 3300 

E: info@companywatch.net 

W: www.companywatch.net 

Organisations around the world rely on Company Watch’s industryleading 

financial analytics to drive their credit risk processes. Our 

financial risk modelling and ability to map medium to long-term risk as 

well as short-term credit risk set us apart from other credit reference 

agencies. 

Quality and rigour run through everything we do, from our unique 

method of assessing corporate financial health via our H-Score®, to 

developing analytics on our customers’ in-house data. 

With the H-Score® predicting almost 90 percent of corporate 

insolvencies in advance, it is the risk management tool of choice, 

providing actionable intelligence in an uncertain world. 

Blaser Mills Law 

40 Oxford Road, 

High Wycombe, 

Buckinghamshire. HP11 2EE 

T: 01494 478660/478661 

E: Jackie Ray jar@blasermills.co.uk or 

Gary Braathen gpb@blasermills.co.uk 

W: www.blasermills.co.uk 

A full-service firm, Blaser Mills Law’s experienced Commercial 

Recoveries team offer pre-legal collections, debt recovery, 

litigation, dispute resolution and insolvency. The team includes 

CICM qualified staff, recommended in both Legal 500 and 

Chambers & Partners legal directories. 

Offices in High Wycombe, Amersham, Rickmansworth, London 

and Silverstone 

Sanders Consulting Associates Ltd 

T: +44(0)1525 720226 

E: enquiries@chrissandersconsulting.com 

W: www.chrissandersconsulting.com 

Sanders Consulting is an independent niche consulting firm 

specialising in leadership and performance improvement in all aspects 

of the order to cash process. Chris Sanders FCICM, the principal, is 

well known in the industry with a wealth of experience in operational 

credit management, billing, change and business process improvement. 

A sought after speaker with cross industry international experience in 

the business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets, his 

innovative and enthusiastic approach delivers pragmatic people and 

process lead solutions and significant working capital improvements to 

clients. Sanders Consulting are proud to manage CICMQ on behalf of 

and under the supervision of the CICM. 


CoCredo 

Missenden Abbey, Great Missenden, Bucks, HP16 0BD 

T: 01494 790600 

E: customerservice@cocredo.com 

W: www.cocredo.co.uk 

CoCredo’s award winning credit reporting and monitoring systems have 

helped to protect over £27 billion of turnover on behalf of our customers. 

Our company data is updated continually throughout the day and access 

to the online portal is available 365 days a year 24/7. 

At CoCredo we aggregate data from a range of leading providers in 

the UK and across the globe so that our customers can view the best 

available data in an easy to read report. We offer customers XML 

Integration and D.N.A Portfolio Management as well as an industry-first 

Dual Report, comparing two leading providers opinions in one report.

FOR INFORMATION, 

OPTIONS AND PRICING 

PLEASE EMAIL: 

grace@cabbell.co.uk 

CREDIT INFORMATION 

CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 

CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 

Experian 

The Sir John Peace Building, Experian Way 

NG2 Business Park, Nottingham NG80 1ZZ 

T: 0844 481 9920 

W: www.experian.co.uk/business-information/ 

For over 30 years Experian have been processing, matching and deriving 

insights to provide accurate, up-to-date information that helps B2B 

organisations to make more effective, fact based decisions, reduce 

risks and meet regulatory standards. We turn complex data into clear 

insights that help manage UK and international businesses to maximise 

opportunities for growth and identify and minimise the associated risks. 

Blending our business and consumer data we can offer a truly blended 

score for sole traders and enhanced scoring on SME’s to tell you more 

about the business and the people behind the business. Experian can 

support with new business, acquisition through to collections while 

managing KYC requirements online or via our suite of APIs. 

Keyivr 

T: +44 (0) 1302 513 000 

E: sales@keyivr W: www.keyivr.co.uk 

Key IVR are proud to have joined the Chartered Institute of Credit 

Management’s Corporate partnership scheme. The CICM is a 

recognised and trusted professional entity within credit management 

and a perfect partner for Key IVR. We are delighted to be providing 

our services to the CICM to assist with their membership collection 

activities. Key IVR provides a suite of products to assist companies 

across the Europe with credit management. Our service is based 

around giving the end-user the means to make a payment when and 

how they choose. Using automated collection methods, such as a 

secure telephone payment line (IVR), web and SMS allows companies 

to free up valuable staff time away from typical debt collection. 

