Credit Management magazine JAN FEB 2023

CREDIT MANAGEMENT 

CM 

JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2023 

THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND 

COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS 

ROCKET 

FUEL 

The importance 

of data is going 

stratospheric 

How will the credit 

industry fare in 2023. 

Page 14 

The time has come to end 

economic violence against 

women. Page 28

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18 

ROCKET SCIENCE 

Sean Feast FCICM 

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 

www.cicm.com 

CONTENTS 

10 – A GIANT OF INDUSTRY 

A tribute to one of the industry’s great 

characters, Matt Subert MCICM. 

14 

PRESSURE TEST 


28 

VIOLENT DISCORD 

Simona Scarpaleggia 

12 – BLUFF AND BLUSTER 

It looks like we’re in for a blustery year 

ahead. 

14 – PRESSURE TEST 

The credit industry will be severely 

tested in 2023. 

18 – ROCKET SCIENCE 

Sean Feast FCICM speaks exclusively 

to Anthony Scriffignano, Chief Data 

Scientist at Dun & Bradstreet. 

22 – BUCKLE UP 

What can we expect from the vehicle 

leasing market in 2023? 

25 – FORWARD MARCH 

A new path to enforcement. 

28 – VIOLENT DISCORD 

Simona Scarpaleggia says that the day 

has come to end economic violence 

against women. 

34 – THE EYE OF THE THAI-GER 

There is much more to Thailand than 

media-related stereotypes. 

CICM GOVERNANCE 

34 

COUNTRY FOCUS 

Adam Bernstein 

President Stephen Baister FCICM / Chief Executive Sue Chapple FCICM 

Executive Board: Chair Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) / Vice Chair Phil Rice FCICM / Treasurer Glen Bullivant FCICM 

Larry Coltman FCICM / Neil Jinks FCICM / Allan Poole MCICM 

Advisory Council: Caroline Asquith-Turnbull FCICM / Laurie Beagle FCICM / Glen Bullivant FCICM /Brendan Clarkson FCICM 

Larry Coltman FCICM / Peter Gent FCICM(Grad) / Victoria Herd FCICM(Grad) / Andrew Hignett MCICM(Grad) 

Laural Jefferies FCICM / Neil Jinks FCICM / Martin Kirby FCICM / Charles Mayhew FCICM / Hans Meijer FCICM / Debbie Nolan 

FCICM(Grad) / Amanda Phelan MCICM(Grad) / Allan Poole MCICM / Phil Rice FCICM / Phil Roberts FCICM / Chris Sanders FCICM 

Paula Swain FCICM / Mark Taylor MCICM / Atul Vadher FCICM(Grad) 

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. 

Publisher 

Chartered Institute of Credit Management 

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Telephone: 01780 722900 

Email: editorial@cicm.com 

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CMM: www.creditmanagement.org.uk 

Managing Editor 


Deputy Editor 

Iona Yadallee 

Art Editor 

Andrew Morris 

Telephone: 01780 722910 

Email: andrew.morris@cicm.com 

Editorial Team 

Joe Clarkson, Rob Howard, Roshika Perera, 

Melanie York and Mona Yazdanparast 

Advertising 

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Telephone: 01727 739 196 

Email: paul@centuryone.uk 

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2023 subscriptions 

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ISSN 0265-2099 

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / January/February 2023 / PAGE 3

EDITOR’S COLUMN 

Late payment: let’s start 

changing the conversation 


Managing Editor 

NOW I know that as you get 

older, things start coming 

around that you’d swear 

you’ve seen or heard 

before. Like people talking 

about written content on 

the internet, and how it needs to have a 

catchy headline and intro to grab a reader’s 

attention. 

Now I know it’s a long time since I 

studied to become a journalist, but I am 

pretty sure my tutor (a fanatically rightwing 

columnist on The Sun who was on 

strike at the time – now there’s an irony!) 

said much the same thing in 1986, when 

I was despatched by my then employer 

to the London College of Printing (as it 

was then) to learn how to sub. It’s funny 

how people new to a subject and different 

generations re-invent existing ideas and 

reclaim them as their own. 

A bit like Grant Shapps and his drive 

to tackle late payment ‘once and for all’ 

with the Government’s Payment and Cash 

Flow Review, announced at the tail end of 

last year. He says he wants to remind big 

businesses ‘of their duty to ensure their 

smaller suppliers are paid promptly.’ He 

says it is ‘intolerable’ that many small 

firms ‘are routinely paid late.’ Difficult to 

disagree. 

Now I am quite sure we’ve seen this 

kind of thing before, and sadly I don’t 

have the column inches spare to list all 

of the similar reviews that have been 

conducted over the last 30+ years that I’ve 

been covering the subject. But I would 

just remind the reader that it is less than 

three years ago that the Government 

announced a consultation into the role of 

the Small Business Commissioner (SBC) 

and I am fairly certain I’ve not seen, as yet, 

a published response? 

And this is my problem: everyone knows 

that late payment is an issue. Everyone 

talks about a need to change the ‘culture’. 

Everyone always thinks the answer is 

somewhere else, and needs ‘re-inventing’, 

rather than making good and/or refining 

the ideas that are already in place. Like the 

SBC and the Prompt Payment Code. The 

focus is always on the negative impacts 

of failing to treat suppliers fairly, and 

the punishment that transgressors will 

face if they continue to transact with 

their suppliers with such disdain. Even 

now and then the message is one of 

‘barriers to productivity’ caused by late 

payment, rather than the ‘opportunities to 

productivity’ by paying on time. 

So, for 2023, why don’t we start changing 

the conversation? Let’s talk up the benefits 

of paying others on time, or even early. Let’s 

talk about the societal good it can bring to 

local communities, and the confidence it 

delivers to enable investment in people, 

innovation and technology. Let’s ditch the 

meaningless and unhelpful mantra of ‘big 

companies bad and small companies good’ 

tediously repeated by certain pressure 

groups and recognise that the issue is 

much more complicated than that, and 

the answer is undoubtedly multi-tiered. 

Am I right? Let me know what you think. 

And let’s agree that best practice credit 

management, and professional credit 

managers, are very definitely an essential 

part of the solution. 


CMNEWS 

A round-up of news stories from the 

world of consumer and commercial credit. 

Written by – Sean Feast FCICM 

Government’s late payment 

review needs to get back to basics 

THE Government has 

launched a review into 

tackling late payments 

for small businesses amid 

concerns that the current 

cost-of-doing-business crisis, 

combined with rising late payments, 

could push many over the edge. 

Billions in outstanding invoices 

are currently owed to small 

businesses, presenting a barrier to 

productivity, the creation of highlyskilled 

jobs and economic growth. 

The Government estimates that 

small businesses are currently owed 

outstanding payments totalling 

£23.4bn. 

The Business Minister Grant 

Shapps says that the Payment and 

Cash Flow review will scrutinise 

existing practices and measures, 

and the progress in combatting late 

payment: “It will ensure that the UK 

has the right arrangements in place 

to best support small businesses,” he 

adds. 

But Sue Chapple FCICM, Chief 

Executive of the Chartered Institute 

of Credit Management (CICM), is 

concerned that yet another review 

is not the answer: “We’ve been here 

before,” she says, “and have not fully 

debated the findings of the previous 

review into late payment nor the 

report on the future role of the Small 

Business Commissioner,” she says. 

“Being positive, it is good that 

the Government recognises 

the importance of paying small 

businesses on time, but they need 

to spend less time talking and more 

time doing if we are to make any real 

difference. 

“They should also be actively 

promoting the vital importance of 

best practice credit management in 

keeping the cash flowing. We don’t 

particularly need new campaign 

slogans, groups or committees. 

Many of the problems they will no 

doubt highlight could be overcome 

by getting the basics right from the 

start.” 

The review will take stock of the 

Government’s overall approach, 

with reference to: transparency 

and advocacy, including making 

recommendations on the role of 

the Small Business Commissioner, 

Small Business Minister, and BEIS in 

holding late-paying firms to account; 

progress made within different 

business sectors; and the culture and 

impact of late payment, including 

the repercussions of late payment on 

business sustainability and growth 

and various other factors affecting 

smaller firms. 

Its scope will include existing 

Government levers, including 

the role of the Small Business 

Commissioner, the Prompt Payment 

Code and Reporting on Payment 

Practices and Performance 

Regulations, the role of public 

procurement, and the provision for 

statutory interest on outstanding 

debt. It will also look at finance and 

the role of banks in supporting a 

small business economy. 

The review will be led by the 

Minister for Enterprise, Markets 

and Small Business, and report to 

the Secretary of State for Business, 

Energy and Industrial Strategy. 

Elsewhere, HMRC has announced 

increases to both the interest 

charged on late paid tax and the rate 

paid on repayments of tax. These 

rates will also apply to VAT 

for amounts due in relation to 

periods beginning on or after 

1 January 2023. The rates increase 

took effect from 26 December 

2022 for late quarterly instalment 

payments, while late payment 

interest for other late payments 

increased from 6 January. 

❝ 

“Being positive, it is good that 

the Government recognises the 

importance of paying small 

businesses on time, but they need 

to spend less time talking and 

more time doing if we are to make 

any real difference.’’ 

❝ 


NEWS ROUNDUP 

Credit ‘more expensive’ than at 

any time since the credit crunch 

BUSINESSES may be facing 

a multitude of challenges, 

but CFOs’ concerns over 

the macroeconomic 

outlook are easing, 

according to new research. 

As interest rates reach 3.5 percent, 

demand for credit among CFOs at 

the UK’s top companies is well below 

average levels and flagging. CFOs now 

consider credit as more expensive 

than at any time since the credit 

crunch of 2009, new research finds. 

CFOs view bank borrowing and debt 

issuance as less attractive sources of 

finance now than at any time since 

the financial crisis, according to 

Deloitte’s UK CFO Survey, Q4 2022. The 

survey showed that just over a quarter 

of the FTSE 350 CFOs polled say they 

expect their company’s demand for 

it to increase over the coming 12 

months. An emphatic 70 percent of 

CFOs, however, rated credit as costly, 

while 45 percent say new credit is 

hard to obtain. 

Simon Gray, Head of Business, 

ICAEW, says the news is concerning: 

“We’ve heard from smaller companies 

and those specifically in consumerfacing 

businesses that debt finance is 

now harder to secure,” he says. “This 

probably reflects a reduced level of 

risk appetite given the multitude of 

challenges businesses of all sizes 

have faced and continue to face.” 

Despite the challenging macro 

environment of high inflation, supply 

disruptions and rising interest rates, 

CFOs consider these economic 

challenges, particularly inflation, 

to have eased since October’s peak. 

In-house counsel expect increase 

in debt recovery work 

GENERAL Counsel and in-house 

legal teams are braced for a significant 

increase in litigation, debt recovery 

and fraud issues in the year ahead 

as a result of the economic 

downtown. Legal teams also expect 

an increase in requests to support 

employment disputes and HR 

compliance. 

Winmark surveyed 50 General 

Counsel, Chief Legal Officers and 

senior in-house lawyers to gauge the 

type of work they expect to increase as 

a result of the cost-of-living crisis and 

the cocktail of rising prices, inflation 

Red Flag proves the green light to business success 

THE Chartered Institute of Credit 

Management (CICM) has partnered 

with Red Flag Alert, the UK’s leading 

insolvency risk scoring platform to offer 

valuable insights and content to CICM 

members, including economic forecasts, 

trend updates, downloads and ‘how to’ 

guides. 

Red Flag Alert, described as the 

only independently owned UK credit 

referencing agency for businesses, has 

been helping clients use data insights to 

manage risk and achieve growth since 

2004. Its powerful portfolio management 

tool allows businesses to monitor their 

customers and suppliers, by receiving 

email alerts on data events such as 

CCJs, Petitions, Accounts, and Directors, 

amongst 84 alerts which can be tailored 

and interest rates, coupled with falling 

household and business incomes. 

The survey, conducted for Kingsley 

Napley, found that three quarters 

(75 percent) believe an increase in 

disputes/litigation work is likely in 

the next one to two years; 68 percent 

said an increase in credit risk/debt 

recovery related work is likely; and 

49 percent predicted a likely increase 

in fraud related workload in the next 

12-24 months. 

More than half (53 percent) of 

respondents say they expect an 

increase in day-to-day legal requests 

to the needs of each business. 

Additionally, Red Flag Alert uses 

advanced machine learning and AI 

technology data to provide businesses 

with information which they can use 

to deliver best-in-class sales, credit risk 

management and compliance services. 

Sue Chapple FCICM, Chief Executive 

of the CICM said the partnership will 

help the Institute’s members navigate 

current economic challenges: “Through 

our new corporate partnership with Red 

Flag Alert, CICM members will have 

access to insightful and relevant data 

at their fingertips, enabling them to 

make informed decisions to grow their 

businesses while minimising financial 

risk. “By enabling credit managers to 

perform their jobs more efficiently, I 

from other internal departments; 

46 percent predict an increase in 

employment disputes that will 

cross their desk; and 39 percent 

believe more HR compliance 

matters are likely to feature in their 

workload in the next one to two 

years. 

Whilst the majority of respondents 

felt their departments are well 

prepared for the challenges ahead, 

a worrying 39 percent do not feel 

adequately prepared or are unsure if 

they are ready to deal with the issues 

likely to be coming their way. 

believe this partnership will help our 

members brace themselves for the 

economic storm that is brewing.” 

Richard West, Managing Director 

of Red Flag Alert expressed his 

excitement at working with CICM, the 

largest recognised professional credit 

management body in the world: “This 

partnership with the CICM is a testament 

to our growing commitment to improving 

the lives of credit managers, by providing 

them with actionable real-time data on 

more than 15 million businesses. 

“With the ever-increasing economic 

uncertainty, the cost-of-living crisis 

and a recession on the horizon, our aim 

is to help arm SMEs with the tools and 

insights they need to help mitigate risk, 

and make informed business decisions.” 


NEWS ROUNDUP 

❝ 

“We’ve heard from smaller companies and those specifically 

in consumer-facing businesses that debt finance is now 

harder to secure,” – Simon Gray, Head of Business, ICAEW 

Only two risks – weakness in the US 

economy and in emerging markets 

– have increased, according to the 

Deloitte survey (December 2022). 

Ian Stewart, Chief UK Economist 

at Deloitte, believes that the most 

aggressive tightening of monetary 

policy in more than 30 years is 

reshaping corporate attitudes to debt: 

“Not since the credit crunch have CFOs 

rated debt as being less attractive as a 

source of finance for their businesses 

than they do today,” he says. 

“When interest rates were at very 

CICMQ Assessor supports aid in Ukraine 

BARRY Durman FCICM, a CICM trainer 

and newly recruited CICMQ assessor 

flew to Moldova in December for a sixday 

trip to help with the aid convoy for 

Ukraine, organised by the Round Table 

in Germany. The project drew in 228 

volunteers from different backgrounds, 

among whom Barry was the only person 

from England. He fully immersed 

himself in the Christmas spirit from day 

one, and even dressed up as Santa Claus 

to help deliver 132 Christmas presents to 

children in Moldova. 

PEOPLE who borrowed money to pay 

for Christmas last year fear they might 

never be able to pay it back. 

StepChange Debt Charity says worries 

over debt led to a surge in enquiries at 

the start of the New Year; on 3 January, 

the first working day after the Christmas 

break, it advised more people than on 

any other day last year. 

Richard Lane, Director of External 

Affairs, says that the pressures of 

Christmas drive many to spend more 

than they can afford: “In some cases, 

this can lead to a debt hangover in the 

new year that may take many months or 

even years to repay,” he warns. 

low levels, debt finance easily eclipsed 

equity as a source of finance. CFOs now 

see them as being roughly on par.” 

Simon says that inflation and rising 

interest rates have served to make debt 

finance more expensive: “Although 

there are signs inflationary pressures 

are easing, higher interest rates are 

likely to remain for some time. We’re 

in a new environment, very different 

from the low interest rates we have 

experienced for many years, with 

rates arguably climbing back to more 

normalised levels.” 

The event was of an impressive 

scale involving 33 huge lorries, seven 

buses, and 905 pallets of essential aid. 

By working with partners close to the 

border, the volunteers were able to 

provide support to those directly 

affected by the war in Ukraine. 

Reflecting on his experience, Barry 

said: “It was quite a phenomenal exercise 

that reminds us of what 

Christmas is all about, 

spreading goodwill to 

those most in need.” 

Consumers facing debt hangover 

"While there are some promising 

suggestions that inflation may begin to 

ease later this year, it is likely that there 

will be some challenging months ahead 

financially, and the risk of falling into 

problem debt remains high," he adds. 

The warning coincides with a poll 

conducted for the BBC in January that 

appears to confirm consumer fears over 

unmanageable debt. A third of the 4,000 

UK adults who responded to the survey 

and who used credit to help get through 

Christmas and the holiday season said 

they were not confident about their 

ability to repay what they had borrowed. 

The same survey also found that four 

out of every five of those asked were 

worried about the rising cost of living, 

with some losing sleep over it. Lack of 

savings has driven consumers to use 

credit, sparking fears that the most 

vulnerable will not be able to cope with 

rising and unexpected bills. 

>NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

SERVICE 

WORTH MERIT 

THE Meritorious Service 

Award is granted as a rare 

recognition of an especially 

meritorious contribution to 

the Institute, and previous 

recipients are legends 

of the credit industry. If 

you would like to nominate a 

member, visit www.cicm.com/cicmmeritorious-award/ 

ALLEZ LES BLEUS 

PWC’S economic outlook for 2023 

predicts that cost-of-living pressures 

will continue to intensify throughout 

2023, with the weekly food shop rising 

to £100, double the rate at the turn of 

the century. The housing market is 

also facing a challenging outlook – the 

estimated decline in house prices by 

eight percent would be the second 

sharpest fall in 70 years – while the 

number of house sales could fall 

below one million for the first time in 

a decade. PwC also predicts that, with 

UK real wages falling back 

to their 2006 levels, 

French workers 

could overtake their 

British counterparts 

as the fourth-best 

paid workers in the G7. 

HELLO SAILOR 

INTERNATIONAL SME financier, Bibby 

Financial Services (BFS) has appointed 

Paul Ratcliffe as Managing Director 

for its new Marine Finance business. 

With 40 years’ experience in the 

maritime and asset finance sectors, 

Paul began his career at BFS’s parent 

company, Bibby Line Group (Bibby), 

in 1980 when he joined his first ship, 

MV Dorsetshire. Having worked on a 

variety of Bibby vessels, Paul joined 

Bank of Scotland in 1987. In 2002, 

he set up the bank’s Asset Finance 

Marine business, as well as the Small 

Commercial Vessel division. In 2013 he 

joined Shawbrook Bank where he setup 

its Marine Finance business. 

COMMITTEE SEASON 

CICM Branch AGM season is upon us, 

and all Committees are due to convene 

by 31 March 2023. Look out for more 

information across CICM channels 

and by visiting https://www.cicm.com/ 

branches/’ 


NEWS SPECIAL 

DROWNING IN DEBT 

Intrum’s annual European Consumer payment 

report 2022 shows consumer debt is deepening. 

AUTHOR – Melanie York 

THE New Year brings little comfort 

to many consumers as the long 

war in Ukraine looks set to 

continue through the winter, 

pushing energy and food prices 

ever higher and, with it, the risk 

of crippling debt for many consumers. 

