Credit Management December 2022

CMNEWS
A round-up of news stories from the
world of consumer and commercial credit.
L
OWELL Group, one of
Europe’s leading credit
management services
providers, has completed
the acquisition of Hoist
Finance UK following
receipt of regulatory approval.
Hoist UK’s Salford office will
remain and will be positioned as a
recruitment hub for talent in the North
West. Approximately 180 individuals
currently in the Hoist business will
transition to Lowell.
The transaction includes the
operations of Hoist Finance UK and
its entire unsecured non-performing
loan portfolio, comprising of over two
million consumer accounts, which
had approximately £585m, 180-month
estimated remaining collections as at
Written by – Sean Feast FCICM
Lowell completes acquisition
of Hoist Finance UK
December 2021. The loan portfolio is
almost exclusively in the credit card
and personal loan sector.
John Pears, Lowell UK CEO, says the
acquisition is a big step in Lowell’s
targeted expansion: “This purchase will
position us as the UK’s largest credit
management service provider and not
only expands our customer base but
also aligns with our growth plans of
moving into financial services.
We’re taking on two million more
accounts, which will give us the
data and insight we need to further
strengthen our award-winning
customer interactions. We’re looking
forward to welcoming Hoist colleagues
into the Lowell family and growing
together as one business.”
Julian Winfield, CEO of Hoist
Finance UK, is excited to be hitting the
ground running: “Lowell’s approach
is industry-leading and the business
has played a major role in setting the
standard for others within the UK.
The way that we work aligns perfectly
to Lowell and this new partnership
couldn’t be a better fit for us.”
The acquisition is described as
continuing Lowell’s growth trajectory
as well as delivering targeted, strategic
expansion into the UK financial
services sector, specifically banking.
Lowell claims it will also benefit
from improved data insight from the
financial services market, materially
speeding up pricing and analysis
whilst reducing investment risk.
Cashflow becomes top priority for small
businesses as economic storm brews
With inflation hovering at a 40-year
high, managing day to day cashflow
has become the primary reason
for small business applications for
finance, according to iwoca’s latest SME
Expert Index.
The survey of brokers has revealed
that managing cashflow is the most
common loan purpose for over two in
five small businesses (42 percent) over
the last quarter, a 16 percentage point
increase from the same period last year.
This is the first time since Q2 2021 that
cashflow concerns have overtaken
ambitions to grow their business as the
primary reason to access finance.
iwoca’s Q3 2022 SME Expert Index
is based on insight from UK brokers
who collectively submitted over 3,000
applications for unsecured finance on
behalf of their SME clients over a fourweek
period in September.
One in five brokers (19 percent) say
it would take over 12 months for
the lending market to return to the
number of loan requests they received
pre-pandemic, a significant increase
since Q2 2022, when only seven percent
of brokers thought it would take over a
year for markets to bounce back.
As inflation pinches, small businesses
are being mindful of APR, which is
currently the leading deciding factor for
SME owners when choosing between
loan offers, according to a quarter of
brokers (24 percent). This is followed
by one in five (21 percent) who say the
approved amount of the loan is the most
impactful factor.
Colin Goldstein, Commercial Growth
Director of iwoca, says the challenging
economic environment has hit small
businesses everywhere: “They’re needing
to manage cashflow in the face of
rising business costs, as well as having
to consider the cost of borrowing,” he
explains. “Our priority is to continue to
support them over the coming months
by providing access to finance as soon as
they need it.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / December 2022 / PAGE 5