CM July and August 2023 digital

CREDIT MANAGEMENT 

CM 

JULY & AUGUST 2023 £13.00 

THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND 

COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS 

Bear Witness 

Limited co-operation in 

a Russian insolvency 

Impending regulations 

may challenge the success 

of BNPL. Page 18 

Lying on a CV has 

consequences for employees 

and employers. Page 46

Protect your 

business to comply with 

ever-changing regulations 

Our system gives you the 

peace of mind that you always 

stay compliant 

Call us to book a free demo: 

+44 (0)113 223 4491 

Visit us online: 

smartsearch.com 

Find us on: 

Over a decade of experience 

Regular product enhancements 

to our award-winning system 

An all-in-one solution to maintain 

compliance 

SmartSearch delivers verification services for individuals and businesses in the 

UK and international markets. These services include worldwide Sanction & PEP 

screening, daily monitoring, email alerts and Automated Enhanced Due Diligence.

SEAN FEAST FCICM 

MANAGING EDITOR 

Editor’s column 

Camus, Goethe 

and confusion 

I’M a bit confused right now if I’m 

honest. Perhaps it’s the sun. It can 

do strange things to a chap. 

I re-read a new translation of 

Albert Camus’ L’Estranger recently 

about a man who goes bonkers in 

the sun (no that is not how I summarised 

the story in my A-Level French exam) and 

I know how he felt. Indeed, I have been 

re-reading all the books I was obliged to 

study for French and German literature to 

see if they are any better now than they 

were when I was 16 and can confirm that 

they are not. 

Goethe’s Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers 

is still, without doubt, the most tediously 

dull book of any book I have ever read – 

ever – and Mauriac’s Thérése Desqueyroux – 

which should on the surface be interesting 

(she poisons her husband Bernard – 

probably because he was called Bernard 

and therefore deserved it) – makes Goethe 

look positively riveting. 

But back to my confusion: new research 

from Business Debtline suggests that 

nearly all of the small businesses that 

call for help have experienced additional 

financial pressure due to rising costs, and 

an incredible 57 percent have gone without 

essentials like food, toiletries and clothing 

as a result. A third of callers surveyed (32 

percent) reported turning to credit in the 

last 12 months to cover essential costs like 

energy or council tax. 

That all sounds pretty grim. (Apart from 

turning to credit. Not sure what they mean 

by that. I assume it’s sticking it all on a 

credit card.) But then I receive a release 

from RSM that suggests that over two 

thirds of businesses (69 percent) expect 

turnover to improve in the second half 

of 2023, the highest proportion since the 

pandemic, while 67 percent expect profits 

to grow. Almost two thirds (64 percent) 

expect to increase the number of people 

they recruit over the next six months. 

Why such widely different prospects? 

Because the former involves small 

businesses, whereas the latter is surveying 

mid-sized business, and this is where 

the confusion occurs. We’re all guilty of 

banding anything that isn’t a monster into 

the Small - to Medium-Sized Enterprise 

(SME) category which may be convenient, 

but ultimately unhelpful in understanding 

the true health of the business economy. 

Many have had a go at breaking with the 

SME convention, and sub-dividing the ‘S’ 

part into micro businesses or Small Office 

Home Office (SoHos) but without much 

success. Perhaps we need to have another 

go. 

Because when Government and thought 

leaders talk about small businesses being 

the lifeblood of our economy, I’m still not 

quite sure what part of the small business 

community they are actually referring to. 

Is it the group who can’t afford to eat, or 

is it those who are planning a bonus and 

Christmas Party in Q4? 

You might wonder why it is important. 

It’s important because campaigns are 

continually being devised, and policies 

discussed, without clearly differentiating 

the needs and challenges of a hugely 

diverse group of businesses. Unless 

we really understand what we mean by ‘ 

SMEs’ and ‘Small Businesses’, we will 

continue to miss the point and those 

who are clearly struggling will never receive 

the targeted support they need and 

deserve. 

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / July & August 2023 / PAGE 3

CONTENTS 

July & August 2023 issue 

10 – NO GUARANTEES 

Do personal guarantees offer any real protection? 

12 – BEYOND DISPUTE 

How arbitration can help resolve commercial and 

international trade disputes. 

15 – SMART THINKING 

Leader in smart buildings deploys new AI tech 

platform to manage commercial debts. 

16 – GRIN AND BEAR IT 

A bankruptcy in Russia uncovered the limitations 

of international co-operation in insolvency law. 