After a decade of low inflation, watching 

it climb steadily into double digits over the 

last few months has caused financial anxiety 

to spiral as more households struggle to pay 

everyday bills. Intrum’s annual European 

Consumer Payment Report (ECPR), a survey of 

24,000 consumers across Europe, shows that 

eight in 10 UK respondents are worried about 

rising costs. A third of consumers have already 

missed paying a bill in the last year, and two out 

of every five consumers believe they will not 

have enough money to pay their utility bills in 

the next 12 months. This means the number of 

payment defaults is set to rise dramatically. 

“Rising interest rates and soaring prices 

are making UK consumers deeply pessimistic 

about the future,” said Eddie Nott, Intrum’s 

Managing Director for the UK and Ireland. “The 

impact is greater than we experienced during 

the pandemic, affecting almost all consumers, 

many of whom have not experienced financial 

difficulty before. We expect to see increasing 

levels of default as people find themselves 

unable to meet their commitments.” 

Curtailing consumption 

To cope with rising costs, seven in 10 UK 

respondents are changing their spending 

habits, with a similar number saying they are 

increasingly aware of unnecessary expenses. 

Over two-thirds are now mending or recycling 

old items instead of buying new, their 

spending on higher-priced sustainable goods 

is being curtailed, and instead, consumers are 

increasingly searching for cut-price goods online 

or in discount retail stores. Among the younger 

generations of Gen Z and 30-somethings, 

one third are getting rid of unnecessary 

subscriptions to apps and streaming services. 

And although the pain of isolation during 

the pandemic is not yet a distant memory, 

consumers are changing their social habits by 

cutting back on entertainment and eating out. 

That’s bad news for hospitality and other sectors 

that were beginning to recover from the impact 

of COVID-19. 

Defaults rising 

Younger consumers feeling the pinch in their 

social lives are more likely to be using Buy Now, 

❝ 

Just as worrying is 

that over 40 percent 

of 22 to 37-year-olds 

and around a third 

of people in their 

early 40s say they 

have less visibility 

of their short-term 

borrowing on credit 

cards and loans than 

previously. Without 

that understanding, 

people have less 

control over their 

finances, and are 

more likely to end up 

struggling to balance 

their household 

budgets. 

❝ 

Pay Later (BNPL) to cover the growing costs. 

Some 41 percent of the Gen Z cohort, who are 

in their late teens and 20s, say they increasingly 

do this. And with recent changes in the market, 

BNPL may be extended beyond retail purchases 

and into utilities. That could mean access to 

debt beyond credit cards and personal loans 

and potentially more ways to end in financial 

difficulty. 

In the last six months, a third of respondents 

have either reached credit card limits or 

increased their borrowing to pay what they owe. 

The latest data from FICO UK confirms that 

credit card use has increased by 10 per cent. But 

as the Bank of England continues to increase 

borrowing rates, already at a fourteen-year high, 

credit cards are likely to become an increasingly 

unsustainable way to finance day-to-day living. 

There are clear signs of consumer indebtedness 

growing in the last year, with average balances 

increasing by six percent, missed payments 

by nine percent, and falling numbers of 

cardholders repaying the full amount. 

Worse is yet to come. Of the one in three 

consumers expecting to miss bill payments 

in the next 12 months, most, if necessary, will 

default on lower priority e-commerce and 

online store bills first, followed by internet 

and broadband bills. A third of respondents 

are likely to ask for longer re-payment terms. 

These findings are supported by the latest data 

from the European Banking Authority (EBA) 

dashboard which shows that the ratio of stage 

two loans has been on the rise, indicating that 

more defaults will follow. 

Debt blindness 

Worryingly, those using debt to pay bills 

are rising faster among the least financially 

educated respondents. When asked, over half 

of respondents couldn’t correctly identify how 

inflation – the amount of compound interest - 

will increase their energy bills over a two-year 

period. Younger people particularly struggled 

compared to those in their mid-fifties and 

older, possibly indicating a lack of financial 

experience. But for all age groups, an inability 

to understand compound interest may result 

from a lower level of education. This suggests 

they also have less earning potential and are 

consequently at greater financial risk. 

Just as worrying is that over 40 percent of 22- 

to 37-year-olds and around a third of people in 

their early 40s say they have less visibility of their 

short-term borrowing on credit cards and loans 

than previously. Without that understanding, 

people have less control over their finances, and 


NEWS SPECIAL 


❝ 

“The relatively high share saying they will demand a pay increase indicates that 

consumers’ patience with falling real wages is diminishing. This will add further 

pressure to Government and central banks to take action, UK consumers face a 

difficult winter, and many will need to seek help from their creditors.” – Eddie Nott 

are more likely to end up struggling to balance 

their household budgets. This points to a 

greater need for financial education, and credit 

agencies can expect more calls from desperate 

people seeking help and advice. 

Savings Shrinking 

But financial anxiety isn’t only about consumers' 

current debt levels or their ability to repay. 

Almost half (46 percent) of consumers are 

worried about losing their job or main source 

of income, and 39 percent are worried their 

partners or spouse will lose theirs. 

The levels of anxiety are encouraging people 

to try and take greater control over their finances 

– setting targets for savings, paying bills on time 

to avoid late or non-payment consequences, and 

putting money aside just in case. Almost eight 

out of ten respondents are saving some money 

each month. Three-quarters of consumers are 

saving for unexpected expenses, over a third in 

case of job loss, and almost a third are preparing 

for a recession. 

However, more and more people are unhappy 

with the amount they can save. In the last year, 

the proportion of dissatisfied savers rose nearly 

50 percent to three out of every five people. There 

are three main reasons. Firstly, over a quarter 

of them are using more of their income to pay 

bills, leaving them with less to put aside each 

month. Secondly, many have used their savings 

built up through the pandemic to buy essentials 

and cannot rebuild their financial cushion. And 

thirdly, economic uncertainties are causing 

consumers to worry about the impact on their 

pensions and whether they will be able to retire 

comfortably. The exception is the 18 to 20-yearolds. 

Only 15 percent are reducing their savings. 

This age group perhaps were not saving in the 

first place or still live with their parents and 

which allows them to continue to save as they 

are less exposed to rising inflationary costs 

than older consumers. But a lack of savings 

coupled with their increasing use of BNPL to 

fund their lifestyle and an apparent lack of 

financial understanding suggests they may 

not be considering how increasingly expensive 

those debts will be to repay and how their risk 

of defaulting on payments rises with every 

percentage point increase in inflation. 

Pessimism prevails 

More than half of UK Consumers are expecting 

inflation to continue for years. Thankfully 

the European Central Bank has forecast that 

inflation will fall below three percent by the end 

of 2023. And the IMF also predicts it will fall, 

❝ 

The levels of anxiety 

are encouraging 

people to try and 

take greater control 

over their finances 

– setting targets for 

savings, paying bills 

on time to avoid 

late or non-payment 

consequences, and 

putting money aside 

just in case. 

❝ 

moderated by Government monetary policy and 

slower economic growth. But consumers appear 

to have little faith in the Government and the 

central bank's ability to bring inflation under 

control. 

Their pessimistic outlook points again to poor 

financial education and a poor understanding 

of the causes of inflation, leaving people 

vulnerable to future shocks and with fewer 

options to try and shield themselves against 

financial ruin. 

One approach many are hoping for is to 

increase their household income. Around a 

third of respondents will be asking for a pay 

rise. Among those with young children, the 

proportion rises to 44 percent. 

“The relatively high share saying they 

will demand a pay increase indicates that 

consumers’ patience with falling real wages is 

diminishing. This will add further pressure to 

Government and central banks to take action,” 

Eddie adds. “UK consumers face a difficult 

winter, and many will need to seek help from 

their creditors.” 

The full European Consumer Payment Report 

2022 is available for download on intrum.com/ 

ecpr2022. 

Eddie Nott, UK and Ireland Managing Director, 

Intrum. 


OBITUARY 

MATT SUBERT FCICM 

A GIANT OF 

INDUSTRY 

THE CICM was greatly 

saddened to learn of the 

passing of Matt Subert 

FCICM whose funeral was 

held on 14 December last 

year. 

Matt, a giant of the industry both 

literally and metaphorically, was one of 

the most popular figures in the world of 

credit, and his passing attracted a great 

outpouring of love and affection, his life 

having touched a great number of lives. 

Peter Wallwork FCICM, former CEO 

of the CSA, commented: “Matt is the 

man who introduced me to the world 

of mortgage arrears counselling in 

1993 and then unsecured collections 

in 1999. In return, I introduced him to 

skiing and he joined Mad Dog Tours 

in the Alps. When together and having 

a laugh, we introduced ourselves as 

‘identical twins’, and told people that 

‘only our mother could tell us apart...’ 

In truth, we were more like Arnold 

Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito... 

A larger-than-life character I’ll miss 

dearly.” 

Denise Crossley FCICM, CEO of 

Lantern, had similarly known Matt for 

more than three decades: “He was the 

gentle giant of our sector, part of the 

very fabric of our industry and, I know, 

will be terribly missed.” 

Educated at Hillcrest Grammar 

School and Stockport College, Matt’s 

CV included working for some of the 

greatest names in debt collection and 

debt sale and purchase. 

He was Chief Executive of 

Frederickson International for a time in 

the late 1990s before taking on a similar 

role at Gothia. He spent almost six years 

at The Lewis Group between 2008 and 

2013, before joining Akinika, part of 

the Capita Group, and moving on to 

Moriarty Law in 2016. He was latterly 

Director of Acquisitions at Lantern. 

He became a member of the CICM 

in 1997 and was a founding member 

of the Debt Buyers and Sellers Group, 

a sub-section of the Credit Services 

Association created to specifically 

champion and represent those in the 

debt buying and selling market. 

Sue Chapple FCICM, CEO of the 

CICM, was shocked by the news of 

Matt’s untimely passing: “Matt was in 

the industry and therefore all our lives, 

forever. He was one of the kindest, 

funniest and most helpful people I have 

ever had the privilege to work with.” 

Our thoughts and condolences go out 

to Matt’s family. 


Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / January/February 2023 / PAGE 11 

collections learning initiative

BLUFF 

AND BLUSTER 

It looks like we’re in for a blustery year ahead. 


THE conflict in Ukraine is the biggest 

war in Europe since 1945. The 

resulting fuel and supply shortages 

have sent food and energy costs 

skyrocketing. Central bank interest 

rates are at a 15-year high as central 

banks try to control inflation. The financial shocks 

have suspended cheap consumer debt, whether 

mortgages, credit cards or personal loans. As people 

struggle to pay for everyday living, their options 

are getting smaller, and many are defaulting on 

payments and tumbling into debt. 

Policymakers are struggling to control inflation. 

Central banks the world over raised interest rates 

at the end of last year to curb spending and try and 

reduce the risk or impact of a looming recession. 

Inflation was thought to be a temporary spike in 

response to rising prices but appears to be settled 

in double-digit figures, at least in the short term. 

How long will it last? And how high will it go? 

Tough Times 

Most experts agree that a recession in 2023 is 

inevitable. Indeed, the Bank of England has already 

signalled that Britain is entering a recession, with 

inflation at a 41-year high. Others have claimed we 

are already there. The recession is probably going 

to be deep in Europe, milder in the US. Britain 

is not faring well after Brexit and former Prime 

Minister Liz Truss crushing market confidence. 

Whilst the OECD suggests economic growth 

is slowing and will average just 2.2 percent 

globally, Britain, it suggests, is one of only two 

European countries which will contract (by 0.4 

percent). The other is Russia. 

Nevertheless, British business is showing 

some resilience. A recent Accenture survey 

found that although confidence had fallen by 

10 percent to reach the lowest level in 13 years, 

UK confidence is still higher than other European 

countries. That’s a good sign for a speedier recovery 

if we can hold our nerve. EY expects Britain’s GDP 

returning to growth in the second half of 2023 

because ONS statistics suggest Britons have a 

better savings cushion than previously thought. 

Happily, inflation in Europe is expected to fall to 

an average of 6.6 percent this year. And thankfully, 

Britain is forecast to reach 6.3 percent inflation by 

mid-2023, falling further to 4.5 percent by the year's 

end and 2.7 percent by the end of 2024. So there is 

some good news on the horizon. That may again 

suggest a shorter road to recovery, but it will still 

be bumpy. Of all the G7 countries, Britain will need 

the greatest fiscal tightening whilst suffering the 


OPINION 

deepest recession. Higher interest rates 

may control inflation; indeed, consumer 

prices inflation already fell to 10.7 percent 

in November, but unemployment and 

consumer indebtedness are still likely 

to rise. Even with the Government 

offering subsidies to shield consumers 

from energy price shocks, consumers' 

disposable income and savings are being 

squeezed. And the subsidies cannot last 

forever. With the Government increasing 

corporation tax and the subsidies ending 

in six months, those additional costs will 

be passed onto consumers. 

Shrinking budgets 

The cost-of-living will intensify and PwC 

estimates the weekly food shop rising to 

£100 per week. At the same time, Financial 

Reporter suggests energy bills will reach 

£3,000 per year starting in April, just as 

the UK lump-sum subsidies will stop. 

The Bank of England says four million 

households will see their mortgage 

payments rise by around 25 percent on 

average after mortgage rates rose sharply 

at the end of the year. That alone will 

be the equivalent of cutting their pretax 

income by about 17 percent. Base 

interest rates are forecast to peak at about 

4.5 percent and decline again once the 

recession starts to bite, the expectation 

of which is already lowering fixed-rate 

mortgages. Even so, paying the mortgage 

will be more challenging for around 2.4 

percent of households. The repossession 

of homes rose sharply by 15 percent in 

the third quarter of 2022, and the Bank 

of England predicts defaults will increase 

dramatically in the coming year. 

Household disposable income will also 

decrease dramatically through taxation. 

The autumn statement's freeze on income 

tax thresholds means that as wages rise, 

more people enter a higher tax bracket. 

This stealth taxation will, according to 

the Institute of Fiscal Studies, cause 

household income to fall by an average of 

£1,250 annually over the next few years. 

With higher prices and falling disposable 

income, the British Chambers of 

commerce (BCC) forecasts that household 

consumption will shrink by 2.3 percent in 

2023. Those on benefits and pensions will 

receive extra living payments to help pay 

the bills but are increasingly at financial 

risk, and the average earner will have to 

tighten their belts, rely more on savings or 

increase their borrowing. 

Pinching pennies 

As real wages return to 2006 values and 

prices rise, consumers are restricting 

their spending to all but household 

essentials. KPMG’s latest survey of 


3,000 UK consumers revealed that 

roughly two-thirds are planning to cut 

discretionary spending on eating out, 

clothes, takeaways, holidays and other 

non-essentials. They are concerned about 

food, energy, fuel, mortgage or rent costs, 

how much these will rise in the coming 

months, and how long their financial 

reserves will last. 

Many consumers are already dipping 

into their savings cushion. Two in five 

savers have started using their rainyday 

money to help pay the bills. Among 

the low-income households, those most 

at risk, that number rises to over four 

out of five savers. When those savings 

are depleted, indebtedness is likely to 

increase for many. 

❝ 

Worryingly, half of young 

adults aged 25 to 34 have 

taken out additional loans or 

credit cards in recent months 

to cope financially. 

❝ 

A significant proportion of the UK adult 

population is already in debt, but EY 

suggests the demand for consumer credit 

will increase by 5.5 percent this year 

as households struggle with the rising 

cost-of-living. It may also become easier 

for consumers to access credit. The UK 

Consumer Credit Act reforms have begun 

with a consultation ending in March 

2023. The aim is to cut lenders' costs and 

simplify consumers’ access to new forms 

of finance, with lenders providing high 

levels of protection. 

Today four out of five UK adults are 

already in debt. The money.co.uk debt 

index shows this is up from three in 

five adults during the last year probably 

because they are trying to cover basic 

living expenses. The average debt per 

person (excluding mortgages) also 

increased by approximately £10,000 to an 

average of £34,500. In London, one in 10 

adults has over £50,000 of debt. 

The most common form of debt, at over 

30 percent, is the credit card followed by 

personal loans and overdrafts at around 15 

percent. Worryingly, half of young adults 

aged 25 to 34 have taken out additional 

loans or credit cards in recent months to 

cope financially. Over two-thirds of them 

are worried about paying off their debts, 

which in part will be because of their lack 

of financial experience. Only 10 percent 

of borrowers aged over 55 are concerned 

about losing control of their finances. 

Return and recovery 

That lack of concern may also be because 

many 50 to 64-year-olds are returning to 

work. Where previously their numbers 

fell during the pandemic, they rose again 

during the third quarter of last year. PwC 

predicts that up to 300,000 people will be 

returning to the workforce in 2023. These 

‘older’ employees want to decrease their 

financial uncertainty. They may also help 

Britain decrease its economic uncertainty 

by easing labour shortages, particularly 

in highly skilled areas, and consequently 

reducing inflationary wage pressures. 

The same is true of the expected high 

immigration to the UK this year, which 

could add £19bn to Britain’s economy and 

one percent of GDP. 

That’s potentially good news. A stronger 

labour force and reduced inflation may 

lower peak base interest rates and result 

in a shorter, shallower recession. Lower 

interest rates will reduce Government 

debt interest costs, leaving more funds 

available for the Government to provide 

investment incentives and additional 

public-sector pay. 

Already in 2022, public sector workers - 

train drivers, nurses, and postal workers, 

are demanding higher wages to ease their 

struggle with household bills. As real 

wages fall back to 2006 values, privatesector 

workers will also be asking for 

more and, according to a 2022 PwC survey, 

80 percent of firms expect to increase 

salaries in the year ahead. With this heady 

cocktail of business costs spiralling, 

consumer demand drying up and labour 

costs rising, the threat of redundancies 

looms in the background. Over half of 

the companies surveyed by PwC in mid- 

2022 were thinking about layoffs, and 

the OECD sees unemployment in Britain 

reaching five percent by the end of 2024. 

With rising debt, falling income, 

shrinking savings, and the threat of 

redundancies, the outlook for 2023 may 

seem bleak for many households. In 

December, 1.9 million households missed 

at least one mortgage, rent, loan, credit 

card or bill payment compared to 1.7 

million in December 2021. 

But there is hope that the recession will 

be shorter than initially predicted, helped 

by a readjustment in the labour markets 

and by Britain holding its nerve. Sadly, 

the recovery may come too late for many 

consumers who have had to turn to debt 

to fund the essentials in life. 

Melanie York is part of the CM 

editorial team. 


Pressure Test 

There are testing times ahead for 

businesses and consumers. 

AUTHOR – Sean Feast FCICM 


OPINION 

❝ 

“It is at times like these that I realise how fortunate I am to be part of the 

CICM community, so that I can take advantage of the expert knowledge base 

provided by the CICM, the regular educational and experience sharing forums 

and of course, my network.” – Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad)) 

❝ 

THE newspapers are full 

of it. Switch on any news 

broadcast and you will hear 

the same thing. Things 

aren’t great. This year will 

be tough for many. But how 

tough? And how do members of the CICM 

Think Tank believe their own parts of the 

credit community will be affected? 

Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad), UK 

Managing Director for Arvato, says that 

whilst the tsunami of debt that was 

predicted after COVID didn’t happen, it’s 

very likely to this year: “We are starting to 

see those higher salaried, generally welloff 

families who probably don’t qualify 

for Government financial support, falling 

into debt for the first time,” she says. 

“In January last year, I wrote about how 

difficult it is to plan business because in 

previous times, we have always used past 

performance as an indicator of future. 

This theme continues into this year, 

and 2023 is going to be somewhat of a 

challenge for most of us in credit and 

collections, whatever role we play.” 

The biggest challenge, Debbie says, is 

that while there has been a reduction in 

fuel costs, the bills for general household 

items and essential services have rocketed. 