Data Interconnect Ltd 

Units 45-50 

Shrivenham Hundred Business Park 

Majors Road, Watchfield 

Swindon, SN6 8TZ 

T: +44 (0)1367 245777 

E: sales@datainterconnect.co.uk 

W: www.datainterconnect.com 

Data Interconnect provides Intelligent Invoice to Cash Automation. 

Corrivo Billing, Collection and Dispute modules seamlessly integrate 

for a rich, end-to-end A/R user experience. Branded customer 

portals, real-time dashboards, advanced reporting, available in 15 

languages as standard; are some of the reason why global brands 

choose Data Interconnect. 

Graydon UK 

66 College Road, 2nd Floor, Hygeia Building, Harrow, 

Middlesex, HA1 1BE 

T: +44 (0)208 515 1400 

E: customerservices@graydon.co.uk 

W: www.graydon.co.uk 

Graydon UK is a specialist in Credit Risk Management and Intelligence, 

providing access to business information on over 100 million entities 

across more than 190 countries. Its mission is to convert vast amounts 

of data from diverse data sources into invaluable information. Based 

on this, it generates economic, financial and commercial insights that 

help its customers make better business decisions and ultimately 

gain competitive advantage. Graydon is owned by Atradius, Coface 

and Euler Hermes, Europe's leading credit insurance organisations. It 

offers a comprehensive network of offices and partners worldwide to 

ensure a seamless service. 

THE ONLY AML RESOURCE YOU NEED 

SmartSearch 

SmartSearch, Harman House, 

Station Road,Guiseley, Leeds, LS20 8BX 

T: +44 (0)113 238 7660 

E: info@smartsearchuk.com W: www.smartsearchuk.com 

KYC, AML and CDD all rely on a combination of deep data with broad 

coverage, highly automated flexible technology with an innovative 

and intuitive customer interface. Key features include automatic 

Worldwide Sanction & PEP checking, Daily Monitoring, Automated 

Enhanced Due Diligence and pro-active customer management. 

Choose SmartSearch as your benchmark. 

ONGUARD 

T: +31 (0)88 256 66 66 

E: ruurd.bakker@onguard.com 

W: www.onguard.com 

Onguard is specialist in credit management software and market 

leader in innovative solutions for order to cash. Our integrated 

platform ensures an optimal connection of all processes in the order 

to cash chain and allows sharing of critical data. 

Intelligent tools that can seamlessly be interconnected and offer 

overview and control of the payment process, as well as contribute to 

a sustainable customer relationship. 

In more than 50 countries the Onguard platform is successfully used 

for successful credit management. 

Tinubu Square UK 

Holland House, 4 Bury Street, 

London EC3A 5AW 

T: +44 (0)207 469 2577 / 

E: uksales@tinubu.com 

W: www.tinubu.com 

Founded in 2000, Tinubu Square is a software vendor, enabler of the 

Credit Insurance, Surety and Trade Finance digital transformation. 

Tinubu Square enables organizations across the world to significantly 

reduce their exposure to risk and their financial, operational and technical 

costs with best-in-class technology solutions and services. Tinubu 

Square provides SaaS solutions and services to different businesses 

including credit insurers, receivables financing organizations and 

multinational corporations. 

Tinubu Square has built an ecosystem of customers in over 20 countries 

worldwide and has a global presence with offices in Paris, London, New 

York, Montreal and Singapore. 