18 – ALL CHANGE? 

Impending regulations may challenge the success 

of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL). 

20 – TRIAL AND TRIBULATION 

New legislation will change the landscape for data 

protection. 

24 – DRIVING FORCE 

The force-fitting of payment meters is creating 

challenges and opportunities. 

34 – CARIBBEAN QUEEN 

Jamaica goes beyond the stereotypes of pirates, 

reggae and rum. 

40 – SETTING STANDARDS 

Credit and insolvency professionals share their 

expertise at the latest CICM Best Practice event. 

52 – MISSING IN ACTION 

The Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill 

– a missed opportunity? 

55 – WELL-CONNECTED 

The perks of creating a career network. 

16 

GRIN AND 

BEAR IT 

10 

NO GUARANTEES 

Do personal guarantees offer 

any real protection? 


CICM GOVERNANCE 

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 

34 

CARIBBEAN 

QUEEN 

18 

ALL CHANGE? 

Regulations may 

challenge the success 

of Buy Now, Pay 

Later (BNPL). 

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 

Jamie Thornton MCICM / 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 

Publisher 

Chartered Institute of Credit Management 

1 Accent Park, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, 

Peterborough PE2 6XS 

Telephone: 01780 722900 

Email: editorial@cicm.com 

Website: www.cicm.com 

CMM: www.creditmanagement.org.uk 

Managing Editor: Sean Feast FCICM 

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 

Paul Heitzman 

Telephone: 01727 739 196 

Email: paul@centuryone.uk 

Printers 

Stephens & George Print Group 

2023 subscriptions 

UK: £129 per annum 

International: £160 per annum 

Single copies: £13.00 

ISSN 0265-2099 

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. 


CMNEWS 

A round-up of news stories from the 

world of consumer and commercial credit. 

Written by – Sean Feast FCICM 

Charity welcomes permanency 

in new FCA requirements 

STEPCHANGE Debt Charity has 

welcomed proposals from the 

Financial Conduct Authority 

(FCA) which will make 

permanent requirements on 

lenders to treat borrowers 

in financial difficulty fairly. This is 

following temporary guidance introduced 

during the pandemic. The FCA has also 

announced it will act quickly if firms 

fail to appropriately support struggling 

customers. 

Richard Lane, Director of External 

Affairs at StepChange, says that demand 

for debt advice continues to rise: “High 

interest rates and inflation continue to 

place immense pressure on household 

finances, so the FCA’s proposals to ensure 

borrowers have the support they need are 

crucial. 

“Our own research has shown that 

people showing signs of financial 

difficulty need help as early as possible to 

prevent them getting trapped in a spiral 

of harmful, unaffordable borrowing in 

order to make ends meet. 

“Communications from lenders making 

demand for payment can be frightening 

for people experiencing problem debt, 

causing them to disengage, an issue 

which we’ve found to be more prominent 

among borrowers with additional 

vulnerabilities.” 

The Charity also recently welcomed the 

FCA ban on debt packaging firms from 

receiving referral fees. It believes the ban 

will help to prevent financially vulnerable 

consumers in need of debt advice from 

being preyed upon by unscrupulous firms 

driven by financial incentives rather than 

the best interests of the client. 

Recent data from StepChange, 

published in June, suggests that more 

than a quarter (27 percent) of new clients 

cite the cost of living as their main 

reason for debt, up from 15 percent a year 

ago. 

After a year of inflated prices for 

gas and electricity, more and more 

households are struggling with energy 

debt. Almost three in five new clients 

(58 percent) are in arrears with their 

dual fuel bills, which has increased by 

three percentage points compared to the 

previous calendar month, among those 

with a responsibility for paying dual fuel 

bills. 

These findings mirror research from 

Christians Against Poverty that reported 

a sharp rise in unsustainable budgets 

leaving the average person £242 short 

each month. It found that over half of 

those surveyed have regularly skipped 

meals (54 percent) — an increase from 47 

percent the previous year; and over half 

been unable to afford to heat their homes 

(51 percent) — up from 45 percent in 2022. 

The most common reasons for needing 

to borrow money were to pay for food, 

clothing or essential living costs (56 

percent) or to cover a household bill (53 

percent). More than half (55 percent) have 

mental ill-health showing the impact of 

poverty on people’s wellbeing. 

CAP wants the UK Government and 

major opposition parties to make tackling 

poverty a key priority in their manifestos 

to show their commitment to helping 

people recover from the current cost-ofliving 

crisis. 