The biggest threat, however, comes from 

a hike in interest rates which will be the 

catalyst for ‘new’ consumers falling into 

debt for the first time as their mortgage 

costs spiral upwards. 

Missed payments 

Which? has estimated 1.9 million 

households have missed payments in the 

run-up to Christmas. Its survey of 2,000 

people established that circa 6.7 percent 

have failed to meet deadlines on either 

mortgage, rent, bill or credit payments 

in the past month. By combining the 

study’s results with population numbers, 

that figure equates to almost two million 

households in the UK missing their 

demands in December. 

“Any savings that accumulated during 

furlough have long gone,” Debbie 

continues, “and even with people making 

cutbacks on ‘luxury’ items such as meals 

out, haircuts etc, this still leaves them 

having to reduce their spend on essentials 

such as food and heating. This, combined 

with continuing post and rail strikes, 

are hitting hard those small businesses 

that survived the pandemic; so we are 

likely to see increased numbers of failing 

companies.” 

In credit and collections specifically, 

Debbie says we will need to continue to 

find different ways to support those most 

at risk, ensuring that we lend appropriately 

in the first place and provide education 

and tailored support to those that have 

never experienced this kind of shock to 

the system before. 

“For those customers who have perhaps 

fallen into debt for the first time, I am 

optimistic that their experience with 

firms from across the collections sector 

will be, perhaps unexpectedly, very 

positive,” she continues. “Nonetheless, 

early engagement remains key in finding 

the best solution for all parties, and firms 

that have not already, will need to ensure 

that the channels they have available to 

communicate with a dynamically shifting 

customer-base remain relevant and 

accessible.” 

While Debbie knows that this year will 

doubtless throw out some yet unknown 

and challenging obstacles, she takes 

comfort from the company she keeps: “It 

is at times like these that I realise how 

fortunate I am to be part of the CICM 

community, so that I can take advantage 

of the expert knowledge base provided 

by the CICM, the regular educational and 

experience sharing forums and of course, 

my network.” 

Business pressures 

Richard Peel, Manager, Business 

Restructuring at BDO, agrees with 

Debbie that consumers are indeed under 

pressure and business failures are likely 

to rise significantly: “Economic pressures 

continue, with the Bank of England 

increasing interest rates as it attempts to 

stem inflation. In November 2022, the BoE 

increased interest rates by 0.75 percent 

to three percent – the eighth rise since 

December 2021 and the most significant 

since 1989. This is already having an 

impact on mortgage rates and will further 

exacerbate the cost-of-living crisis.” 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, 

insolvency numbers were artificially kept 

lower than normal due to the support 

measures and restrictions implemented 


continues on page 16 >

OPINION 


❝ 

“This year will see the 

industry, which benefited 

from the highest levels 

of COVID loans (over 

£20bn), faced with 

the greatest liability 

with regards to paying 

those loans back, this 

will impact cashflows 

that are already under 

severe pressure due to 

the impact of the supply 

chains.’’ 

– Simon Johnson 

❝ 

by the Government. Richard believes that 

with the lifting of these restrictions and the 

termination of Government support, the 

number of company insolvencies will further 

increase, predominantly driven by a rise in 

Creditor Voluntary Liquidations (CVLs) and, 

more recently, Compulsory Liquidations. 

“In October 2022 there were 1,594 CVLs, 

28 percent higher than in October 2021 and 

53 percent higher than in October 2019,” he 

says. “The numbers of administrations and 

Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVAs) 

remain lower than before the pandemic, 

however we anticipate that the number of 

administrations and CVAs will surpass prepandemic 

levels next year.” 

As Debbie highlighted earlier, a 

combination of factors including the impact 

of inflation, increased interest rates, high 

energy prices, rising labour costs and 

shortages, and the backdrop of a recession 

will drive insolvency numbers: “The knockon 

effect of this will impact individuals,” 

Richard adds, “with personal insolvencies 

also expected to increase during 2023.” 

Construction woes 

Within any period of economic uncertainty, 

there are winners and losers, as individuals 

and as businesses. The impact is rarely 

universal, and there are nearly always 

anomalies. Even discussing certain sectors as 

homogenous groups is dangerous, since even 

the most hard-pressed industries can have 

pockets of resistance. 

Simon Johnson MCICM(Grad), Director 

of UK Credit Management at SIG Trading 

Limited, says this is especially true of the 

construction industry: “Last year we saw 

unprecedented challenges within the 

construction sector,” Simon explains, “with 

multiple supply chain issues including, but 

not limited to, long lead times, allocations, 

multiple double digit price increases 

throughout the year with elevated bad debt 

levels in the main caused by fixed price 

contracts. 

“This year will see the industry, which 

benefitted from the highest levels of COVID 

loans (over £20bn), faced with the greatest 

liability with regards to paying those loans 

back,” he continues. “This will impact 

cashflows that are already under severe 

pressure due to the impact of the supply 

chains – for example, stock on site not paid 

for by the client, losses caused by fixed price 

issues and continued labour availability/ 

rates impacting contract cost. All that said, 

it should be noted that newer contracts are 

building in allowances or additional clauses 

for price increases so this risk is diminishing.” 

Whilst Simon does not envisage a ‘full’ 

recession for construction as a whole, as some 

sectors remain robust, there will certainly be 

pockets of reducing demand creating further 

peaks and troughs in cash and profit levels. 

“As our customers need to borrow more 

this will be at greater interest expense and 

thus proportionately impact profit levels 

more,” he continues. Through adversity 

comes innovation and different ways of doing 

business; whilst banks continue to view 

construction as high risk, and ‘traditional’ 

lending tightens, more dynamic and 

innovative solutions evolve. But Simon can’t 

see his customers’ clients stepping into the 

breach and supporting the sub-contractors 

as these clients will themselves be facing 

their own challenges on project costs and 

cashflow as part of changing investment 

criteria. 

“I expect customers to seek and require 

additional funding options from their 

material suppliers so again innovation will 

be the key in place of payment extensions 

and limit pressures which will not be readily 

available,” he adds. 

Simon also expects to see a greater uptake 

in credit insurance from his customers to 

protect their debtor book: “My experience 

suggests those customers who invest in 

internal contract management expertise 

tend to be the companies with the strongest 

cashflow albeit contract negotiation becomes 

even more problematic if demand is on a 

downward trajectory. 

“All in all,” Simon adds, “2023 challenges 

and risk levels will remain high in the 

industry with a transition from supply chain 

to cost reduction, cash generation, and 

demand management as the key priorities as 

the macro environment potentially increases 

in volatility further. Government measures to 

mitigate volatility will be critical.” 

Embedded finance 

Adrian Maguire, Head of Industry 

Governance, UK&I Data Office at Experian, 

says that with so much uncertainty around, 

quality of data is key: “In such a fast-paced 

environment, it’s essential that credit 

managers have the ability to access the most 

up-to-date credit data to ensure they have 

an accurate and complete picture of their 

customer’s borrowing,” he says. “Having the 

most relevant affordability tools in place will 

allow them to make better, more informed 

decisions going forward.” 

Adrian also believes that 2023 will be the 

year of ‘embedded finance.’ “At a time of 

increased economic uncertainty, alongside 

rising cost pressures and weakening 

consumer confidence, embedded finance 

is likely to continue its rise in popularity 

amongst SMEs this year,” he says. 

“Embedded finance allows SMEs to access 


OPINION 


banking services, including affordable and 

flexible short-term credit facilities, from the 

digital platforms and interfaces they use to 

manage their day-to-day business needs.” 

Quality data 

Ed Thorne, General Manager, Dun & Bradstreet 

Europe, is also a believer in the importance 

of quality data. He says that one of the most 

effective ways to build resilience in business is to 

be proactive and prepared for an unpredictable 

environment: “Data and analytics can help 

companies not only manage and mitigate risk, 

but also identify opportunities to adapt and 

grow,” he explains. 

To that end, he highlights a number of specific 

data predictions for 2023. He starts with the belief 

that quality data will become vital as businesses 

navigate ‘world firsts’: “When it comes to getting 

the most out of data, companies should focus 

on quality over quantity. Using low quality or 

inappropriate data can do more harm than 

good, diluting the power of the valuable data 

an organisation holds and making it difficult 

to derive real value. Nevertheless, ‘cleaning up’ 

this data, as well as ensuring an organisation’s 

data cloud is up to date, is proving a significant 

business challenge. 

“For this reason, it’s important to have 

a team in place which is accountable for 

keeping a business’ data estate in order. While 

technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) can 

help lessen the burden, human, expert oversight 

is needed to ensure mistakes aren’t made. In a 

world where we are experiencing so many 'firsts' 

(climate crisis, pandemic, unprecedented global 

supply chain challenges), and in which AI often 

learns from past events to help predict future 

outcomes, it’s easy to see where the problem lies. 

Predictive methodologies now clearly require 

different data and analytics to understand an 

uncertain future.” 

His second prediction is around data 

regulation: “Regulatory focus on data privacy 

and governance will only increase,” he says. 

“Companies will need to steward their data and 

analytic methods to ensure that these are being 

managed and used not only in accordance with 

current regulations, but in such a way as to keep 

pace with an evolving regulatory landscape. 

Regulators across the globe are focused not only 

on privacy, but also on data location, ethical use 

of data and AI, cross-border data transfer, and 

explainability of methods.” 

More with less 

Given ongoing financial constraints, businesses 

are going to be under pressure to do more 

with less: “As some markets globally move 

into recession, businesses will feel the 

pinch financially,” he continues. “Effective 

and efficient use of data and automation is 

therefore going to be essential for businesses to 

❝ 

“This year will be 

a year that presents 

numerous exciting 

opportunities for 

the business credit 

industry, it will allow 

us to play a more 

prominent role in 

providing unique endto-end 

solutions that 

will deliver better 

advice and insights to 

business leaders.’’ 

– Dan Hancocks 

MCICM 

❝ 

streamline operations and help teams to make 

smarter decisions, faster. “Data can and should 

be used to help with robust financial planning – 

it will be more important than ever before that 

teams know if their customers are going to pay 

them on time, as well as managing timelines 

for their suppliers to ensure they deliver. Stress 

in any ecosystem commonly lies with parties 

that do not interact directly. When it comes to 

sales teams, data will help to retain existing, 

loyal customers by understanding the 

best timings and touchpoints to maintain 

satisfaction, as well as to understand and 

predict changing customer needs, whilst 

identifying new prospects to help build a strong 

sales pipeline.” 

Ed is not a believer in businesses standing 

still. Quite the opposite. He says businesses will 

have to continually reassess their strategies: 

“Companies will need to review and test their 

data strategy constantly. A data strategy that 

worked for 2021 or even 2022 might not be fit for 

purpose in 2023. Ongoing testing and challenge 

will enable a company to implement a data 

strategy that reflects the needs of the business, 

is designed to address challenges and risk, and 

to identify opportunity. “Businesses will need to 

take steps for recovery not just survival – as hard 

as it might be when times feel tough, a company 

will need to keep one eye on the future to be 

‘match fit’ for when the world emerges from its 

current malaise. If there is a pressure to spend 

less, then business will need to spend smarter.” 

Glass half full 

Dan Hancocks MCICM, Managing Director of 

Cocredo, is, as always, a professional for whom 

the glass is half full: “This year will be a year 

that presents numerous exciting opportunities 

for the business credit industry,” he says. “It 

will allow us to play a more prominent role in 

providing unique end-to-end solutions that will 

deliver better advice and insights to business 

leaders, assisting them in making critical 

decisions that improve their cashflow and 

efficiency. Accelerated by the COVID pandemic, 

it also answers the global customer demand 

for a more streamlined data consumption 

experience. 

“These emerging technologies will drive 

customer experience initiatives and shape 

broader business strategies, giving the credit 

industry a more competitive edge.” 

Despite his upbeat mood, Dan ends with 

a small note of caution: “There is a definite 

need to balance technology with a genuine and 

personalised customer service experience,” he 

concludes. “As a sector, we should maintain a 

delicate balance between providing automation 

to systems and processes when it’s convenient 

and offering access to an in-person service when 

required – however, determining the difference 

is a significant part of the challenge.” 


INTERVIEW 

ROCKET SCIENCE 

Sean Feast FCICM speaks exclusively to Anthony 

Scriffignano Ph.D, Chief Data Scientist at Dun & Bradstreet. 



ANTHONY Scriffignano is no 

ordinary data scientist. And 

how he came to be a Senior 

Vice President and Chief Data 

Scientist at Dun & Bradstreet 

was something of an unplanned 

journey. 

“I started out thinking I would study physics 

and did,” he explains, “studying nuclear physics 

at university. Then this thing called computer 

science came along, and I’ve worked in the area 

of computer science now for around 45 years. 

“I’ve seen the industry grow up. There was 

a point where you could know all there was to 

know about computers and you could write 

your own operating systems and did. Now 

virtually nobody does that as it has all become 

so compartmentalised and complex.” 

Identity resolution 

Anthony’s role at Dun & Bradstreet started out 

primarily focused on identity resolution. He is 

the primary inventor of a whole suite of patents 

related to identity resolution and adjudication of 

fraud and understanding complex behaviours 

and anomalist behaviours, as well as something 

called temporal anisotropic behaviours – i.e., 

emerging lumps of irregular behaviour. 

More specifically, Anthony describes his role 

as being in four parts. Part one is to impart 

core data science and create new innovation 

and capabilities – not necessarily as products 

but sometimes inside, making the data better, 

and making the decisions more facile and 

agile: “This includes things like semantic 

interpretation,” he explains. 

“Much of the data we collect is not 

conveniently organised, neither does it come 

with directions on how to use it. It also doesn’t 

claim to be true, so veracity adjudication is an 

important part of what I do.” 

Second on his list is thought leadership: “To 

me, thought leadership is saying out loud what 

we think is true to be challenged by others, 

being open to the fact that others might see 

things differently to you. Dun & Bradstreet 

is not just a big database,” he continues. “It 

includes people like me who ‘think things’ and 

are working towards analytics that go beyond 

what we can analyse today and positioning what 

could be done tomorrow in compliance with the 

law and different jurisdictions.” 

Evolving regulation 

This point about compliance is an important 

one, for Anthony’s role is also focused on 

evolving regulation – meeting with regulators 

INTERVIEW 

❝ 

“Large organisations have a different problem, they have huge systems and 

infrastructure, and the problem is that questionable data when beautifully presented, 

tends to seem more true! Fancy systems don’t make up for veracity challenges.” 

❝ 

❝ 

“So, we might 

start by asking: 

‘What’s fuelling 

the economic 

downturn?’ But 

that’s a bad question, 

as it clearly contains 

bias, since it 

assumes there is an 

economic downturn 

in the first place. A 

better question might 

be ‘what evidence do 

I see of a change in 

the economy?’ 

❝ 


where it is permissible – to understand the 

impact of emerging technologies: “I’m a SCUBA 

diver in my free time,” he says, “and having a 

regulator is vital. Regulation is important but 

if you over-regulate you can’t breathe. So, it’s 

important to understand the regulatory intent. 

Many regulators work in a different field and 

to understand things like quantum resilient 

encryption may need experts to come in and 

talk about it to build their knowledge.” 

His final responsibility, to use Anthony’s own 

phrase, is to ‘bigify: “This means working with 

our customers to walk up the value chain from 

just considering data and analytic insight, to 

working together to serve a customer in ways 

that neither of us could serve them separately. 

It means responding to changes in the future 

before they even happen. Listening to customers 

is also where we get our ideas for innovation,” 

he adds. 

“Innovation is usually focused on the 

articulated unmet need – the ‘known’ unmet 

need. But it’s the ‘unknown’ unmet need which 

is where the explosion of value can happen – 

when you discover you needed something you 

didn’t realise you needed. There is also the 

unknown met need – the ways in which your 

customers may be using what you do in ways 

that you don’t understand, and if you change 

something you may break that, so in talking to 

them you protect that space.” 

Meaningful data 

Many in the sphere of data science talk about 

‘meaningful data’. But what does it mean? 

Anthony believes that there is so much 

information available at the moment that the 

biggest risk is confirmation bias: “If you do 

not use a proper process, you will find some 

information that supports anything you think 

is true and you will start believing it. That’s not 

scientific thinking,” he explains. 

“If you take credit managers, many are good 

at doing what they’ve been doing all along. 

Establishing credit limits, vetting customers, 

understanding propensity to pay etc and Dun 

& Bradstreet has worked with them in that 

capacity for many generations. But the world 

is changing; there are fintechs, cryptocurrency 

and new forms of malfeasance that don’t even 

have names yet. So why would you still believe 

that the skills that made you successful so far 

are still sufficient to make you successful going 

forward? 

“The newer folks who come into this industry 

have the opposite problem: they don’t have that 

experience. And everything looks like an AI or 


INTERVIEW 


❝ 

“Science has a useful 

structure to it: observe 

the world and see 

something that causes 

you to have a question. 

Then you refine that 

question until it is pure.’’ 

❝ 


INTERVIEW 


machine learning problem. Give me enough data, 

I’ll push the ‘predict’ button and we’ll be good to 

go. But that button should come with a warning 

that says, ‘I’ve learned based on data from the 

relatively unperturbed and representative past 

projected into the relatively unperturbed and 

similar future.’ But those things aren’t true, and 

you need to benefit from the experience of those 

seasoned credit managers to ask the difficult 

questions: ‘what do I have to believe in order to 

push that button? What do I have to know that I 

don’t know yet to have the provenance I need to 

make that decision?’ 

“We only move forward by learning to talk to 

one another.” 

Anthony says that one of the challenges is that 

there is an increasing perception that everything 

we need is in our hands, in our mobiles or devices. 

But even a simple web search only gives you a tiny 

fraction of what’s available on the internet. The 

rest is behind firewalls or passwords or encrypted. 

So why would you think you can always find all of 

the answers you need? 

“Large organisations have a different problem,” 

he continues. “They have huge systems 

and infrastructure, and the problem is that 

questionable data when beautifully presented, 

tends to seem more true! Fancy systems don’t 

make up for veracity challenges.” 

Unconscious bias 

So how do you overcome unconscious bias? And 

is it even possible? Anthony thinks so: “Science 

has a useful structure to it: observe the world and 

see something that causes you to have a question. 

Then you refine that question until it is pure. 

“So, we might start by asking: ‘What’s fuelling 

the economic downturn?’ But that’s a bad question, 

as it clearly contains bias, since it assumes there 

is an economic downturn in the first place. A 

better question might be ‘what evidence do I see 

of a change in the economy?’ – and then let the 

data tell you whether it’s a downturn or not. Put 

simply: learn to ask a ‘good’ question.” 

Anthony says that the next step is the one that 

everyone ignores: “Very few people ask whether 

other people already tried to study a particular 

question, and/or what did they find? You should 

stand on the shoulders of giants and learn from 

others first. You may not agree with them, but you 

should know what they said. One of the ways of 

avoiding unconscious bias is by understanding 

that your opinion may be unique.” 

The next part, he says, is the inconvenient part: 

“You need to pick a method to study your question 

that is the right method. Not the one you like or 

have an easy button for, or the one you are most 

familiar with, but the right one. So, if we continue 

our example of the economic downturn, we’re 

going to look at the macroeconomic data, but if we 

were going to look at the impact of the pandemic, 

for example, there is no data available. 

“Even if the first steps can be done quickly, then 

you have to start collecting data and feeding it into 

the process. But here there is another challenge. 

We tend to use the data we have – the convenience 

sample – data that’s possibly not representative 

and contains different types of bias. The data 

has to be sufficient for the method to reach the 

conclusions you are trying to reach. Do that and 

you will help drive out the bias.” 