Proud supporters 

of CICMQ 

Rimilia 

Corbett House, Westonhall Road, Bromsgrove, B60 4AL 

T: +44 (0)1527 872123 E: enquiries@rimilia.com 

W: www.rimilia.com 

Operating globally across any sector, Rimilia provides intelligent, 

finance automation solutions that enable customers to get paid on time 

and control their cashflow and cash collection in real time. Rimilia’s 

software solutions use sophisticated analytics and artificial intelligence 

(AI) to predict customer payment behaviour and easily match and 

reconcile payments, removing the uncertainty of cash collection. The 

Rimilia software automates the complete accounts receivable process 

and eliminates unallocated cash, reducing manual activity by an 

average 70% and achieving best in class matching rates recognised 

by industry specialists such as The Hackett Group. 

HighRadius 

T: +44 7399 406889 

E: gwyn.roberts@highradius.com 

W: www.highradius.com 

HighRadius is the leading provider of Integrated Receivables 

solutions for automating receivables and payment functions such 

as credit, collections, cash allocation, deductions and eBilling. 

The Integrated Receivables suite is delivered as a software-as-aservice 

(SaaS). HighRadius also offers SAP-certified Accelerators 

for SAP S/4HANA Finance Receivables Management, enabling 

large enterprises to maximize the value of their SAP investments. 

HighRadius Integrated Receivables solutions have a proven track 

record of reducing days sales outstanding (DSO), bad-debt and 

increasing operation efficiency, enabling companies to achieve an 

ROI in less than a year. 

CEDAR 

ROSE 

R 

Cedar Rose 

3, Georgiou Katsonotou Street,3036, Limassol, Cyprus 

E: info@cedar-rose.com T: +357 25346630 

W: www.cedar-rose.com 

Cedar Rose has been globally recognised as the expert for 

credit reports, due diligence and data for the Middle East 

and North African countries since 1997. We now cover over 

170 countries with the same high quality, expert analysis 

and attention to detail we are well-known and trusted for. 

Making best use of artificial intelligence and technology, Cedar 

Rose has won several awards including Credit Excellence 

& European Business Awards. Our website is a one-stopshop 

for your business intelligence solutions. We are the 

ultimate source; with competitive prices and friendly customer 

service - whether you need one or one thousand reports. 

Credica Ltd 

Building 168, Maxell Avenue, Harwell Oxford, Oxon. OX11 0QT 

T: 01235 856400E: info@credica.co.uk W: www.credica.co.uk 

Our highly configurable and extremely cost effective Collections and 

Query Management System has been designed with 3 goals in mind: 

• To improve your cashflow • To reduce your cost to collect 

• To provide meaningful analysis of your business 

Evolving over 15 years and driven by the input of 1000s of Credit 

Professionals across the UK and Europe, our system is successfully 

providing significant and measurable benefits for our diverse portfolio 

of clients. 

We would love to hear from you if you feel you would benefit from our 

‘no nonsense’ and human approach to computer software. 

Redwood Collections Ltd 

0208 288 3555 

enquiry@redwoodcollections.com 

Airport House, Purley Way, Croydon, CR0 0XZ 

“Redwood Collections offers a complete portfolio of debt collection 

services ranging from sensitive client-debtor mediation through to 

legal and insolvency action. 

Incorporated in 2009, we are pleased to represent in excess of 

11,000 clients. Whatever your debt collection needs, we have the 

expertise and resources to deliver a fast, efficient and cost-effective 

solution.” 

The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / June 2019 / PAGE 65 continues on page 66 >

Cr£ditWho? 

CICM Directory of Services 

FOR INFORMATION, 

OPTIONS AND PRICING 

PLEASE EMAIL: 

grace@cabbell.co.uk 

DATA AND ANALYTICS 

Dun & Bradstreet 

Marlow International, Parkway Marlow 

Buckinghamshire SL7 1AJ 

Telephone: (0800) 001-234 Website: www.dnb.co.uk 

Dun & Bradstreet Finance Solutions enable modern finance 

leaders and credit professionals to improve business performance 

through more effective risk management, identification of growth 

opportunities, and better integration of data and insights across the 

business. Powered by our Data Cloud, our solutions provide access 

to the world’s most comprehensive commercial data and insights 

- supplying a continually updated view of business relationships 

that helps finance and credit teams stay ahead of market shifts and 

customer changes. Learn more here: 

www.dnb.co.uk/modernfinance 

FINANCIAL SERVICES 

C2FO 

15 Statton Street, Mayfair, 

London W1J 8LQ 

T: 07799 692193 

E: anna.donadelli@c2fo.com W: www.c2fo.com 

C2FO turns receivables into cashflow and payables into income, 

uniquely connecting buyers and suppliers to allow discounts in 

exchange for early payment of approved invoices. Suppliers access 

additional liquidity sources by accelerating payments from buyers 

when required in just two clicks, at a rate that works for them. 