“Communications 

from lenders 

making demand 

for payment can 

be frightening 

for people 

experiencing 

problem debt, 

causing them to 

disengage.’’ 


NEWS ROUNDUP 

Mixed signals from business on 

impact of economic uncertainty 

NEW research from Business Debtline 

suggests the impact of the cost-of-living 

crisis on struggling small business 

owners is continuing, with a majority 

of callers to the free debt advice survey 

going without essentials and worrying 

about meeting their commitments – 

and a third turning to credit to help 

cover essential household bills. 

The findings, based on an analysis of 

service data and a survey of callers to 

Business Debtline were published in the 

Money Advice Trust’s latest spotlight 

briefing, Shrinking Margins. 

The research lays bare the impact the 

cost-of-living crisis is having on small 

business owners seeking debt advice in 

the aftermath of the pandemic. 

Almost all Business Debtline callers 

surveyed (96 percent) have experienced 

additional financial pressure due to 

rising costs; nearly six in 10 callers (57 

percent) have gone without essentials 

like food, toiletries and clothing as a 

result – with 79 percent worried about 

meeting essential costs in the future; 

and a third of callers surveyed (32 

percent) reported turning to credit in 

the last 12 months to cover essential 

costs like energy or council tax. 

There is better news, however, 

from leaders of the UK’s mid-sized 

businesses who are increasingly 

optimistic about the prospects for both 

the economy and their own companies. 

According to RSM UK’s latest Middle 

Market Business Index (MMBI), almost 

two thirds (63 percent) of the 400-plus 

companies surveyed said they expect 

the economy to improve over the next 

six months. 

Furthermore, over two thirds of 

businesses (69 percent) expect turnover 

to improve in the second half of 2023, 

the highest proportion since the 

pandemic, while 67 percent expect 

profits to grow. Almost two thirds (64 

percent) expect to increase the number 

of people they recruit over the next six 

months. 

Thomas Pugh, economist at RSM 

UK says that optimism amongst 

middle market businesses is starting 

to gather pace: “The economy remains 

remarkably resilient given everything 

that it has faced since the Mini-Budget 

in November,” he says. 

“Whilst the road to economic recovery 

and growth might prove a little bumpier 

than we had anticipated a few weeks 

ago, we’re still confident that inflation 

will fall to four percent, or there abouts, 

by the end of the year, and so fuel 

growth in Q1 2024.’ 

FSB calls on Government to bolster 

support for small tourism firms 

THE Federation of Small Businesses is 

calling on the Government to bolster 

support for small tourism firms this 

summer season amid predictions of a 

staycation boom. 

The UK's largest small business group 

says that Budget-conscious Brits will be 

looking to make their money go further 

with local staycations this year – while 

the UK's favourable exchange rates will 

likely attract a wave of international 

visitors. 

However, the FSB's latest Small 

Business Index (SBI) shows confidence 

remains in the negative zone, which 

highlights the challenges faced by the 

sector in the aftermath of COVID-19 – 

with 77 percent of small tourism and 

hospitality firms saying they carry some 

sort of debt, compared to 59 percent prepandemic. 

The FSB believes this means the 

Government and other policymakers 

must consider urgent ways to alleviate 

the burden on our tourism industry. 

Its ‘Sunshine List’ includes a call for 

Government to ensure its Pothole Fund 

is fairly allocated, make parking more 

accessible on high streets, and raise the 

VAT threshold from £85,000 to £100,000 to 

spark growth in the hospitality industry. 

The FSB believes that many tourism 

firms currently halt trading near the end 

of the tax year to avoid hitting the current 

limit and incurring additional costs. 

The Small Business Rates Relief 

threshold should also be increased to 

£25,000 to remove 200,000 small firms out 

of the rates system. 

FSB National Chair Martin McTague 

says the summer months present a 

kaleidoscope of opportunities for small 

firms in the hospitality and tourism 

sectors across the UK: “There’s a wealth of 

things to do here – from historical sites to 

traditional fish and chips by the sea – so 

it’s no wonder people flock here every 

summer.” 

>NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

Risk Management 

COFACE has launched a new digital 

trade credit risk management platform 

for its policyholders. Named Alyx, it 

is said to allow Coface's customers to 

automate and centralise their credit 

risk management from lead to cash. 

The platform was built in partnership 

with CreditDevice, a Dutch software 

company specialising in commercial 

credit risk management. 