Devil’s advocate 

Anthony says that a crucial part of the process is 

to be challenged: “It's helpful to have people on 

your team who tell you why you may be wrong,” he 

continues. “The person who plays devil’s advocate 

and challenges why you may be wrong is one of 

the most important people you know.” 

So, is all unconscious bias bad? No: “Sometimes 

you do need an intuitive leap,” Anthony admits. 

“The pandemic showed that. If clinicians had said 

they needed to wait for the data in order to make a 

decision, the cost of doing nothing would not have 

been nothing. Even as a data scientist, there are 

times when you need to use your intuition to say, 

‘I feel – based on my experience – if we go down 

this road, we will arrive at a better place than if we 

go this way.’ 

“Most of the methods we employ assume we 

have data which is prima facie what it claims to 

be. A seven is a seven. There are many tests to 

assess whether the data we have appears to be 

true. When we go to court, we swear to tell the 

truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 

These are three different things! Proving the truth 

is almost always subjective. He intended to pay me 

when he incurred the debt or he never intended to 

pay me? Take your pick.” 

Tips for credit managers 

So, what simple tips can Anthony leave with credit 

managers on how to make the most out of data, 

especially given an uncertain economic climate? 

“Be very careful of situations where the 

environment is changing faster than the data you 

are looking at,” he advises. “Think how quickly 

things changed when a ship became stuck in the 

Suez Canal, or when the situation with Russia and 

Ukraine arose. When things like this happen, our 

customers change their behaviour and often very 

quickly. So, taking an average over the last three 

months might be a dangerous thing to do. 

“Next, consider all of the dimensions of your 

data, and not just ‘I need data to fill these three 

rows’. Accuracy, completeness and timeliness are 

all critical. Data that you got five minutes ago is 

not necessarily five minutes old. What’s missing 

might be appropriately missing because it is 

unknown. 

“In terms of methodology, choose your methods 

wisely and allow the method to be appropriate to 

the question. And above all be humble. Get other 

people involved in your decision making. Different 

perspectives and different biases helps bring the 

issue out and arrive at a better conclusion.” 

❝ 

“I’m a SCUBA 

diver in my free 

time, and having 

a regulator is 

vital. Regulation 

is important 

but if you overregulate 

you 

can’t breathe. 

So, it’s important 

to understand 

the regulatory 

intent.’’ 

❝ 


OPINION 

Buckle Up! 

What’s in store for the car 

leasing market in 2023? 

AUTHOR – Paul Harrison 

LAST year was another tough year for 

the automotive sector. From long new 

car lead times, soaring inflation, leadership 

upheavals, economic recession 

and the cost-of-living crisis squeezing 

household budgets – 2022 was a year to 

forget for many. And 2022 is set to cast a long shadow 

over the prospects for the car industry in 2023. 

However, amongst the doom and gloom, there are 

positive trends that shine a light towards a recovery 

in the new car market. 

Consumer behaviour 

As has been heavily reported, consumer spending 

in the UK has fallen across the board since 2021. 

Any decline in consumer spending hits big-ticket 

items, including cars and the financial products 

that support those transactions such as HP, PCP 

and leasing. However, while demand has softened, 

consumers still require cars for commuting, lifestyle 

and family reasons. The key trends we’ve seen this 

year is a shift from luxury brands to volume brands 

– where stock allows. Vauxhall, Toyota, Nissan, 

Kia and Hyundai all made inroads into the top 10 

most popular brands on our website this year at 

the expense of other traditionally popular brands 

to lease. 

Another key trend is the increase we’ve seen in 

the requested lease term from three to four years – 

indicating that financial certainty and affordability 

is a primary focus for both personal and business 

motorists in the current economic climate. This 

also presents opportunities for the leasing sector 

to upsell maintenance packages to help motorists 

manage their motoring costs over longer terms. 

❝ 

As demand increases, 

the volume and choice 

of vehicles on offer has 

increased. Volume brands 

like Vauxhall, Kia, Hyundai 

and Fiat have all released 

pure electric vehicles in the 

last half decade. 

❝ 

Stock is King 

Many motorists extended their existing lease 

agreement when they were unable to return their 

cars during COVID lockdowns in 2020 and when 

faced with long lead times since 2021. However, 

as those extensions now expire, consumers and 

businesses are re-entering the market looking for 

their next vehicle and discovering that availability is 

now slowly starting to improve. 

While motorists may have to compromise 

on some of their preferences, our advertising 

partners are reporting an increased volume of 

stock from an increased number of manufacturers 

and consumers are gravitating to those available 

offers. In Q3 of 2022, in stock vehicles represented 

around 10 percent of total offers advertised on 

Leasing.com and yet accounted for 43 percent of 

total sales enquiries. We’ve seen an increase in the 

total number of advertising partners who are 

promoting their offers with us too, which is a great 


OPINION 

❝ 

AUTHOR – Paul Harrison 

The automotive market is resilient, despite everything that has 

been thrown at it in recent years. We will continue to innovate and help 

consumers find their next dream car on the terms that suit them. 

indication that the tide is beginning to 

turn on stock availability. 

Drive to Electrification 

One trend the leasing market has seen 

accelerate over the past 12 months is 

the electrification of the consumer and 

business vehicle market. In the first half 

of 2022, a fifth (20 percent) of new leasing 

customers were looking to lease a pure 

battery electric vehicle (BEV) – a 1,575 

percent increase in BEV demand since 

2018. The International Energy Agency 

(IEA) found that in 2012, just 120,000 

electric vehicles had been sold worldwide. 

In 2021 however, nearly 10 percent of all 

global car sales were electric, accounting 

for around 16.5 million vehicles – triple 

that of 2018. 

As demand increases, the volume 

and choice of vehicles on offer has 

increased. Volume brands like Vauxhall, 

Kia, Hyundai and Fiat have all released 

pure electric vehicles in the last half 

decade, which has reduced the average 

lease cost of EV models in the market 

and improved accessibility. The cheapest 

model currently available is the Smart 

EQ, retailing for just £17,350, while the 

average list price of an EV in the UK is 

£43,896. Leasing continues to be the most 

affordable product for motorists to access 

their first electric vehicle. 

However, while the long-term adoption 

of BEVs will continue to gather pace, it 

should be noted that the cost-of-living 

crisis is softening the demand we saw 

for BEVs in Q3 this year as disposable 

income is squeezed and households think 

twice about new financial commitments. 

Despite the short-term challenges, we 

predict that BEVs will account for over 30 

percent of total demand on Leasing.com 

in 2023. 

Consumer Duty 

The Financial Conduct Authority’s new 

Consumer Duty is set to become law in 

July 2023. At the heart of the Consumer 

Duty is the principle of ‘reasonableness’. 

According to the regulator, this principle 

underpins how they will assess the ways 

in which firms interpret and implement 

the new Consumer Duty rules. 

That principle poses a number of 

challenges for firms when evaluating their 

implementation plans. For examples, 

should firms consider if it is reasonable 

for their customer support to only be 

available online? How would consumers 

without internet access contact firms 

with questions about their products and 

services? Is it reasonable for telephone 

helplines to have very restricted opening 

hours? Would it be reasonable for the selfemployed 

to be excluded from the terms 

of a vehicle hire agreement specifically 

marketed at SME business users? As 

ever, the existing TCF principles for 

firms to be clear, fair and not misleading 

with consumers are a useful framework 

to help guide firms through the new 

requirements. 

The new Consumer Duty will mean the 

auto industry doubles down on positive 

consumer outcomes. With more difficult 

months ahead, stronger relationships 

with consumers will drive better service, 

improved loyalty and repeat business. 

The New Year and beyond 

The immediate economic challenges 

facing our industry will be with us deep 

into this year, and manufacturers are not 

expecting the supply of new cars to be at 

pre-COVID levels until at least the second 

half of 2023 either. However, there are 

emerging opportunities for the car leasing 

sector. 

Immediately available used car leasing 

offers are appealing to consumers and 

industry alike in the current climate 

and, after dipping our toes into that 

market, we’ll be expanding our used car 

proposition in 2023. 

Flexibility and convenience are key 

consumer demands from modern services 

and manufacturers are meeting these 

demands through improved digitalisation 

of car transactions and by offering new 

car subscription services. Subscriptions 

will be another market we will look to 

explore next year. 

The automotive market is resilient, 

despite everything that has been thrown 

at it in recent years. We will continue to 

innovate and help consumers find their 

next dream car on the terms that suit 

them. 

Paul Harrison is Chief Partnership 

Officer of Leasing.com 


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Rated as Excellent

HIGH COURT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ASSOCIATION 

Forward March 

A new path to enforcement. 

AUTHOR – Eric Roe MCICM 

SKILLSET is integral to the 

future of the industry and its 

modernisation. The recent 

collaboration between the High 

Court Enforcement Officers 

Association (HCEOA) and the 

CICM on education pathways aims to do just 

that. 

When I was younger, I never envisaged 

myself as a High Court Enforcement Officer 

and always wanted to be to be a pilot in the 

RAF or find a job that could take me round 

the world. But following a few changes on my 

university application I started on my journey 

to become a solicitor. Little did I know that 

my career was to deviate again, and today 

at the age of 29, I am authorised as both a 

solicitor and a High Court Enforcement 

Officer (HCEO). 

If anyone had asked me until fairly 

recently whether I would have the skills 

and characteristics to be in the High Court 

Enforcement profession, I would have said 

“no”. My own, limited understanding was 

that it was a hard, demanding job that always 

seemed to be under heavy scrutiny. I thought 

that it was best suited to those who were 

accustomed to confrontation and high-risk 

situations. I felt that I wouldn’t have been an 

obvious candidate, but in reality, that was not 

the case. 

My day-to-day tasks as a High Court 

Enforcement Officer range from large 

scale operations involving the Police, rope 

climbers and a full team of agents to cases 

that I work on by myself. The job itself 

requires you understand a variety of complex 

situations as they can involve a number of 

different stakeholders and their interests. It 

also, against misconception, requires you to 

be empathetic and understanding, providing 

support and advice to debtors regularly. 

Therefore, it’s important for the profession to 

attract new candidates from a wide range of 

professional and personal backgrounds. 

There’s a strong sense of community 

expanding across the enforcement sector, 

with many different roles coming together 

internally and externally to help organisations 

succeed in an area with sometimes 

sensitive subject matter. Being a High Court 

Enforcement Officer demands you to be 

collaborative – that is what attracted me to 

the role and is still something I really enjoy 

about it. 

My experience has taught me that you need 

to be creative, forward thinking and work 

well with others to succeed in this profession. 

The enforcement world is rapidly evolving 

and is having to advance quickly in an evermodernising 

society. Even in the short time 

since I qualified it has dramatically changed, 

especially as the court system steps towards 

digitalisation and society still grapples with 

how more established roles and positions, 

such as High Court Enforcement Officers, fit 

in the modern landscape. This challenge is 

what is enticing more young people to enter 

this sector to help shape its future, which is 

why the collaboration between the HCEOA 

and CICM on this new education pathway is 

so important. 

Moving forward, HCEOA and the CICM 

are always looking at how we can continue 

to strengthen and expand the enforcement 

profession. As with all sectors, this starts 

with the people who are a part of it. To ensure 

that we attract and train the best individuals, 

extensive work has been completed this 

year to modernise our education pathway 

to make it accessible to all. To do this fairly 

and independently a decision was made by 

the HCEOA for all courses to be completed 

through CICM as its official assessor. This 

will also help to streamline the pathway to 

becoming a HCEO by making it all digital 

and in one place. 

As a member of the Education Working 

Party for the HCEOA, I have reviewed and 

edited various parts of the course to ensure 

that it is relevant to the modern day HCEO. 

Learning resources have also been reviewed 

and updates and there is an extensive range 

of resources available on the HCEOA website 

to use alongside those provided on the CICM 

portal. 

Looking back now at the different roles I 

have had, and industries I have been involved 

in, I have always come back to High Court 

enforcement. Not all my first assumptions 

were wrong, you do need to be hard working 

and it can be a very demanding job, but it 

can also be very rewarding. It is a fast-paced 

sector where people are working hard to 

achieve the best results for all customers, 

and as a HCEO you are an essential part of 

the team. 

If you believe that you are a dynamic, 

creative individual who likes a challenge, 

then being a High Court Enforcement Officer 

may just be the right role for you. 

Eric Roe MCICM is a Solicitor and High Court 

Enforcement Officer Association (HCEOA). 


CICMQ 

Quality in depth 

Meet the latest members of the CICMQ assessment team. 

AUTHOR – Roshika Perera 

❝ 

“Having 

experienced 

so much in my 

career, I can say 

that nothing is 

as rewarding as 

passing down 

your knowledge 

and wisdom to 

others. I am very 

much looking 

forward to helping 

organisations 

navigate the 

challenging 

criteria that 

is required 

of a CICMQ 

Accreditation.” 

❝ 

CICMQ is the Credit and Collections 

Industry Accreditation 

for best practice. Achieving this 

prestigious award provides formal 

recognition of an organisation’s 

commitment to quality, 

continuous improvement and best practice 

in all aspects of B2B and B2C credit and 

collections. 

CICMQ benefits business and consumer 

organisations, regardless of size and sector, 

by raising the profile of your credit and 

collections teams, continuing professional 

development and adhering to the CICM 

Professional Standards. 

CICM’s Head of Accreditation, Karen Tuffs 

FCICM(Grad), is supported by the CICMQ 

assessment team who will guide you and your 

organisation on your journey to successfully 

meet the challenging criteria. The team 

is made up of senior credit management 

professionals whose wealth of knowledge 

will ensure that you receive the best guidance 

while continuing to raise the standards that 

the Accreditation is known for. So let’s meet 

them: 

Kevin Artlett FCICM, ACII 

Kevin is the Director of a credit management 

consultancy and training company. He has 

over 40 years of experience in various credit 

management positions, with a special focus 

on trade credit management. He has also 

specialised in ‘front end’ processes covering 

credit policy, onboarding, risk assessment and 

collections. 

A testament to his impressive career, Kevin 

holds a litany of credentials: Winner of the 

CICM Meritorious Service Award 2013; Fellow 

of the CICM since 2015; Chair of CICM Credit 

Academy; Vice-Chair of CICM Education 

Committee; Committee Member of CICM 

Kent Branch since 1994 and an Associate of 

the Chartered Insurance Institute (ACII) since 

2001. 

Kevin’s motivations for becoming a CICMQ 

assessor stem from his previous experiences 

as a teacher and mentor: “I have trained, 

developed and mentored teams/learners both 

independently and on behalf of CICM,” he 

explains. “I have also been a tutor for CICM 

Level 3 modules at the London Metropolitan 

University and achieved a Level 3 Award in 

Education & Training 2015. 

“Having experienced so much in my career, I 

can say that nothing is as rewarding as passing 

down your knowledge and wisdom to others. 

I am very much looking forward to helping 

organisations navigate the challenging criteria 

that is required of a CICMQ Accreditation.” 

Barry Durman FCICM 

Barry runs his own successful, independent 

credit management consultancy, having 

enjoyed a career in credit management 

stretching over 25 years. During this 

time, he has fulfilled a consultancy or 

interim management role in more than 50 

organisations, working with clients that 

include many FTSE 100 and 250 companies in 

industries as diverse as newspapers, hotels, 

and retail among many others. 

He has mastered a range of skills including 

developing and implementing credit 

policies, reducing debtor days and bad debt 

exposure, improving customer relations and 

modernising working practices. Barry thinks 

collecting money is an enjoyable challenge 

and his relaxed style and array of experiences 

reflects this. 

Having delivered in house training at 

well over 300 companies and overseen 400 

open courses to around 6,000 delegates, 

Barry is eager to continue contributing his 

expertise to the industry in his new role as a 

CICMQ assessor: “As an experienced credit 

management consultant, I have always wanted 

to get involved with CICMQ,” he says. 

“My work has seen me manage over 35 

Credit and Collections Departments and I 

often go in and make recommendations for 

improvement. I think I know what good looks 

like. I have been proud to help formulate the 

relaunch of the Accreditation over the last 

few months, and I look forward to making a 

difference as an assessor.” 


CICMQ 

AUTHOR – Roshika Perera 

❝ 

“I can’t wait to 

get stuck into 

my role as an 

assessor, where 

I’ll have the 

opportunity to 

give back to the 

institute and use 

my own training 

and expertise 

to help improve 

the renowned 

CICMQ 

Accreditation.” 

❝ 

Jon Swan FCICM 

Jon has a career spanning 38 years, with 10 

years in Dell and 11 years with Hachette where 

he sat on the Board of Directors. 

His work has taken him all over the UK, 

Ireland and Europe where he has presented 

and spoken at several credit conferences. 

Jon is well acquainted with the work of 

CICM having been a Member of the Institute 

since 1992, a Fellow since 2004, a Committee 

Member for the Thames Valley branch for over 

20 years, and an End Point assessor for CICM 

qualifications. Earning a CIPD Certificate 

in Training Practice and managing his own 

training and consultancy business from 2006- 

2009 have served as ideal preparation for Jon’s 

new role as a CICMQ assessor. 

“During my career, I have witnessed 

significant changes not only to the standing 

and visibility of the wider credit community 

within the industry but also the increasingly 

important role credit professionals have in 

the strategic success of their business,” he 

explains. 

“One of the most evident ways this can 

be achieved is through encouraging best 

practice and continuous improvement. That’s 

why I am delighted to be part of the CICMQ 

assessment team, as this qualification, for 

any business large or small, is an affirmation 

of having achieved a very high level of quality 

within their credit management function 

and, by definition, a major contributor to that 

organisation’s success.” 

Denise Barnett FCICM(Grad), MCMI 

Denise has more than 25 years as an operational 

credit manager within global organisations, 

during which time she has gained expertise in 

trade, consumer, export credit, multi-currency 

transactional processing, debt recovery, 

mediation, and many other credit management 

functions. Additionally, Denise has experience 

of SOX compliance, change management 

and integration of other businesses through 

acquisition and mergers, and shared service 

environments. Alongside her extensive 

professional experiences and training, Denise 

is a certified Agile project manager, has a Level 

7 certification in Strategic Management and 

Leadership, and is a certified Lean Six Sigma 

Yellow Belt. 

Having been a former distance tutor for 

CICM, Denise was keen to continue working 

as an assessor, where she could channel 

her passion for optimising performance: “I 

became a qualified credit manager through 

the CICM exam process and have enjoyed 

a longstanding career as a result where I 

have gained have extensive experience in all 

facets of the credit management industry. 

“I can’t wait to get stuck into my role as an 

assessor, where I’ll have the opportunity to give 

back to the institute and use my own training 

and expertise to help improve the renowned 

CICMQ Accreditation.” 

Paul Mason FCICM 

Paul has been a credit management 

professional for more than a quarter of a 

century and has dealt with multi-billionpound 

annual sales ledger values. He is an 

expert in international credit management 

across Europe, Middle East and Africa and is 

an author of international credit management 

policies in multinational corporations. 

Paul has had an impressive career 

occupying several senior roles in various 

organisations including as a liaison between 

retained organisation and business process 

outsourcing, a process owner for credit 

management in overseas shared services, and 

a trainer and change management lead within 

transformation projects. 

Paul, who is a Fellow of CICM and a 

Member since 2003, was eager to further his 

involvement with CICM activities: “Since my 

early days I have shown an aptitude in both 

the technical side and the people management 

soft skills that, I believe, make a good credit 

manager,” he says. 

“As a CICMQ assessor, I will have the 

opportunity to share some of those insights, 

help others in their professional journey and 

pay back CICM for the information that has 

been made available to me throughout my 

membership.” 