Buyers, often corporates with global supply chains, benefit from the 

C2FO solution by improving gross margin while strengthening the 

financial health of supply chains through ethical business practices. 

SERRALA 

Serrala UK Ltd, 125 Wharfdale Road 

Winnersh Triangle, Wokingham 

Berkshire RG41 5RB 

E: a.velzian@serrala.com W: www.serrala.com 

T: +44 1182 070 464 M: +44 7802 881 797 

Serrala optimizes the Universe of Payments for organisations seeking 

efficient cash visibility and secure financial processes. As an SAP 

Partner, Serrala supports over 3,500 companies worldwide. With 

more than 30 years of experience and thousands of successful 

customer projects, including solutions for the entire order-tocash 

process, Serrala provides credit managers and receivables 

professionals with the solutions they need to successfully protect 

their business against credit risk exposure and bad debt loss. 

FINANCIAL PR 

Gravity London 

Floor 6/7, Gravity London, 69 Wilson St, London, EC21 2BB 

T: +44(0)207 330 8888. E: sfeast@gravitylondon.com 

W: www.gravitylondon.com 

Gravity is an award winning full service PR and advertising 

business that is regularly benchmarked as being one of the best 

in its field. It has a particular expertise in the credit sector, building 

long-term relationships with some of the industry’s best-known 

brands working on often challenging briefs. As the partner agency for 

the Credit Services Association (CSA) for the past 13 years, and the 

Chartered Institute of Credit Management since 2006, it understands 

the key issues affecting the credit industry and what works and what 

doesn’t in supporting its clients in the media and beyond. 

FORUMS 

FORUMS INTERNATIONAL 

T: +44 (0)1246 555055 

E: info@forumsinternational.co.uk 

W: www.forumsinternational.co.uk 

Forums International Ltd have been running Credit and Industry 

Forums since 1991. We cover a range of industry sectors and 

International trading, attendance is for Credit Professionals of all 

levels. Our forums are not just meetings but communities which 

aim to prepare our members for the challenges ahead. Attending 

for the first time is free for you to gauge the benefits and meet the 

members and we only have pre-approved Partners, so you will never 

intentionally be sold to. 

PAYMENT SOLUTIONS 

American Express 

76 Buckingham Palace Road, 

London. SW1W 9TQ 

T: +44 (0)1273 696933 

W: www.americanexpress.com 

American Express is working in partnership with the CICM and is 

a globally recognised provider of payment solutions to businesses. 

Specialising in providing flexible collection capabilities to drive a 

number of company objectives including: 

•Accelerate cashflow •Improved DSO •Reduce risk 

•Offer extended terms to customers 

•Provide an additional line of bank independent credit to drive 

growth •Create competitive advantage with your customers 

As experts in the field of payments and with a global reach, 

American Express is working with credit managers to drive growth 

within businesses of all sectors. By creating an additional lever to 

help support supplier/client relationships American Express is proud 

to be an innovator in the business payments space. 

Testimonial 

We have been regular advertisers 

in Credit Management (CM) 

magazine for more than ten 

years and have found it to be an 

excellent medium for raising our 

brand awareness and securing 

major contracts. 

By way of example, one of the 

largest logistics firms in the world 

approached us for our services 

having seen our profile in CM. 

This led to a very successful 

relationship and gained us 

significant credibility. 

We would recommend advertising 

in CM magazine to other 

businesses. 