Fancy a Jar 

DIGITAL wallet HyperJar has 

appointed Louise Chan to the role of 

Chief Operating Officer. Incumbent 

Chris Lowrie moves up to head the 

firm’s new B2B offer, HyperLayer. 

The hire comes just a month after 

HyperJar won the prestigious 

‘Banking tech of the Year’ award at 

the UK FinTech Awards, the latest in 

a slew of accolades for its app and 

proprietary technology. 

Talking debt 

WEBIO has launched DebtChat, a 

webchat solution that the firm says 

has the power to automate, understand 

and respond to all types of debt related 

conversations, blending automation 

with agents when needed and 

identifying the conversation outcomes. 

One example of this is highlighting 

possible vulnerable customers from 

their message interactions. 

Amplifi Capital 

AMPLIFI Capital, the fintech disruptor 

behind the brands My Community 

Finance and Reevo Money, has secured 

£50m in debt funding from M&G. 

Amplifi Capital says its technology has 

‘revolutionised’ the credit union sector 

in the UK. As a credit broker, it has 

helped credit unions to issue savings 

and loan products to over 100,000 

customers in the UK with a total loan 

book of over £350,000,000. 


NEWS ROUNDUP 

Growing concerns over AML as UK 

consumers hunt the web for info 

UK consumers are increasingly 

concerned about the issue of money 

laundering, illustrated by a 97 percent 

increase in Google search interest for 

Anti-Money Laundering (AML)-related 

keywords. 

Credas Technologies has analysed 

global Google Trends data for search 

terms related to AML to see how the 

subject’s Interest Score has changed 

since the start of the year. 

Interest Scores represent search 

interest relative to the highest point on 

the chart for the given region and time. 

A value of 100 indicates peak popularity 

for the term. A value of 50 means that 

the term is half as popular. And so on. 

In January 2023, the worldwide 

Interest Score for the subject of AML 

was 12.5; in May, the score was 17.1, 

representing a 37 percent increase in 

interest. The strongest current Interest 

Score is coming from India with May’s 

data showing a score of 21.5. Australia 

and UAE both have Interest Scores of 

12.3, and Canada scores 10.3. The UK’s 

score of 8.7 places it mid-table, but it 

also marks a 97 percent increase in 

search interest since the start of the 

year. 

Tim Barnett, CEO of Credas 

Technologies, says the issue of money 

laundering is growing in the public 

consciousness: “The digitisation of 

monies and payments has opened up 

a whole new world of possibilities for 

criminals looking to clean their illegal 

funds. The subject of AML is, therefore, 

more prevalent than ever before and is 

now a hot topic in industries such as 

property, banking, and e-commerce. 

“Here in the UK, we’re not quite at the 

top of the AML game when it comes to 

awareness and knowledge, and as we 

speak, there are hundreds of criminals 

looking to take advantage of this fact.” 

“The digitisation 

of monies and 

payments has 

opened up a 

whole new world 

of possibilities for 

criminals looking 

to clean their 

illegal funds.’’ 

UK firms lose 71 days a year chasing 

late payments – at a cost of £27bn 

UK businesses are 

spending over 71 days 

per year – more than a 

quarter of the working 

year – chasing late 

payments, according to 

the annual European Payment Report 

from credit management services 

provider Intrum. 

The 26th edition of Intrum’s report 

surveyed more than 10,000 companies 

across 29 European countries, 

shedding light on the challenges 

that businesses are grappling with in 

challenging economic conditions. 

Its findings show the time spent 

chasing late payments by UK 

businesses is costing the economy 

more than £27bn a year. In addition, 

the payment gap (the time between 

agreed terms and actual payment) has 

risen across all business types. 

On average, consumers are taking 

10 days to pay invoices, up from seven 

last year. Businesses are taking 17 days, 

up from 13 in 2022, and public sector 

organisations are taking 20 days to pay 

invoices, three days more than they 

were last year. Six in 10 UK businesses 

(61 percent) expect late payments to 

increase in the next 12 months. 

Eddie Nott, Intrum’s Managing 

Director for the UK and Ireland, says 

late payments pose a significant 

challenge to businesses: “The practice 

becomes a vicious cycle, as firms 

hampered by late payments pay their 

own suppliers later and later, further 

exacerbating the problem.” 

More than half of UK firms (56 

percent) say the payment terms they 

offer suppliers are harming them 

as a business. A similar number (54 

percent) said they are paying their 

suppliers later than they would accept 

from their own customers. While 

55 percent would like to pay their 

suppliers quicker, this is not currently 

feasible for their business. 