OPINION 

VIOLENT DISCORD 

The day has come to end economic 

violence against women. 

AUTHOR – Simona Scarpaleggia 

IT is a sad indictment of the world we live 

in today that we have to have a special 

‘International Day for the Elimination 

of violence against women’. That there 

is violence against anyone is shameful 

enough; that there is violence against 

women, and which needs to be recognised in an 

official awareness day, is somehow even more 

depressing. 

Governments everywhere have a moral and 

actual responsibility to protect their citizens, 

and civilised society should see any forms of 

violence as abhorrent. But violence, of course, 

manifests itself in many different ways, physical 

and mental. One of the most insidious and 

subtle, however, and yet least talked about is 

economic violence, not only against individual 

women, but also whole female populations. 

According to UN Women, violence against 

women and girls ‘is one of the world’s most 

prevalent human rights violations, taking place 

every day, many times over, in every corner 

of the globe’. It prevents their full and equal 

participation in society, and the magnitude of 

its impact, both in the lives of individuals and 

families and society as a whole, is immeasurable. 

Financial dependency 

Economic violence, often seen as a subset 

of domestic violence, involves making 

or attempting to make a person financially 

dependent by maintaining total control over 

financial resources, withholding access to 

money, and/or forbidding attendance at school 

or employment. 

Yet economic violence goes further than that, 

and some countries are guilty of creating legal 

barriers that prevent a woman’s full economic 

participation. According to the World Bank’s 

‘Women, Business and Law 2022’ report, a 

shocking 178 countries maintain legal barriers 

that prevent women from being fully financially 

independent, and it is estimated that as many 

as 2.4 billion women globally don’t have same 

economic rights as men. In 86 countries, 

women face some form of job restriction and 

95 countries do not guarantee equal pay for 

equal work. 

Many of the most guilty in perpetuating 

economic inequality are Governments in the 

Middle East and Africa. When it comes to 

access to property and other assets, less than 50 

percent of the economies in the Middle East and 

North Africa Region (MENA) account for gender 

differences in property and inheritance laws. 

This won’t come as much of a surprise, but there 

are countries much closer to home – in Europe 

❝ 

Women are not 

only subjected 

to economic 

violence by their 

Governments, 

but also by their 

partners and society 

at large. Being 

denied access to 

education means 

being denied 

the tools for 

understanding and 

managing economic 

matters. 

❝ 

or North America – who still persist in enacting 

laws that make women subservient to men, and 

wives subservient to husbands, in financial 

matters, not least access to state pensions. 

Such un-warranted and inexcusable financial 

exclusion is expressed in many different ways: 

limiting, for example, a woman’s access to credit; 

denying them access to (or even opening) a bank 

account, or owning a credit or debit card. This 

has several knock-on effects, not least blocking 

women’s access to healthcare, employment, 

and education. In many countries and 

communities this effectively excludes women 

from making financial decisions such that 

become what might be considered a ‘nonsubject’ 

when it comes to income, inheritance 

or property. 

Coercive behaviours 

It is not an exaggeration to state that such 

coercive behaviour, which spans countries and 

continents, keeps women in a semi-slavery state, 

out of which there appears no escape. They are 

denied the freedom to make their own choices 

because of the lack of material resources – 

and a lack of material resources leads to an 

undermining of self-confidence and self-worth, 

and all of the negative consequences this brings. 

Women are not only subjected to economic 

violence by their Governments, but also by 

their partners and society at large. Being 

denied access to education means being denied 

the tools for understanding and managing 

economic matters. Obliging a woman to ask for 

money for any purchase – be it related to grocery 

shopping, the children’s education or leisure – 

and requiring them to justify every individual 

expenditure is both humiliating and damaging, 

as is the use of blackmail and threats meted out 

to woman for economic related reasons. 

So what is to be done? How can economic 

violence against women and girls be ended? 

In 2016 and 2017 I had the honour of cochairing 

the UN High-level Panel on women’s 

economic empowerment. Financial exclusion 

and its consequences was one of the issues we 

discussed and for which the Panel provided a 

number of recommendations that are still valid 

today. 

Urgent action 

In particular, we highlighted three key areas 

where urgent action was required: 

• Legislation and social norms. Countries 

and institutions need to act to reform 

discriminatory laws and regulations that 

adversely impact women and would help bring 


OPINION 

AUTHOR – Simona Scarpaleggia 

❝ 

2.4 billion women globally don’t have same economic rights as men. 

In 86 countries, women face some form of job restriction and 95 countries do 

not guarantee equal pay for equal work. 

about a change in social norms. Laws 

that hinder women’s access to secure 

land tenure, inheritance and property, 

for example, should be eliminated, 

equal pay legislation should be enacted, 

and the prohibition for women to do 

certain jobs should be removed. And 

there is much more that can be done in 

all sectors of the economy. 

• Access. Besides guaranteeing access 

to physical assets, Governments and 

institutions need to act to guarantee 

women access to the same mobile and 

digital financial services technology 

that men currently take for granted. 

Women are currently denied access to 

some of the most basic tools, including 

online banking or even being able 

to fulfil simple tasks such as making 

payments into their own accounts 

(assuming they are allowed them!). 

• Education. Financial education should 

be provided to all people, men and 

women, girls and boys, to ensure more 

equitable access to – and management 

of – financial resources. 

Eradicating economic violence against 

women has to be the objective of all 

countries and of all Governments, in the 

developing and the developed world. 

There can be no excuses: it is right, it 

is fair, and it improves women’s lives. 

Perhaps more than this, it increases 

the prosperity of their family and their 

community and society at large. 

Removing violence and delivering 

economic empowerment is essential to 

advancing freedom and democracy. 

Simona Scarpaleggia is a Board 

Director of EDGE Empower and a 

former country CEO of IKEA. 


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International Trade 

Monthly round-up of the latest stories 

in global trade by Andrea Kirkby. 

It’s all about people 

ANOTHER story on the global 

population, this time from Sky 

News quoting UN data, tells 

us that the world population 

has reached 8bn – three times 

the size it was in 1950. But while there are 

more people on Earth than ever before 

because we're living longer, population 

growth is at its slowest rate in more than 

70 years. 

The global population is getting older – 

10 percent are aged over 65, and this will 

increase to 16 percent by 2050, and the 

number of over-65s will be twice that of 

those under five. 

As to where populations are growing 

quickly, we need to look to East and 

Southeast Asia with its 2.3bn people, and 

Central and South Asia, which has 2.1bn 

people. And while most think of China as 

being the world’s most populous nation, 

it’s on a level pegging with India. However, 

2023 is expected to see India take the lead. 

Notably, over half of the projected 

increase up to 2050 will be in the 

Democratic Republic of the Congo, 

Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, 

the Philippines and Tanzania. Their 

populations will become more youthful. 

Ditto for Australia, New Zealand, the 

rest of Oceania, North Africa and Western 

Asia which will still have growing 

populations by 2100. However, the data 

expects Ukraine to lose more than 20 

percent of its population by 2050 while 

Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, and Serbia 

may experience the same. And Europe 

and North America will have reached 

their peak and started to decline before 

2100. 

Overall, the global population will 

continue to grow – around 8.5bn people 

by 2030 and 9.7bn by 2050. 

So, why is any of this relevant here? 

Because production must target needs 

– there’s little point, for example, in 

ramping up production of nappies to a 

country when more walking sticks are 

needed. Firms who look to the future will 

be the ones that still exist in the future. 

PROGRESS ON 

TRADE DEALS SLOW 

A response given in the UK parliament 

to a question has shown just how 

slow the post-trade deals have been 

in coming. In the run up to the 2019 

election the Conservative Party 

promised to get agreements in place 

that covered 80 percent of UK trade by 

the end of 2022. However, the answer 

suggests that only 63 percent, worth 

around £808bn, have been signed. 

The deal with the US has been 

elusive as the Biden administration has 

not prioritised it. And the same applies 

to India. 

Deals with 71 countries and the EU 

have been signed – including Australia, 

New Zealand and Japan. And of the deal 

with Australia, former Environment 

Secretary George Eustice, who helped 

secure the deal and who was dismissed 

by Liz Truss, said: “Since I now enjoy 

the freedom of the backbenches, I no 

longer have to put such a positive gloss 

on what was agreed… the Australia 

trade deal is not actually a very good 

deal for the UK.” 

Either the Government needs more 

time or a rethink on its approach. 

ACCORDING to The i, a poll from BMG 

Research has found that the public 

has turned against Brexit and would 

accept EU rules for better trade. 

Indeed, 47 percent of voters would 

opt for a closer relationship with 

Europe whereas just 36 percent would 

stick with the deal negotiated by the 

Johnson Government. 

BMG Research interviewed a sample 

of 1,571 adults in Great Britain online 

between 29 November and 1 December, 

UK Public turns against Brexit 

around the same time the prime 

minister denied suggestions that he 

would seek a ‘Swiss-style’ Brexit. 

The poll also found that 14 percent 

would now vote Remain in a re-run 

of the referendum, and only seven 

percent of Remainers said they would 

now vote Leave. 

Among all surveyed, there is a belief 

that Brexit has had a negative impact 

on trade with the EU and non-EU 

countries, the UK’s global standing, the 

NHS and public services, the economy, 

and the cost-of-living. 

But if there is to be any change, 

it won’t come until after the next 

election as Rishi Sunak is not in a 

strong position and needs the support 

of arch-Brexiteers on the Conservative 

backbenches. One option to consider 

is a revival of Theresa May’s proposed 

Brexit deal which would have ended 

free movement but delivered a much 

closer trading relationship. 


India goes for growth 

MoneyWeek recently made the case for 

firms to retarget India. It said that ‘while 

much of the developed world is wading 

through treacle, there is still ample 

growth to explore in emerging markets. 

India shook off its post-war stasis in 

the early 1990s when Finance Minister 

Manmohan Singh began to liberalise the 

economy. A developing economy with an 

unusually developed service sector, India 

is now getting its manufacturing up to 

speed.’ 

The story also quoted Morgan Stanley 

which said that ‘the pieces are in place to 

make this India’s decade.’ It commented 

that while GDP has grown by $3trn over 

the past 30 years it is likely to expand 

by ‘more than $4trn in the next decade’, 

making India the world’s third-biggest 

economy. Economists at ANZ Bank think 

India is ‘on the cusp of sustained seven 

percent GDP growth over the medium 

term,’ and part of this may be because 

the Government is serious about building 

the infrastructure needed to attract 

multinationals: almost 20 percent of the 

central Government budget is now going 

towards capital investment. 

Indian exports are more geared towards 

mobile phones, pharmaceuticals, car 

parts and specialised machines. The 

Government has adopted pro-investment 

policies, including cutting corporate 

taxes and introducing a goods and 

services tax which creates a unified 

domestic market. 

UKEF 1: £170m for British 

construction firms in Africa 

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has announced 

two landmark finance packages worth a 

combined £174.5m for construction projects 

in Benin and Togo. 

Of the monies, £106.5m guarantees a loan 

from Deutsche Bank to the Benin Government 

to fund the construction of a new 

Ministerial City in Benin’s Cotonou; it will 

house 21 Government ministries across ten 

modern office buildings, a four-story parking 

facility and a restaurant. The balance, 

£68.6m, is UKEF-guaranteed financing 

from MUFG Bank that is for the building of 

a new road between Benin and Togo. The 

latter project is part of Togo’s Wider Road 

Infrastructure plan. 

It appears that the UK was Europe’s top 

investor in Africa in 2022 according to 

the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s 

2022 World Investment Report. 

UK EXPORTS TO JAPAN SLUMP 

FIGURES collated by the Department for 

International Trade show that exports to 

Japan fell from £12.3bn to £11.9bn in the 

year to June 2022. Exports in goods fell 

4.9 percent to £6.1bn and services fell two 

percent to £5.8bn. 

And this is despite Japan having the 

first major free trade agreement signed by 

Britain after Brexit. 

The Department for International Trade 

said in 2020 the UK-Japan Comprehensive 

Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) 

offered significant advantages beyond the 

previous EU arrangement. It claimed the 

estimated boost to trade between the UK 

and Japan could be worth £15bn. But in 

its first year since coming into force on 

1 January 2021, total trade between the 

countries was £23.7bn, against £24.9bn in 

2020, a fall of about five percent. 

IF IT DOESN’T GLISTEN… 

CRYPTOCURRENCIES have been 

troubling many for a number of years and 

the recent collapse of FTX should serve 

as a reminder of the risks that crypto can 

present to those who trade in and with it. 

And now the European Central Bank, 

or rather policymaker Pablo Hernandez 

de Cos, has chimed in on the debate. He 

hopes ‘that the events we have recently 

experienced will make citizens aware of 

the risks associated with these crypto 

assets.’ 

FTX, which had been among the 

world's largest crypto exchanges, filed 

for bankruptcy protection at the end 

of November. Its failure saw panicked 

traders withdraw $6bn from the platform 

in just 72 hours. 

The overall point of the story is that 

despite the promise of cryptocurrencies, 

nothing ever beats cold hard cash backed 

by (most) Governments. 

Minako Morita-Jaeger from the Sussex 

University business school said the 

Government had ‘oversold’ the UK-Japan 

trade agreement and it did not offer 

significant economic advantages over the 

previous EU deal. 

She said research had shown firms there 

were having difficulties navigating the UK- 

EU trade framework and were considering 

expanding their business functions in the 

EU. While the UK said the deal with Japan 

offered some benefits, a Japanese Ministry 

of Affairs document says it largely rolled 

over the previous EU agreement. 

In its defence, the Department for 

International Trade wrote: ‘Our analysis 

shows that the UK-Japan CEPA could 

increase trade by nearly £16bn and 

increase UK wages by £800m by 2035 

compared to not having a deal.’ 

UKEF 2: £4BN FOR UK 

AND MOROCCAN TRADE 

UK Export Finance (UKEF) announced 

up to £4bn to help Moroccan buyers 

with projects in the region provided 

that at least 20 percent of the content 

is sourced from UK businesses. 

As part of this, UKEF has appointed 

a new International Export Finance 

Executive, based in Casablanca, to find 

new opportunities for UK businesses 

to export to the region. 

As seen in a recent country profile 

in Credit Management, Morocco 

offers a range of opportunities for 

UK businesses, such as potential 

projects in energy transition, water 

desalination, and infrastructure, 

including rail, roads, ports, and 

airports to boost the domestic 

economy through new transport 

links. 

New Free Trade FAQs published 

THE Foundation of Small Businesses 

(FSB) has joined with the Department for 

International Trade to produce an FAQ 

guide on how Free Trade Agreements can 

help small businesses. The guide, Using a 

trade agreement, covers a range of topics 

from how such agreements enable small 

firms to grow and sell goods and services 

overseas, to how they can reduce costs. 

The document is on great.gov.uk. 

CURRENCY UK 

EXCHANGE RATES VISIT CURRENCYUK.CO.UK 

OR CALL 020 7738 0777 

Currency UK is authorised and regulated 

by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). 

HIGH LOW TREND 

GBP/EUR 1.15009 1.12402 Down 

GBP/USD 1.22919 1.18510 Up 

GBP/CHF 1.13696 1.11046 Flat 

GBP/AUD 1.82611 1.74836 Down 

GBP/CAD 1.66872 1.61229 Down 

GBP/JPY 166.806 155.493 Down 

This data was taken on 18th January and refers to the 

month previous to/leading up to 17th January 2023. 


COUNTRY FOCUS 

Thailand is the 

‘Detroit of Asia’ and 

worth a second 

look. 

The Eye of the Thai-ger 

AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein 

THE average person in the street probably 

associates Thailand with various wellpublicised 

holiday hotspots that include 

Phuket and Koh Samui; and 4x4 pickups 

if they watched an episode of Top Gear 

last November. 

But as is the case with these country profiles, there is, 

of course, much more to Thailand than media-related 

stereotypes. 

For starters, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian 

country never to have been colonised by a European 

power, in part because Britain and France agreed in 

1896 to make the Chao Phraya valley a buffer state. 

It is also known for its beautiful nature, delicious 

mangoes, and strict rules about conversations on its 

monarchy. (A word to the wise, it’s better to avoid 

talking about the monarchy entirely… the topic does 

land foreigners in prison). 

With a populace that are known as friendly and 

hospitable, it’s a destination for many travellers 

seeking a warm welcome and great weather. 

Historically, little is known of Thailand’s earliest 

people, but there are archaeological sites in the 

northeast of the country that contain evidence of rice 

cultivation and bronze casting that date back 5,000 

years. 

The Thai people originated from Southwest China 

and migrated into the main part of Southeast Asia over 

many centuries. The first mention of their existence 

in the region is a 12th century inscription at Angkor 

Wat, which refers to syam or ‘dark brown’ people as 

being vassals of the Khmer monarch. 

‘Syam’… Siam… Siamese – the words were used until 

1939. A bloodless coup in 1932 led by military officers 

and civil servants ended the absolute monarchy and 

inaugurated Thailand's constitutional era and Siam 

eventually became Thailand or rather, officially, the 

Kingdom of Thailand. 

Notably, the world ‘Thai’ translates to ‘free’ – so 

Thailand effectively means ‘land of the free’. 

Pagoda in doi 

inthanon national 

park at chiang mai, 

Thailand. 

The country 

Located in Southeast Asia on the Indochinese 

Peninsula, it’s bordered to the north by Myanmar 

(Burma) and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, 

to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, 

and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar. 

It occupies 513,120 sq. km of which all bar 2,230 sq. 

km is land. 

According to the CIA World Factbook, the population 

is estimated to stand at a hair under 70m of which 

97.5 percent are Thai, 1.3 percent Burmese, other 1.1 


COUNTRY FOCUS 


Thailand 

percent and unspecified around 0.1 percent. 

Those figures are, with a population growth 

rate of 0.23 percent, roughly in line with data 

from the Thai Office of SMEs Promotion 

which claimed a 2019 population of 66.56m. 

Notably, that body detailed how young the 

population is – 16.45 percent are aged 14 or 

under, 13.02 percent aged 15-24, 45.69 percent 

aged 25-54, 13.01 percent aged 55-64, and 

11.82 percent aged 65 or over. The sexes are 

well balanced with the exception of those 65 

or older where the number of males is just 

over three-quarters the number of females. 

And regarding population spread, of some 

18.2m households, Statista claims that 50.5 

percent are urbanised, but 49.3 percent live in 

rural areas. 

Largest cities 

In terms of largest towns and cities, data from 

the Registration Office Department of the 

Interior says that the capital Bangkok is not 

unsurprisingly the largest with around 5.58m 

people (2020 data). It’s followed by a big drop 

down by Nonthaburi with 251,026 residents, 

Pak Kret with 189,468, Hat Yai with 149,459, 

and Chaophraya Surasak with 146,459 

inhabitants. 

There are another 27 cities with between 

41,581 and 131,599 people and then there 

are 176 towns with between 4,448 and 

77,976 people as well as 2,266 township 

municipalities. 

Of the languages spoken, Thai is the 

official tongue and the only language 

spoken by 90.7 percent of the population. 

However, 6.4 percent speak Thai and 

other languages, and around 2.9 percent 

speak other languages - including Malay 

and Burmese. As for English, it is the 

secondary language of the elite. 

With such a large country having a 

relatively low part of the population 

urbanised, transport networks are 

clearly important. In 2019, Worlddata. 

info, using sources from the CIA, 

OECD, UNCTAD and others, reckoned 

that Thailand had around 180,100km 

of roads, 4,100km of rail, 4,000km of 

waterways, 839 commercial harbours 

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com /January/February 2023 / PAGE 35 

and 32 airports. Contrarily, Wikiwand, 

quoting various sources including the BBC, 

thinks that the nation boasts 390,000km of 

roads, of rail, and 103 airports (63 paved). 