RECRUITMENT 

Portfolio Credit Control 

1 Finsbury Square, London. EC2A 1AE 

T: 0207 650 3199 

E: recruitment@portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

W: www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

Portfolio Credit Control, solely specialises in the recruitment of 

permanent, temporary and contract Credit Control, Accounts 

Receivable and Collections staff. Part of an award winning recruiter 

we speak to and meet credit controllers all day everyday understanding 

their skills and backgrounds to provide you with tried and tested credit 

control professionals. We have achieved enormous growth because we 

offer a uniquely specialist approach to our clients, with a commitment 

to service delivery that exceeds your expectations every single time. 

RECRUITMENT 

PORTFOLIO 

CREDIT CONTROL 

ESKER 

Sam Townsend Head of Marketing 

Northern Europe Esker Ltd. 

T: +44 (0)1332 548176 M: +44 (0)791 2772 302 

W: www.esker.co.uk 

LinkedIn: Esker – Northern Europe 

Twitter: @EskerNEurope 

Esker.blog 

Esker’s Accounts Receivable (AR) solution removes the all-toocommon 

obstacles preventing today’s businesses from collecting 

receivables in a timely manner. From invoice delivery to cash 

application, Esker automates each step. Esker's automated AR 

system powered by TermSync helps companies modernise without 

replacing their core billing and collections processes. By simply 

automating what should be automated, customers get the post-sale 

experience they deserve and your team gets the tools they need. 

Bottomline Technologies 

115 Chatham Street, Reading 

Berks RG1 7JX | UK 

T: 0870 081 8250 E: emea-info@bottomline.com 

W: www.bottomline.com/uk 

Bottomline Technologies (NASDAQ: EPAY) helps businesses 

pay and get paid. Businesses and banks rely on Bottomline for 

domestic and international payments, effective cash management 

tools, automated workflows for payment processing and bill 

review and state of the art fraud detection, behavioural analytics 

and regulatory compliance. Businesses around the world depend 

on Bottomline solutions to help them pay and get paid, including 

some of the world’s largest systemic banks, private and publicly 

traded companies and Insurers. Every day, we help our customers 

by making complex business payments simple, secure and seamless. 

Hays Credit Management 

107 Cheapside, London, EC2V 6DN 

T: 07834 260029 

E: karen.young@hays.com 

W: www.hays.co.uk/creditcontrol 

Hays Credit Management is working in partnership with the CICM 

and specialise in placing experts into credit control jobs and credit 

management jobs. Hays understands the demands of this challenging 

environment and the skills required to thrive within it. Whatever 

your needs, we have temporary, permanent and contract based 

opportunities to find your ideal role. Our candidate registration process 

is unrivalled, including face-to-face screening interviews and a credit 

control skills test developed exclusively for Hays by the CICM. We offer 

CICM members a priority service and can provide advice across a wide 

spectrum of job search and recruitment issues. 


FROM THE 

ARCHIVE 

Credit Management 

magazine from 52 years ago.19 

67 

IN June 1967 the Six Day War concludes with a U.N. brokered 

ceasefire after Israel seized the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip 

from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and 

the Golan Heights from Syria. The US House of Representatives 

unanimously votes to make burning the American flag a federal 

crime, the first automatic teller machine (ATM) begins service at 

the Enfield branch of Barclays Bank, the fifth James Bond film You 

Only Live Twice premieres in London, Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’ 

reaches number one. 

PUBLICITY 

FOR THE 

INSTITUTE 

A special committee 

is created to consider 

ways in which the 

Institute can market 

itself to become 

more widely known 

in the business 

community and 

ultimately increase 

memberships. 

CUTHBERT GREIG, C.B.E., F.C.I.S., F.I.C.M. 

Members learn of the sad news that the founder of the Institute and 

then-Vice President Cuthbert Greig has died suddenly. Alongside 

some of the country’s leading credit professionals, Greig formed the 

Institute until the war led to activities being suspended until 1946; 

he would go on to be named the Chairman of Council before being 

elected as the first President. 


There are easier ways to achieve 

peace of mind. 

Like buying credit reports 

from Cedar Rose. 

cedar-rose.com 

+357 25 346630

Credit Management June 2019

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