The only areas of agreement between both 

bodies are the length of waterways and with 

around 24,000 traffic fatalities per year on Thai 

roads, they can be considered very dangerous. 

According to PwC, since 2019, the Thai 

economy has declined following weaker 

demand for exports that reflects the impact 

of US-China trade tensions, slowing public 

investments, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a 

drought impacting agricultural production. 

As a result, in 2020, the economy fell by 6.2 

percent. This was followed by a recovery 

in 2021 with a growth of 1.6 percent, which 

included an increase in the export of goods 

by 18.8 percent, private consumption 

by 0.3 percent and investment by 3.4 

percent. Inflation in 2021 was 1.2 percent. 

A growth rate of 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent 

is currently forecast for 2022 (2.9 percent 

reckons the World Bank). Average monthly 

income has stagnated around THB 26- 

2,7000 (around £622 – Dec. 2022) since 2015. 


COUNTRY FOCUS 


Industry and opportunities 

Infrastructure 

The Government has been planning to 

upgrade the transport network for a few 

years. The Spring 2017 edition of Nomura 

Journal of Asian Capital Markets noted a 

Government Master Plan with planned 

investment of THB 1,913bn (£44bn) to 

promote connectivity and transform 

the country into a regional hub while 

enhancing competitiveness. Money was 

earmarked to upgrade rail infra-structure 

and facilities as well as to build a doubletrack 

railway network with extensions to 

borders, new motorways and expressways, 

and new seaports on both the Thai gulf 

and Andaman Sea, whilst increasing 

airport capacity with an aim to create a 

regional hub for air transportation. 

The author was, however, sceptical 

that the plans would come to fruition 

and noted that the “World Bank (2008) 

pointed out almost a decade ago that the 

transport sector in Thailand exhibited 

institutional deficiencies such as a lack of 

central planning, weak coordination, and 

unclear separation between operation 

and regulation functions.” 

However, in 2020, International 

Construction reported that “Thailand’s 

Government is reported to be planning 

on increasing spending on road and rail 

projects when the country’s fiscal year 

begins in October in a bid to boost an 

economy that has been hit by COVID-19.” 

The transport budget for the 2021 fiscal 

year was to be around THB 232bn 

baht (£5.3bn). Further, in January 2022 

vietnamplus.vn reported that (another) 

1.49tn (£37.5bn) was to be spent on 

transport infrastructure. 

Some might think fair to assume 

caution on these investments given the 

comments from Nomura and the record 

of the military Government. However, 

the US Trade Department noted, in July 

2022, that an acceleration in spending on 

Government-backed ‘megaprojects’ would 

enhance the economy. These include 

a high-speed rail-link connecting the 

three airports in the Bangkok region; the 

development of U-Tapao Airport and the 

Eastern Airport City; Phase 3 of the Laem 

Chabang Port development; and Phase 

3 of the Map Ta Phut Port expansion. 

There’s also the Bangkok-Nakhon 

Ratchasima high-speed rail line (part of 

the Thailand-China line) and a 16.4 km 

extension of the Bang Khun Tien-Ban 

Phaeo section of the M82 motorway to be 

included. 

The US Trade Department commented 

that “if infrastructure development is 

carried out as planned, it may open 

opportunities for investment in industries 

across the region, including in the 

❝ 

Despite its distance 

from the UK, 

Thailand has much 

to offer and is most 

certainly a country 

worth investing in. 

❝ 

Bangk 

production of electrical vehicles, modern clinics and hospitals, offices, apartment 

medicines, smart electronics, digital buildings, meeting halls, theatres and 

technology, and the modern agriculture cinemas, hotels, bars and nightclubs, 

and future food industries.” 

educational institutions, shopping 

centres and department stores, BEC 

already applies to buildings with a 

footprint of 10,000 sq. m. or more. But 

from 2023 it will apply to sites of 2,000 sq. 

m. or more. 

Energy 

With an increasing population and 

plans for growth, the Thai Government 

is implementing a Power Development 

Plan (PDP 2022) to increase renewable 

generation capacity (and lower the share 

of electricity coming from fossil fuels) 

along with new power plants that run on 

biomass or biogas and waste-to-energy 

schemes. Solar, battery technology and 

alternative energy storage are on the 

to-do list and similarly, the electricity 

network is to be given more flexibility and 

be extended to areas with potential for 

alternative energy. The National Energy 

Plan 2022 aims to help Thailand move 

toward green and clean energy while 

reducing carbon emissions. 

There’s also the Building Energy Code 

(BEC) which requires energy-saving 

to be implemented in the design and 

construction of new buildings. Aimed at 

Tourism 

Given Thailand’s location and scenery, 

it’s no wonder that the country’s tourism 

sector was battered by COVID-19. It’s 

expected to have recovered following 

Thailand’s reopening to foreign arrivals 

at the end of 2021. International arrivals 

are not expected to return to their prepandemic 

levels of more than 40m visitors 

until 2025. As such, the Government 

hopes to attract more foreign tourists 

and is encouraging industry players 

to stop cheapening goods and services 

and instead, aim to attract higher-value 

tourists in the hope of turning the country 

into a premium travel destination. 

As part of the reopening, the Tourism 


COUNTRY FOCUS 


ok 

Authority of Thailand ran a marketing 

campaign for 2022 called Visit Thailand 

Year 2022: Amazing New Chapters 

designed to promote medical tourism, 

tourism to beaches, and shopping. 

On medical tourism, Thailand is said 

to offer competitive treatment costs. 

Notably, Thailand introduced universal 

health coverage in 2001, one of only a 

few lower-middle-income countries to 

do so. It has some 64 hospitals that meet 

the Joint Commission International 

accreditation standards. According to 

Aseanbriefing.com, Thailand earned 

$1.8bn from over 4m medical tourists in 

2019, which amounted to three percent 

of the GDP and was projected to reach 

3.5 percent until the pandemic struck. 

Medical treatments can be lower by up 

to 30 percent compared to the West and 

the quality of healthcare is comparable to 

leading hospitals worldwide. 

Food 

While agriculture in Thailand contributes 

to just 6 percent of its GDP, it employs 

around a third of its workers. Thailand 

is the world’s largest exporter of tapioca 

products, rubber, frozen shrimp, canned 

tuna, and canned pineapple and is the 

13th largest food exporter in the world, 

with over 10,000 food and beverage 

processing factories. Its Ministry of 

Industry reported that the food industry 

performed impressively in 2021, both in 

food exports and food manufacturing. 

The food manufacturing industry 

achieved an overall growth of 4.5 percent. 

Overall, the agriculture, hunting, and 

forestry sector contributed approximately 

THB 1.38tn (£31.25bn) to the GDP in 2021. 

Agriculture is highly fragmented and 

dominated by smallholders with most 

farmers owning just under one hectare 

of farmland. Most farmers grow monoculture, 

especially the rice crop, which 

accounts for 88 percent of the farming 

households engaging in monoculture 

farming. Thailand needs to adopt new 

technologies such as smart farming to increase 

production yields further. 

Digital 

Thailand’s digital businesses are growing, 

and a report compiled by Google, Temasek, 

and Bain & Company, E-Conomy 

SEA 2022, reckons that by 2025, the digital 

sector could be worth $53bn – second to 

Indonesia’s $130bn. In light of this, there 

is a desperate need for skilled labour in 

Thailand as the digital economy is expected 

to account for 30 percent of the nation’s 

GDP by 2030. A report from ONDE and 

Time Consulting, cited by Aseanbriefing, 

thinks that by 2030, the sector will need 

more than 1m digital workers to fulfil its 

growth potential. 

It's hoped that foreign firms can aid the 

nation with cloud computing, big data, 

the Internet of Things, and data analytics. 

Manufacturing 

Asean briefing also notes that the Thai 

economy is reliant on exports, and has 

built up a significant manufacturing 

sector wanting to rival the likes of lowcost 

manufacturers such as Vietnam and 

Cambodia. 

EV production has been fast-tracked 

by generous incentives, such as tax 

holidays and investment incentives for 

EV infrastructure. The country also 

has well-developed automotive supply 

chains, which have garnered its nickname 

‘Detroit of Asia’ – as evidenced by Top 

Gear. Pre-pandemic Thailand had the 

largest automotive industry in Southeast 

Asia and the 10th largest in the world. 

Then there’s electrical products which 

were worth $42bn in 2021. According 

to Government Savings Bank (GSB), 

Thailand’s largest state-owned bank, 

the country is the world’s second-largest 

exporter of hard-disk drives, washing 

machines and air conditioners, and ranks 

sixth for compressors and eighth for 

refrigerators. 

Medical devices 

Lastly, Thailand’s healthcare industry is a 

priority for the Government which wants 

to position the country as a regional 

medical hub both for medical tourism – 

as above – and exports of medical devices. 

In 2021, the medical devices industry 

was worth around $6bn with more than 

80 percent of local production exported. 

Much of the production does not require 

complex technology or are single-use 

devices. 

Beyond this, Thailand’s population is 

aging with 30 percent forecasted to be 

over 60 by 2035; the demand for support 

services will rise accordingly. 

Taxation 

Corporation tax 

A foreign company not carrying on 

business in Thailand is subject to a 

final withholding tax on certain types 

of assessable income (such as interest, 

dividends, royalties, rentals, and service 

fees) paid from or in Thailand. The rate 

of tax is generally 15 percent, except for 

dividends, which is 10 percent. 

Companies and partnerships with low 

levels of paid-in capital – under THB 5m 

– and income under THB 30m attract 

different rates: on net profits up to THB 

300,000 there is nothing to pay, between 

THB 300,001 and 3m the rate is 15 percent. 

Beyond that the rate is 20 percent. 

Personal tax 

Personal income tax rates are progressively 

banded. The first THB 150,000 is exempt. 

After that there are seven bands starting 

at THB 150,001 at five percent which then 

rise in 5 percent increments to 35 percent 

on income over THB 5m. 

All employees are required to contribute 

to a social security fund an amount equal 

to five percent of their salary up to a 

maximum contribution of THB 750 per 

month. Employers and the Government 

are required to contribute an equal 

amount. 

Summary 

Despite its distance from the UK, Thailand 

has much to offer and is most certainly 

a country worth investing in. There 

are challenges – the rural nature of the 

marketplace and the authoritarian nature 

of the Government. But those that steer 

an appropriate course should do well. 

Adam Bernstein is a freelance writer. 


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SALARY AND RECRUITING TRENDS 

New year, new priorities 

Salary and recruitment trends for the year ahead. 

AUTHOR – Natascha Whitehead 

AS a result of the wider 

political and economic 

climate, we witnessed 

much uncertainty in the 

world of work last year. 

Skills shortages were 

rife and whilst hybrid working showed 

no signs of slowing down, employees 

expressed their desire for a more flexible 

hybrid approach. 

Research carried out in Hays’ 2023 

Salary & Recruiting Trends guide revealed 

the important patterns that those hiring 

in accountancy and finance and working 

in credit management have experienced 

in the last 12 months. The guide provides 

a valuable insight into what to expect 

throughout the year ahead. 

Hiring plans persist alongside skills 

shortages 

According to the survey, almost all 

(90 percent) accountancy and finance 

employers encountered skills shortages 

in the last 12 months, a significant jump 

from 80 percent in 2021. This skills gap is 

set to continue into 2023, as four in five 

employers (81 percent) anticipate they 

will struggle with a shortage of suitable 

candidates. 

Amidst the competition for talent, 

recruitment remains a priority for 

employers across a range of professions 

including credit management. 62 percent 

of those hiring in the accountancy and 

finance sector plan to recruit staff in the 

next 12 months, which is a slight increase 

from 60 percent the year before. 

Despite challenges in terms of finding 

and retaining talent, 94 percent of 

accountancy and finance employers 

expect their organisation’s performance 

to increase or stay the same in the year 

ahead. 

Soft skills are in high demand 

Based on the data from our guide, the most 

sought-after soft skills by those hiring in 

the finance and accountancy industry are 

communication and interpersonal skills 

(63 percent), an ability to adopt change 

(52 percent) and an ability to learn (47 

percent). 

Employers in the sector would benefit 

from taking an adapted approach to 

hiring to help overcome the skills crisis, 

by considering an applicant’s potential, 

instead of their prior experience and 

skills. 

Northern Ireland 

£48,000 

Wales 

£43,000 

South West England 

£50,000 

Credit Manager 

Average Salaries 2023 

North West 

£48,000 

West Midlands 

£50,000 

On a positive note, 70 percent of 

accountancy and finance employers 

are likely to hire a professional who 

may not have all the required skills, 

with the intention of upskilling them. 

Organisations also consider reskilling 

current employees: another tool to 

tackling on-going skills shortages. 

Salary optimism in the finance 

sector 

Salaries have been on a significant upward 

spiral in the past 12 months, as 89 percent 

of accountancy and finance employers 

increased their employees’ salaries last 

year in comparison to 64 percent in 

2021. Our analysis shows that over the 

last 12 months, the credit management 

Scotland 

£48,000 

South East England 

£52,000 

North East 

£45,000 

Yorkshire & Humber 

£45,000 

East Midlands 

£48,000 

London 

£58,000 

East of England 

£50,000 

profession received an average pay rise of 

6.3 percent – higher than the overall UK 

average of 5.4 percent. 

59 percent of credit management 

professionals are currently satisfied 

with their salaries. Looking forward, 

professionals working in the industry 

will be pleased to know that 86 percent of 

accountancy and finance employers plan 

to raise salaries further in 2023. 

Professionals prioritise work-life 

balance, diversity, sustainability 

and purpose 

Employee benefits are as important as 

ever today because professionals have 

more choice over where they want to 

work. In the last year, 36 percent of 


SALARY AND RECRUITING TRENDS 

AUTHOR – Natascha Whitehead 

CREDIT SALARIES UK 2022/2023 

Credit 

Controller 

Senior 

Credit Controller 

Credit Risk 

Analyst 

Credit Control 

Supervisor 


Manager 

Group Credit Manager 

/ Head of Credit 


Director 

Region 

2022 2023 2022 2023 2022 2023 2022 2023 2022 2023 2022 2023 2022 2023 

East Midlands £25,000 £26,000 £28,000 £30,000 £40,000 £40,000 £30,000 £35,000 £40,000 £48,000 £60,000 £64,000 £80,000 £85,000 

East of England £26,000 £27,000 £30,000 £32,000 £40,000 £40,000 £38,000 £38,000 £48,000 £50,000 £60,000 £63,000 £70,000 £78,000 

London £27,000 £28,000 £32,000 £35,000 £50,000 £53,000 £36,000 £38,000 £55,000 £58,000 £72,000 £77,000 £95,000 £100,000 

North East £22,000 £24,000 £25,000 £27,000 £32,000 £34,000 £29,000 £30,000 £40,000 £45,000 £60,000 £62,000 £75,000 £77,000 

North West £25,000 £26,500 £27,000 £30,000 £45,000 £48,000 £30,000 £33,000 £45,000 £48,000 £60,000 £63,000 £80,000 £85,000 

Northern Ireland £25,000 £26,000 £29,000 £30,000 £33,000 £33,000 £38,000 £39,000 £47,000 £48,000 £55,000 £58,000 £72,000 £77,000 

Scotland £24,000 £25,000 £28,000 £30,000 £32,000 £35,000 £30,000 £33,000 £40,000 £48,000 £55,000 £58,000 £65,000 £75,000 

South East £27,000 £28,000 £32,000 £34,000 £40,000 £43,000 £37,000 £38,000 £48,000 £52,000 £65,000 £70,000 £85,000 £90,000 

South West £26,000 £28,000 £30,000 £32,000 £42,000 £42,000 £34,000 £35,000 £45,000 £50,000 £55,000 £55,000 £70,000 £80,000 

Wales £22,000 £24,500 £26,000 £28,000 £30,000 £31,000 £28,000 £30,000 £38,000 £43,000 £53,000 £55,000 £65,000 £70,000 

West Midlands £26,000 £26,000 £27,000 £30,000 £37,000 £40,000 £34,000 £35,000 £48,000 £50,000 £65,000 £67,000 £80,000 £88,000 

Yorkshire £23,000 £25,000 £25,000 £28,000 £32,000 £30,000 £33,000 £40,000 £45,000 £60,000 £70,000 £80,000 

Average £24,833 £26,167 £28,250 £30,500 £37,545 £39,900 £32,833 £34,750 £44,500 £48,750 £60,000 £62,909 £75,583 £82,083 

2022-2023 % increase 5.3% 7.9% 6.2% 5.8% 9.5% 4.8% 8.5% 

credit professionals moved jobs and over 

half (59 percent) of professionals in the 

sector plan on moving jobs in the next 12 

months. 

As it stands, 53 percent of credit 

professionals feel positive about their 

career prospects. As well as this, 60 

percent of professionals in the sector 

rated their work-life balance positively. 

Employers looking to attract and retain 

the top talent in the sector ought to 

consider the things professionals value 

most. When contemplating a new job, the 

top priority aside from salary for those 

working in credit management is worklife 

balance and purpose: 50 percent 

would accept less pay if either or both of 

those factors were to improve. 

Other crucial considerations for 

credit professionals deciding whether 

to apply for a new role include whether 

an organisation has an inclusive and 

diverse culture (67 percent), is committed 

to sustainability (77 percent) and has a 

strong sense of purpose (88 percent). 

Hybrid working opportunities still 

popular 

Unsurprisingly, hybrid working continues 

to be offered by finance employers 

and still appeals to credit management 

professionals. A large majority (74 

percent) of accountancy and finance 

employers currently offer hybrid working. 

Since the hybrid approach is now more of 

an employee expectation than a benefit, 

organisations need to offer more to stand 

out from the crowd. 

For instance, flexibility when it comes 

to hybrid working could certainly entice 

talent in the year ahead; over half (53 

percent) of credit professionals preferred 

way of working would be a flexible 

hybrid approach. 63 percent of credit 

professionals say they might be swayed 

to change jobs if they were allowed to 

decide how many days a week they spend 

working in the office. 

Advice for the year ahead 

With Hays’ insights, both employers and 

professionals will be better equipped to 

confront the challenges that 2023 may 

bring. Here are three of my top tips for 

success in the next 12 months: 

1. Be open to upskill and reskill 

There is no denying the impact that skills 

shortages have had across the sector in 

the last year; 90 percent of employers 

told us they have been affected by the 

skills gap. As this trend is forecast to 

continue into 2023, more organisations will 

need to be prepared to teach candidates 

new skills so they can effectively carry 

out roles that were previously closed off 

to them. 

As mentioned, hiring for future 

potential (rather than based on rigid 

experience requirements) will stand 

employers in good stead. Similarly, credit 

management professionals ought to be 

willing to learn new skills to thrive in the 

current climate. Ultimately, I recommend 

both parties be open-minded in the year 

ahead. 

2. Understand what employees want 

Whilst salary is important to credit 

professionals, especially in light of the 

cost-of-living crisis, there are several 

other factors that candidates take into 

consideration when applying for a 

job. Organisations will benefit from 

acknowledging the importance of 

demonstrating a clear purpose, as credit 

professionals seek roles where they can 

make a positive difference. The values 

a company upholds – such as inclusion 

and sustainability – are also crucial for 

attracting talent today. Furthermore, as 

there has been an increasing discourse 

around wellbeing particularly since the 

pandemic, the importance of work-life 

balance should not be underestimated. 

Finance professionals are unlikely to 

settle for less in the next 12 months, so 

employers must adapt or risk falling 

behind. 

3. Reassess your career path 

January is a great time to reflect on how 

far you’ve come career wise and what you 

would like to achieve in the upcoming 

year. You could organise a meeting with 

your employer to go over any feedback 

to utilise in the next 12 months to help 

ensure you are getting the most out 

of your current role. You might also 

want to discuss the potential for career 

progression. This is time well spent so you 

can feel confident about achieving your 

desired goals in 2023. 

Alternatively, although daunting, you 

may be ready to move jobs and what 

better time than the start of a New Year 

to look for a new one. 62 percent of those 

hiring in accountancy and finance plan 

to recruit in the next 12 months, so there 

will be plenty of opportunities for a fresh 

start. 

Natascha Whitehead is Business 

Director of Hays Credit Management. 


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Apprentice profile 

KYLE Abbott is a Level 2 Credit Control 

Apprentice, and when his apprenticeship 

is successfully concluded, he will 

become a Customer Advisor (Advanced). 

He joined United Utilities in March 

2022, and is currently on the court 

team, engaged in a mixture of customer calls and back 

office work. 

“I was initially drawn to the apprenticeship as I saw it 

as a great opportunity to progress my career,” he explains. 

“I have multiple years’ experience in customer service and 

the apprenticeship has allowed me to strengthen my skills 

while showcasing my current knowledge within the role.” 

At the time of writing, Kyle is on the point of completing 

his second module of the course ‘credit and collections’: 

“Both modules have helped me massively within my role 

by helping me improve my interpersonal and collections 

skills,” he continues. “This has meant I have more 

confidence when conversing with customers regarding 

sensitive matters such as debt. 

“Since starting the apprenticeship I have improved my 

team working skills and my ability to receive feedback.” 

Fast learner 

Despite his comparatively short time within the business, 

Kyle has already been given plenty of opportunities to 

work towards his 20 percent ‘on the job’ learning in the 

form of projects and days out of the office to discover more 

about different parts of United Utilities: “The projects 

I am working on include an internal web page for our 

department and a guide for our Customer Account Officer 

to assist with the serving of legal documents. 

“As more and more colleagues within UU complete 

CICM qualifications the support for apprentices like 

myself, increases as more agents are able to use their 

experience from their work to help,” he adds. “I am driven 

to complete my Level 2 and will then aim to begin my Level 

3 to further my development with CICM and the business.” 

Latest in a series of 

how CICM-led 

Apprenticeships are 

supporting professional 

development 

Kyle Abbot 

Apprentice Customer Advisor 

United Utilities 

“The projects I am working on include 

an internal web page for our department 

and a guide for our Customer Account 

Officer to assist with the serving of legal 

documents.” 

." 

“As more and more colleagues within 

UU complete CICM qualifications, the 

support for apprentices like myself 

increases as more agents are able to 

use their experience from their work 

to help.” 

Apprenticeships in Credit 

Control and Collections 

There are five apprenticeships for those working in the credit 

profession. At each Level of apprenticeship you will be able to 

gain professional CICM qualifications 

• Credit Controller/Collector 

• Advanced Credit Controller and Debt Collection Specialist 

Apprenticeship 

• Compliance/Risk Officer Apprenticeship 

• Senior Compliance/Risk Specialist Apprenticeship 

• Financial Services Degree Apprenticeship 

For more details on how CICM can help you start your 

apprenticeship journey, visit cicm.com/apprenticeships 


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Each of our Corporate Partners is carefully selected for 

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We are delighted to showcase them here. 

They're waiting to talk to you... 

Hays Credit Management is a national specialist 

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credit management and receivables professionals, 

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E: sales@datainterconnect.co.uk 

W: www.datainterconnect.com 

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 

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. 

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. 

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. 

T: +44 (0)1273 696933 

W: www.americanexpress.com 

T: +44 (0) 1302 513 000 

E: sales@keyivr.com 

W: www.keyivr.com 

T: +44 (0)1246 555055 

E: info@forumsinternational.co.uk 

W: www.forumsinternational.co.uk 


CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF CREDIT MANAGEMENT • 

Introducing our 

CORPORATE PARTNERS 

Each of our Corporate Partners is carefully selected for their commitment 

to the profession, best practice in the Credit Industry and the quality of 

services they provide. We are delighted to showcase them here. 

Our Corporate Partnerships give organisations a unique 

opportunity to work with us and demonstrate their 

commitment to professionalism and best practice in the 

Credit industry. 

We have combined a number of compelling features 

that will deliver great value through sustained exposure 

to our membership of over 7,000 credit professionals, 

decision-makers and key industry figures. 

For further information please contact the Head of Strategic 

Relationships, luke.sculthorp@cicm.com 

The CICM Benevolent Fund is 

here to support members of 

the CICM in times of need. 

Some examples of how CICM have helped our members are: 

• Financed the purchase of a mobility scooter for a disabled member. 

• Helped finance the studies of the daughter of a member who 

became unexpectedly ill. 

• Financed the purchase of computer equipment to assist an 

unemployed member set up a business. 

• Contributed towards the purchase of an orthopaedic bed for one 

member whose condition was thereby greatly eased. 

• Helped with payment for a drug, not available on the NHS, for 

medical treatment of another member. 

If you or any dependants are in need or in distress, please apply today – we are here to 

help. (Your application will then be reviewed by the CICM Benevolent Fund committee and 

you will be advised of their decision as quickly as possible) 


PAYMENT TRENDS 

Forward Momentum 

The latest late payment data shows continuing 

signs of improvement. 

AUTHOR – Rob Howard 

THE latest late payment data is encouraging, 

with a number of regions and sectors across the 

board making strides in the right direction. The 

average Days Beyond Terms (DBT) across regions 

and sectors in the UK decreased by 3.7 and 3.1 

days respectively. In Ireland, the regional figure 

dropped by 2.0 days, while the sector figure saw an increase 

of 0.2 days. Average DBT across the four provinces of Ireland 

reduced by 9.6 days. 

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT 

Overall, the UK sector figures are promising, with 16 of the 

22 sectors moving in the right direction towards reducing late 

payments. Of those on the up, the Financial and Insurance 

sector made the biggest dent in its DBT. A reduction of 11.2 

days takes its overall DBT to 8.6 days. The International 

Bodies (-10.1 days), Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor 

vehicles and motorcycles (-9.5 days), Manufacturing (-8.9 

days) and Professional and Scientific (-8.0 days) sectors also 

made important cuts to late payments. Of the six sectors going 

in the opposite direction, the Business from Home sector saw 

the biggest hit, with an increase of 8.8 days to its DBT. An 

increase of 4.4 days means IT and Comms is now the worst 

performing sector in the UK with an overall DBT of 22.6 days. 

Over in Ireland, the outlook is mixed. Just under half (nine) 

of the 20 sectors saw no change to DBT, six made improvements 

and five saw increases. As often the case in Ireland, it’s a tale 

of two extremes. On one hand, some sectors made significant 

reductions to late payments: the Business Admin & Support 

sector cut its DBT by a massive 62.2 days. On the other hand, 

some sectors saw big increases. With the Other Services 

sector, which includes dry cleaners, hairdressers and other 

beauty services through to membership organisations, Real 

Estate and Financial and Insurance sectors going up by 42.0, 

34.0 and 17.6 days respectively. 

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT 

The regional standings in the UK show a clean sweep of 

progress, with all 11 regions making moves to reduce late 

payments. The East Midlands saw the biggest improvement, 

reducing its DBT by 8.7 days. A further deduction of 3.5 days 

means the South West is now the best performing region with 

an overall DBT of 8.4 days. 

Like the Irish sector figures, the Irish regional data is a bit 

of a mixed bag. Six regions got better, six regions got worse, 

and 14 regions saw no change to DBT. Meath made big strides 

in the right direction, reducing its DBT by 31.9 days. Of those 

going backwards, County Mayo saw the biggest rise, with an 

increase of 8.8 days to late payments. With an overall DBT of 

zero days, Laois, Leitrim and Tipperary remain level as the 

best performing regions. 

The picture across the four Irish provinces is a positive one, 

with all four on an upward trajectory. Leinster remains at the 

bottom of the standings, but saw the biggest improvement, 

cutting its DBT by 20.6 days. A reduction of 7.7 days means 

Munster is now the best performing province, but Ulster and 

Connacht aren’t far behind thanks to reductions of 4.9 and 5.0 

days respectively. 


STATISTICS 

Data supplied by the Creditsafe Group 

Top Five Prompter Payers 

Region Dec 22 Change from Nov 22 

South West 8.4 -3.5 

North West 10.4 -3.8 

Yorkshire and Humberside 10.4 -1.1 

Wales 11 -5.5 

West Midlands 11.4 -2.6 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers 


East Anglia 17.7 -4.8 

London 14 -2.1 

Northern Ireland 13.9 -6.8 

Scotland 12.7 -1.4 

East Midlands 12.6 -8.7 

Getting worse 

Business from Home 

IT and Comms 

Real Estate 

Business Admin & Support 

Health & Social 

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 

Getting better 

Financial and Insurance 

Top Five Prompter Payers 

Sector Dec 22 Change from Nov 22 

Entertainment 5.8 -2.9 

Hospitality 6.2 -3.9 

Education 6.6 -3.8 

Transportation and Storage 8.5 -3.1 

Financial and Insurance 8.6 -11.2 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers 

Sector Dec 22 Change from Nov 22 

IT and Comms 22.6 4.4 

Mining and Quarrying 22.4 -4.9 

International Bodies 21.2 -10.1 

Real Estate 17.3 4.4 

Dormant 16.7 -6.5 

International Bodies 

Wholesale and repair of motor vehicles 

Manufacturing 

Professional and Scientific 

Dormant 

Other Service 

Mining and Quarrying 

Hospitality 

Education 

Transportation and Storage 

Entertainment 

Energy Supply 

SCOTLAND 

-1.4 DBT 

Construction 

Water & Waste 

NORTHERN 

IRELAND 

-6.8 DBT 

SOUTH 

WEST 

-3.5 DBT 

WALES 

-5.5 DBT 

NORTH 

WEST 

-3.8 DBT 

WEST 

MIDLANDS 

-2.6 DBT 

YORKSHIRE & 

HUMBERSIDE 

-1.1 DBT 

EAST 

MIDLANDS 

-8.7 DBT 

LONDON 

-2.1 DBT 

SOUTH 

EAST 

-0.7 DBT 

EAST 

ANGLIA 

-4.8 DBT 

Public Administration 

Region 

Getting Better – Getting Worse 

-8.7 

-6.8 

-5.5 

-4.8 

-3.8 

-3.5 

-2.6 

-2.1 

-1.4 

-1.1 

-0.7 

East Midlands 

Northern Ireland 

Wales 

East Anglia 

North West 

South West 

West Midlands 

London 

Scotland 

Yorkshire and Humberside 

South East 


PAYMENT TRENDS 

Getting worse 

MUNSTER 

-7.7 DBT 

KERRY 

-1.1 DBT 

CONNACHT 

-5 DBT 

LIMERICK 

0 DBT 

TIPPERARY 

0 DBT 

ULSTER 

-4.9 DBT 

MONAGHAN 

0 DBT 

LEITRIM 

0 DBT LEINSTER 

-20.6 DBT 

LONGFORD 

0 DBT 

LAOI 

0 DBT 

KILKENNY 

0 DBT 

LOUTH 

0 DBT 

Other Service 

Real Estate 

Financial and Insurance 

Construction 

Professional and Scientific 

WICKLOW 

0 DBT Getting better 

Business Admin & Support 

Wholesale and retail trade 

IT and Comms 

Top Five Prompter Payers – Ireland 


Laois 0 0 

Leitrim 0 0 

Tipperary 0 0 

Limerick 0.8 0 

Kerry 1 -1.1 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers – Ireland 


Wicklow 120 0 

Longford 107 0 

Kilkenny 90 0 

Louth 76.3 0 

Monaghan 76 0 

Top Four Prompter Payers – Northern Ireland 


Munster 7.6 -7.7 

Ulster 10 -4.9 

Connacht 10.2 -5 

Leinster 22.8 -20.6 

Entertainment 

Transportation and Storage 

Manufacturing 

Nothing changed 

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 

Education 

Energy Supply 

Health & Social 

Hospitality 

International Bodies 

Mining and Quarrying 

Public Administration 

Water & Waste 

Top Five Prompter Payers – Ireland 

Sector May 22 Change from April 22 

International Bodies 0 0 

Entertainment 1 -3.6 

IT and Comms 1.3 -7.4 

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 4 0 

Transportation and Storage 9.3 -3.1 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers – Ireland 

Sector May 22 Change from April 22 

Water & Waste 120 0 

Real Estate 70 34 

Other Service 66 42 

Health & Social 31.3 0 

Energy Supply 26 0 

Like the Irish sector 

figures, the Irish regional 

data is a bit of a mixed 

bag. Six regions got better, 

six regions got worse, and 

14 regions saw no change 

to DBT. Meath made 

big strides in the right 

direction, reducing its DBT 

by 31.9 days. 


LOOKING FOR 

YOUR NEXT 

CAREER MOVE? 

CASH ALLOCATIONS ASSISTANT 

Southampton, up to £28k 

An opportunity based in Southampton in which you will be 

working within a large credit control team, ensuring that all 

incoming payments are accurately posted. You will be working 

within a team of three, ensuring that unallocated cash is kept to 

a minimum. The organisation can offer lots of room for internal 

progression and are always growing, they are a great company 

to work for that also offer excellent benefits. Ref: 4345820 

Contact Jack Bailey on 023 8202 0104 

or jack.bailey1@hays.com 

SOLE CHARGE CREDIT CONTROLLER 

Weybridge, up to £35k 

This is a newly created position, meaning you will get 

the opportunity to really put your own stamp on the role. 

Working in a sole charge capacity you will enjoy a varied 

workload including cash collections, payment allocation, 

reconciling accounts and monitoring risk to the business. 

Property experience would be preferred, but not essential. 

Ref: 4343888 

Contact Natascha Whitehead on 07770 786433 

or natascha.whitehead@hays.com 

CREDIT MANAGER 

Brentwood & London, £55k-£75k DOE 

An exciting opportunity for a commercial Credit Manager 

to join a leading distribution business. This role will be 

responsible for the management of an established credit 

control team and working in partnership with regional 

managers to support and influence commercial operations. 

This role is office-based, and you will be required to work at 

head office or on-site of one of 35 branches. You will have to 

be highly organised and comfortable making decisions under 

pressure. This is a great opportunity to work autonomously 

and run the credit process from start to finish how you see fit. 

Ref: 4341838 

Contact Will Plom on 01603 760141 

or william.plom@hays.com 

REVENUE CONTROLLER TEMP TO PERM 

Farringdon, London, £38k-£42k, ASAP start 

As a revenue controller you are responsible for credit 

control for specific partners, billing and WIP management. 

Experience within the legal industry and credit/revenue 

experience needed. You would ideally have experience with 

the following tasks: Charge out rates, WIP, Residual balances, 

Invoicing, Credit Control, Microsoft Excel and a basic 

understanding of formulas. Ref: 4345014 

Contact Megan MacDonald on 020 3465 0020 

or megan.macdonald@hays.com 

hays.co.uk/creditcontrol 

© Copyright Hays plc 2023. The HAYS word, the H devices, HAYS Brave WORKING | Curious FOR | Resilient YOUR TOMORROW / www.cicm.com and Powering / January/February the world of work and 2023 associated / PAGE 50 logos and artwork are trademarks of Hays plc. 

The H devices are original designs protected by registration in many countries. All rights are reserved. CM-1144415172

CREDIT CONTROLLER 

Egham, £30k 

A Nursing home in Egham is looking for a driven individual to join 

their small credit team. The role focusses on ensuring that the 

ledger and live accounts are handled correctly, and payments are 

made in line with terms. This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone 

who is interested in rewarding work, within a friendly team. It is a 

great time to join as ongoing expansion and growth are predicted 

for the future. Ref: 4347474 

Contact Emily Thompson on 0333 010 7249 

or emily.thompson1@hays.com 

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE 

Aylesbury, up to £27k DOE + bonus 

Permanent, office-based role. Great opportunity to join a highly 

successful accounts receivable team in this growing business. 

They seek an experienced AR professional to join the established 

team to ensure accurate and timely invoicing and cash allocation 

with a small amount of Credit Control. The successful candidate 

will have proven experience in a similar role and will have great 

attention to detail and good Excel skills. Ref: 4309104 

Contact Caroline Evans on 01494 419740 

or caroline.evans@hays.com 

This is just a small selection of the many opportunities 

we have available for credit professionals. To find out 

more, visit our website or contact Natascha Whitehead, 

Credit Management UK Lead at Hays on 07770 786433. 


HR MATTERS ROUNDUP 

Crisis of Confidence 

Never breach confidentiality clauses, new legislation 

in support of flexible working, and the dangers of 

inadequate data protection training. 

AUTHOR – Gareth Edwards 

THE High Court has upheld 

various claims against four 

former employees who 

copied confidential software 

and customer database 

information for use by a new 

company. 

There were five defendants in the case of 

Weiss Technik UK Ltd and other v Davies 

and others. Four were former employees 

of Weiss, and the fifth was a corporate 

defendant business that was set up by 

one of the former employees when he left 

Weiss. 

The four individual defendants had 

obtained confidential information from 

Weiss and had made that information 

available for use by the new company. The 

confidential information took the form 

of several pieces of software, including 

passwords to access it, and Weiss' customer 

database. 

Each of the individual claimants had 

confidentiality clauses in their contracts 

of employment, and the staff handbook 

required all Weiss property to be returned 

to the company on the termination of 

employment. 

The High Court held that Mr Jones (one 

of the individual defendants and the 

founder of the corporate defendant 

company) had procured breaches of 

contract by the other individual defendants. 

Weiss' copyright in its software was 

breached when it was downloaded from 

Dropbox onto the corporate defendant's 

operating system. The copyright was 

infringed even in circumstances where 

the download happened automatically as 

Dropbox synched with the new operating 

system. It was not necessary for the 

download to have been manually triggered. 

In respect of breach of confidence, the 

High Court held that the fact the corporate 

defendant retained the confidential 

information was enough for the claim 

to succeed. There was no need for Weiss 

to prove that the defendants used the 

confidential information, or that Weiss 

suffered loss or damage, for the claim to be 

upheld. 

This is an encouraging decision for 

employers who are not obligated to show 

loss or damage as a result of confidential 

information being taken for the purposes 

of a competing business. It also acts as a 

useful reminder of the circumstances 

where a corporate defendant can be 

pursued in respect of an equitable breach 

of confidence. 

Government supports flexible working 

THE Government has confirmed it will 

support the Employment Relations 

(Flexible Working) Bill 2022-2023 as it 

passes through Parliament. 

The Bill will make several changes to 

the current statutory flexible working 

regime by introducing a requirement 

for employers to consult with the 

employee before rejecting a flexible 

working request; allowing an employee 

to make two statutory requests in any 

12-month period (rather than the current 

one request); reducing the decision 

period within which an employer is 

required to administer the statutory 

request from three months to two months; 

and removing the requirement for 

the employee to explain when making 

their request what effect the change 

would have on the employer and how 

that effect might be managed. 

The Government previously indicated 

that it would support making the 

right to request flexible working 

becoming a day one right; the Bill 

fulfils that promise and removes the 

current requirement for an employee 

to have 26 weeks of continuous 

service before being eligible to submit a 

request. 

Importance of effective data protection training 

ONE of construction company Interserve's 

employees opened a phishing email and 

hackers were able to install malware. 

Through this, the hackers were able to 

access the personal information of up to 

113,000 employees. The compromised 

data included contact details, National 

Insurance numbers, bank account 

details, and special category personal data 

including data on ethnic origin, religion, 

sexual orientation and disabilities. 

Interserve was notified about the 

malware through its anti-virus software. 

However, it failed to thoroughly investigate 

what had happened. Specifically, whilst it 

took action to remove some of the files 

that had been installed on the employee's 

workstation, it failed to verify that all of 

the malware had been removed. This 

meant the attacker still had access to the 

workstation between 1 April 2020, when 

the link was opened, and 2 May 2020 

when, as part of a routine maintenance 

check, Interserve discovered a message 

on its server stating it had been hacked. 

It notified the ICO of the breach on 5 May 

2020. 

At the time of the attack, one of the two 

employees who received the phishing 

email had not undertaken data protection 

training in breach of Interserve's own 

policies. The ICO found that Interserve 

should have been aware of the risks of 

failing to implement effective information 

security training for all staff and found 

that the failure to put in place appropriate 

training amounted to a GDPR breach. The 

company was fined £4.4m. 

Gareth Edwards is a partner in the 

employment team at VWV. 


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 details, or call us on 01780 722903 

STUDYING MEMBER 

Joseph Powell 

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Michael Bone 

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Richard Westgarth 

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Moraes 

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AFFILIATE 

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MCICM 

Saliu Hassan Kate Daniel Penelope Walton 

ASSOCIATE 

Jamie-Louise Flower 

Nick Salmon 

Congratulations to our current members who have upgraded their membership 

Joshua Mayhew MCICM 

UPGRADED MEMBER 

AWARDING BODY 

Congratulations to the following, who successfully achieved Diplomas 

Level 3 Diploma in Credit Management (ACICM) 

Magdalena Babicz 

Lee McCrilley 

Kim Bliss 

Bhevan Kaur 

Lucky Locord 

Natasha Massey 

Level 3 Diploma in Credit & Collections (ACICM) 

Tamara Jones 

Martina Krejcova 

John Traynor 

Sarah Kudzinetsa Chihuri 

Omar Martini 

Tom Fifoot 

Gladys Adjaye 

WE WANT YOUR BRANCH NEWS! 

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Please only send up to 400 words and any images need to be high resolution to be printable, so 1MB plus. 


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Cr£ditWho? 

CICM Directory of Services 

COLLECTIONS 

COLLECTIONS LEGAL 

CREDIT DATA AND ANALYTICS 

Controlaccount 

Address: Compass House, Waterside, Hanbury Road, 

Bromsgrove, Worcestershire B60 4FD 

T: 01527 386 610 

E: sales@controlaccount.com 

W: www.controlaccount.com 

Controlaccount has been providing efficient, effective and 

ethical pre-legal debt recovery for over forty years. We help our 

clients to improve internal processes and increase cashflow, 

whilst protecting customer relationships and established 

reputations. We have long-standing partnerships with leading, 

global brand names, SMEs and not for profits. We recover 

over 30,000 overdue invoices each month, domestically and 

internationally, on a no collect, no fee arrangement. Other 

services include credit control and dunning services, international 

and domestic trace and legal recoveries. All our clients have 

full transparency on any accounts placed with us through our 

market leading cloud-based management portal, ClientWeb. 

BlaserMills Law 

High Wycombe | Amersham | Marlow | Silverstone 

Rickmansworth | London 

Jackie Ray : 07802 332104 | 01494 478660 

jar@blasermills.co.uk 

Nina Toor : 01494 478661 nit@blasermills.co.uk 

Edward Bible : 07766 013352 ceb@blasermills.co.uk 

www.blasermills.co.uk 

Commercial Recoveries & Insolvency 

Blaser Mills Law’s commercial recoveries team is internationally 

recognised, regularly advising large corporations, multinationals 

and SMEs on pre-legal collections, debt recovery, commercial 

litigation, dispute resolution and insolvency. Our legal services 

are both cost-effective and highly efficient; Our lawyers are also 

CICM qualified and ranked in the industry leading law firm rankings 

publications, Legal 500 and Chambers UK. 

identeco – Business Support Toolkit 

Compass House, Waterside, Hanbury Road, Bromsgrove, 

Worcestershire B60 4FD 

Telephone: 01527 386 607 

Email: info@identeco.co.uk 

Web: www.identeco.co.uk 

identeco Business Support Toolkit provides company details 

and financial reporting for over 4m UK companies and 

business. Subscribers can view company financial health and 

payment behaviour, credit ratings, shareholder and director 

structures, detrimental data. In addition, subscribers can also 

download unlimited B2B marketing and acquisition reports. 

Annual subscription is only £79.95. Other services available 

to subscribers include AML and KYC reports, pre-litigation 

screening, trace services and data appending, as well as many 

others. 

CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 

Global Credit Recoveries 

GCR 20-22 Wenlock Road, 

London N1 7GU 

Charles Mayhew FCICM or Joshua Mayhew ACICM 

T: +44 (0) 203 368 8630 

E: INFO@GLOBALCREDITRECOVERIES.COM 

W: WWW.GLOBALCREDITRECOVERIES.COM 

Shortlisted as DCA of the Year, by the CICM, for the British Credit 

Awards, Global Credit Recoveries Ltd are specialists in Arbitration 

and Debt Collection globally. 

We specialise in the UK, Europe, The Middle East and the U.S.A, 

working as an extension of many CICM members companies for 

over 28 years. 

Speak with us today in our London or Dubai offices, to see how 

we can assist you. 

We have the ability, and network, to have someone visiting your 

debtors offices, throughout EMEA, within 72 hours. 

Recovering funds globally, on a No-Recovery, No-Fee basis. 

Guildways 

T: +44 3333 409000 

E: info@guildways.com 

W: www.guildways.com 

Guildways is a UK & International debt collection specialist with over 

25 years experience. Guildways prides itself on operating to the 

highest ethical standards and professional service levels. We are 

experienced in collecting B2B and B2C debts. Our service includes: 

• A complete No collection, No Fee commission based service 

• 10% plus VAT commission for UK debts 

• Commission from 22% plus VAT for International debts 

• 24/7 online access to your cases through our CaseManager portal 

• Direct online account-to-account payments, to speed up 

collections and minimise costs 

If you are unable to locate your customer, we also offer a no trace, no 

fee, trace and collect service. 

For more information, visit: www.guildways.com 

Cr£ditWho? 


Lovetts Solicitors 

Lovetts, Bramley House, The Guildway, 

Old Portsmouth Road, 

Guildford, Surrey, GU3 1LR 

T: 01483 347001 

E: info@lovetts.co.uk 

W: www.lovetts.co.uk 

With more than 25yrs experience in UK & international business 

debt collection and recovery, Lovetts Solicitors collects £40m+ 

every year on behalf of our clients. Services include: 

• Letters Before Action (LBA) from £1.50 + VAT (successful in 86% 

of cases) 

• Advice and dispute resolution 

• Legal proceedings and enforcement 

• 24/7 access to your cases via our in-house software solution, 

CaseManager 

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

feedback: “All our service expectations have been exceeded. 

The online system is particularly useful and extremely easy to 

use. Lovetts has a recognisable brand that generates successful 

results.” 

CREDIT DATA AND ANALYTICS 

CoCredo 

Missenden Abbey, Great Missenden, Bucks, HP16 0BD 

T: 01494 790600 

E: customerservice@cocredo.com 

W: www.cocredo.co.uk 

For over 20 years, CoCredo, as one of the UK's leading Credit 

Report companies, has helped protect thousands of customers 

from bad debt. Our data is compiled and constantly updated from a 

variety of prominent UK and international suppliers, encompassing 

230 countries, so that our clients can access the latest available 

information in an easy-to-read report. We offer tailored products 

and service solutions, from market-leading Dual Reports and 

integrated XML solutions, monitoring and delivering flexible 'data 

on the go' package options that reduce costs and boost cash flow. 

Our clients feel valued that we are a part of their customer journey 

and we have consistently been finalists and winners of numerous 

Small Business and Credit Awards since 2014. 

We provide award-winning customer service which is reflected in 

our client retention rate of 99%. 

HighRadius 

T: +44 (0) 203 997 9400 

E: infoemea@highradius.com 

W: www.highradius.com 

HighRadius provides a cloud-based Integrated Receivable 

Platform, powered by machine learning and AI. Our Technology 

empowers enterprise organisations to reduce cycle time in the 

order-to-cash process and increase working capital availability by 

automating receivables and payments processes across credit, 

electronic billing and payment processing, cash application, 

deductions, and collections. 

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. 

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. 


FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION OPTIONS 

AND PRICING CONTACT 

paul@centuryone.uk 01727 739 196 



ENFORCEMENT 

Blackline 

33 Charlotte St, London W1T 1RR 

T: +44 (0) 203 318 5941 

E: sales@blackline.com 

W:www.blackline.com/solutions/accounts-receivableautomation/ 

Transform and modernize your accounts receivable processes. 

Release cash from customers using next-generation intelligent 

AR automation. Optimize working capital by driving world-class 

order-to-cash processes and leverage 'decision intelligence' to 

drive better business outcomes. 

Cash Application AR Intelligence 

Credit & Risk Management 

Collections Management 

Disputes & Deductions Management 

Team & Task Management 

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 blog.esker.co.uk 

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

obstacles preventing today’s businesses from collecting 

receivables in a timely manner. From credit management to cash 

allocation, Esker automates each step of the order-to-cash cycle. 

Esker’s automated AR system 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. 

High Court Enforcement Group Limited 

Client Services, Helix, 1st Floor 

Edmund Street, Liverpool 

L3 9NY 

T: 08450 999 666 

E: clientservices@hcegroup.co.uk 

W: hcegroup.co.uk 

Putting creditors first 

We are the largest independent High Court enforcement company, 

with more authorised officers than anyone else. We are privately 

owned, which allows us to manage our business in a way that 

puts our clients first. Clients trust us to deliver and service is 

paramount. We cover all aspects of enforcement – writs of control, 

possessions, process serving and landlord issues – and are 

committed to meeting and exceeding clients’ expectations. 

Reduce or eliminate manual tasks, and enable AR teams to 

focus on actions that drive results. Strengthen decision 

intelligence to deliver significant value to the organization 

by harnessing BlackLine’s ground-breaking AR Intelligence 

module - unlock hidden data in Accounts Receivable processes 

and understand customer behaviours in real time. 

For more information and a free instant ROI calculation for AR 

visit https://www.blackline.com/solutions/accounts-receivableautomation/ 

Data Interconnect Ltd 

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 

We are dedicated to helping finance teams take the cost, 

complexity and compliance issues out of Accounts Receivable 

processes. Corrivo is our reliable, easy-to-use SaaS platform 

for the continuous improvement of AR metrics and KPIs in a 

user-friendly interface. Credit Controllers can manage more 

accounts with better results and customers can self-serve on 

mobile-responsive portals where they can query, pay, download 

and view invoices and related documentation e.g. Proofs of 

Delivery Corrivo is the only AR platform with integrated invoice 

finance options for both buyer and supplier that flexes credit 

terms without degrading DSO. Call for a demo. 

ContactEngine 

A NICE Company 

Email: info@contactengine.com 

Website: www.contactengine.com 

ContactEngine is a proactive customer engagement platform, 

which connects organizations to its customers through AI 

powered digital conversations, enabling fully automated 

customer journeys. The game changer for collections? 

Companies can now talk directly with tens of thousands of 

people simultaneously. This enables collections treatment 

automation using intelligent, natural language conversations, 

dynamic engagement strategies, and easy-to-trigger payment 

transactions that move the needle and help organisations collect 

outstanding debt faster. ContactEngine anticipates the need 

to interact with customers and fully automates personalized, 

multichannel conversations that engage customers over days, 

weeks, months and years to achieve specific milestones or 

trigger next steps based on customer responses. 

For more information, visit www.contactengine.com/solutions/ 

collections or email info@contactengine.com 

SERRALA 

Serrala UK Ltd, 125 Wharfdale Road 

Winnersh Triangle, Wokingham 

Berkshire RG41 5RB 

E: r.hammons@serrala.com W: www.serrala.com 

T +44 118 207 0450 M +44 7788 564722 

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. 

ENFORCEMENT 

Court Enforcement Services 

Adele Whitehurst – Client Relationship Manager 

M: +44 (0)7525 119 711 T: +44 (0)1992 367 092 

E : a.whitehurst@courtenforcementservices.co.uk 

W: www.courtenforcementservices.co.uk 

Court Enforcement Services is the market leading and fastest 

growing High Court Enforcement company. Since forming in 2014, 

we have managed over 100,000 High Court Writs and recovered 

more than £187 million for our clients, all debt fairly collected. We 

help lawyers and creditors across all sectors to recover unpaid 

CCJ’s sooner rather than later. We achieve 39% early engagement 

resulting in market-leading recovery rates. Our multi-awardwinning 

technology provides real-time reporting 24/7. We work in 

close partnership to expertly resolve matters with a fast, fair and 

personable approach. We work hard to achieve the best results 

and protect your reputation. 

FINANCIAL PR 

Cr£ditWho? 


Gravity Global 

Floor 6/7, Gravity Global, 69 Wilson St, London, EC2A 2BB 

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

W: www.gravityglobal.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 bestknown 

brands working on often challenging briefs. As the partner 

agency for the Credit Services Association (CSA) for the past 22 

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)1260 275716 

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. 

FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION 

OPTIONS AND PRICING CONTACT 



Cr£ditWho? 


FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION 

OPTIONS AND PRICING CONTACT 


INSOLVENCY 

Menzies 

T: +44 (0)2073 875 868 - London 

T: +44 (0)2920 495 444 - Cardiff 

W: menzies.co.uk/creditor-services 

Our Creditor Services team can advise on the best way for you 

to protect your position when one of your debtors enters, or 

is approaching, insolvency proceedings. Our services include 

assisting with retention of title claims, providing representation 

at creditor meetings, forensic investigations, raising finance, 

financial restructuring and removing the administrative burden 

– this includes completing and lodging claim forms, monitoring 

dividend prospects and analysing all Insolvency Reports and 

correspondence. 

For more information on how the Menzies Creditor Services 

team can assist, please contact Bethan Evans, Licensed 

Insolvency Practitioner, at bevans@menzies.co.uk or call 

+44 (0)2920 447 512. 

Red Flag Alert Technology Group Limited 

49 Peter Street, Manchester, M2 3NG 

T: 0330 460 9877 

E: sales@redflagalert.com 

W: www.redflagalert.com 

The UK’s No1 Insolvency Score is available as platform 

designed to help businesses manage risk and achieve growth 

using real-time data. The only independently owned UK credit 

referencing agency for businesses. We have modernised the 

way companies consume data, via Graph QL API and apps for 

many CRM / ERP systems to power businesses decisions with 

the most important data taken in real-time feeds, ensuring our 

customers are always the first to know. 

Red Flag Alert has a powerful portfolio management tool 

enabling you to monitor all your customers and suppliers so 

you and your teams can receive email alerts on data events 

i.e. CCJ, Petitions, Accounts, Directors, amongst 84 alerts 

produced and tailored to your business. 

Red Flag Alert works towards growing and protecting 

businesses using advanced machine learning and AI technology 

data to provide businesses with information to deliver best in 

class sales, credit risk management and compliance. 

LEGAL 

Shoosmiths 

Email: paula.swain@shoosmiths.co.uk 

Tel: 03700 86 3000 W: www.shoosmiths.co.uk 

Shoosmiths’ highly experienced team will work closely with credit 

teams to recover commercial debts as quickly and cost effectively 

as possible. We have an in depth knowledge of all areas of debt 

recovery, including: 

•Pre-litigation services to effect early recovery and keep costs 

down 

•Litigation service 

•Post-litigation services including enforcement 

•Insolvency 

As a client of Shoosmiths, you will find us quick to relate to your 

goals, and adept at advising you on the most effective way of 

achieving them. 

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. 

Key IVR 

T: +44 (0) 1302 513 000 E: sales@keyivr.com 

W: www.keyivr.com 

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 globe 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. 

Quadient AR by YayPay 

T: +44 20 8502 8476 

E: r.harash@quadient.com 

W: www.quadient.com/en-gb/ar-automation 

Quadient AR by YayPay makes it easy for B2B finance teams 

to stay ahead of accounts receivable and get paid faster – from 

anywhere. Integrating with your existing ERP, CRM, accounting 

and billing systems, YayPay organizes and presents real-time data 

through meaningful, cloud-based dashboards. These increase 

visibility across your AR portfolio and provide your team with a 

single source of truth, so they can access the information they 

need to work productively, no matter where they are based. 

Automated capabilities improve team efficiency by 3X and 

accelerate the collections process by making communications 

customizable and consistent. This enables you to collect cash 

up to 34 percent faster and removes the need to add additional 

resources as your business grows. 

Predictive analytics provide insight into future payer behavior to 

improve cash flow management and a secure, online payment 

portal enables customers to access their accounts and pay at any 

time, from anywhere. 

FIS GETPAID 

25 Canada Square 

London, GB E14 5LQ 

T: +447730500085 

E: getinfo@fisglobal.com. 

W: www.fisglobal.com 

The award-winning FIS GETPAID solution is a fully integrated, 

web-based order-to cash (O2C) solution that helps companies 

improve operational efficiencies, lower DSO, and increase cash 

flow. GETPAID provides process automation, artificial intelligence, 

and workflow across the O2C cycle, with detailed analysis and 

reporting for accurate cash forecasting. FIS is a global leader in 

financial services technology that empowers the financial world. 

For more information visit https://www.fisglobal.com/en/cashflowand-capital/credit-and-collections 

or email getinfo@fisglobal.com. 

RECRUITMENT 

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. 

PORTFOLIO 

CREDIT CONTROL 

Portfolio Credit Control 

1 Finsbury Square, London. EC2A 1AE 

T: 0207 650 3199 

E: recruitment@portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

W: www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

Portfolio Credit Control, a 5* Trustpilot rated agency, solely 

specialises in the recruitment of Permanent, Temporary & Contract 

Credit Control, Accounts Receivable and Collections staff 

including remote workers. Part of The Portfolio Group, an awardwinning 

Recruiter, we speak to Credit Controllers every day and 

understand their skills meaning we are perfectly placed to provide 

your business with talented Credit Control professionals. Offering 

a highly tailored approach to recruitment, we use a hybrid of faceto-face 

and remote briefings, interviews and feedback options. 

We provide both candidates & clients with a commitment to deliver 

that will exceed your expectations every single time. 

FOR 

ADVERTISING 

INFORMATION 

OPTIONS AND 

PRICING CONTACT 

paul@centuryone.uk 

01727 739 196 

Cr£ditWho? 



STUART LITTLER 

NEW HEAD OF ACCOUNTS 

“ 

Having worked in an accounting practice for over 25 years, 

qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2000 and a Director of the 

company since 2010, I developed and headed up the legal services 

department within the practice that dealt with the accounting 

and compliance needs of our solicitors’ portfolio. I worked solely 

with solicitor practices, supporting their accounting requirements, 

business and profit development as well as regulatory compliance. 

My finance and regulatory background has enabled me to 

guide firms in developing sound financial controls and 

compliance with the solicitors regulatory body, which is 

crucial for any solicitors practice in the ever changing 

environment in which they operate. 

- Stuart Littler FCA 

www.thomashiggins.com 


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Credit Management magazine JAN FEB 2023

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