At the same time, UK firms are 

facing increasing demands from 

cash-strapped workers seeking aboveaverage 

pay increases. Almost all 

businesses surveyed (91 percent) said 

their employees have already asked for 

a higher-than-normal pay rise or they 

expect them to ask for one soon. 

Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of 

UK businesses say getting paid faster 

could help them to prioritise their 

sustainability performance, helping 

to contribute to a stronger, greener 

economy, rather than needing to focus 

on efficiency. 

The most common action UK 

businesses take to chase down debt is 

legal action (60 percent) while four in 

10 (40 percent) have clear internal debt 

recovery processes. Only 12 percent 

are working with external collection 

agencies. 

“Late payments have always plagued 

businesses but what was once an 

inconvenience has now become a 

top priority,” Eddie adds. “Resources 

that could be used to invest in growth, 

digital transformation and hiring are 

being diverted to ensure firms get paid. 

This is costing the UK economy £27bn 

a year in wasted time.” 


NEWS ROUNDUP 

>NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

Stephen Lewis becomes 

CICMQ Assessor 

ONE of the most familiar names and 

faces in the credit and collections world 

for more than 40 years, Stephen Lewis 

FCICM, has joined the CICMQ Assessor 

team. 

A B2B collection specialist, his 

experience in the world of debt 

management and collection continues 

within his consultancy roles on behalf of 

commerce and industry throughout the 

UK and Europe. 

Stephen’s introduction into credit 

management was initially through 

his work within the food industry, 

particularly working in Denmark, as 

a Member of the Institute of Grocery 

Distribution, specialising in food imports 

to the UK and thereafter working within 

the SPAR Franchise Group. 

Having set up his own credit collection 

and consultancy business Stephen went 

on to be a long serving Board member 

of the Credit Services Association (CSA) 

and was President of the CSA from 

1999-2001. He played an integral part in 

bringing professional recognition to the 

Debt Collection industry using positive 

PR and helping to introduce the first 

CSA accredited Debt Collection Training 

courses, through City and Guilds London. 

He also sat on two Government 

working parties to assist in introducing 

The Late Payments of Commercial Debts 

(Interest) Act into UK legislation. He then 

went on to be part of continued training 

and development for the industry for a 

further 15 years. 

Throughout his career he has been 

involved in delivering many seminars 

and training on B2B collection in 

particular as well as being a regular 

contributor to trade publications as well 

as TV and Radio programmes on the 

subject. 

Trustfolio certification 

‘DEBT-TECH’ firm, Trustfolio, has 

achieved certification to ISO 27001, the 

world-leading International Standard 

for Information Security Management 

Systems (ISMS). To achieve ISO 

27001 certification, organisations are 

required to develop and implement 

a comprehensive set of policies, 

procedures, and controls to manage 

their information security risks. A key 

aspect of ISO 27001 is that it is based 

on a continuous improvement model, 

where the ISMS is regularly reviewed 

and updated to ensure its ongoing 

effectiveness and to ensure the ongoing 

ability to respond and adapt to new and 

evolving risks. Lou Yates, Co-founder 

and CEO of Trustfolio, described 

the achievement as significant: “By 

achieving ISO 27001 certification, 

we have demonstrated our ongoing 

commitment to safeguarding our 

customers' confidential and sensitive 

information and ensuring the integrity 

and security of our operations.” 

OBITUARY 

Jenny Oldfield FCICM 

JENNY Oldfield, one of the best-known 

and widely respected names in the 

credit industry and an Honourary Fellow 

of the Chartered Institute of Credit 

Management has died. 

She finally succumbed to pancreatic 

cancer on 18 April, having spent the last 

two years of her life since receiving the 

terminal diagnosis raising huge sums 

for Pancreatic Cancer UK. A celebration 

of her life was held on May 19. 

Jenny spent nearly all of her 

professional life in credit, having been 

a founding member of the Receivables 

Management Group while working for 

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) between 

1991 and 2001. 

She then spent 20 enjoyable years 

running her own business, Veritas 

Commercial Services, retiring in June 

2021 to devote her time to fundraising, 

firstly with Pancreatic Cancer UK 

and then latterly for the Hospice of St 

Francis in Berkhamsted. 

At the 2022 British Credit Awards, 

the CICM introduced a new award, The 

Jenny Oldfield Supporting Women in 

Credit Award, for women working in 

credit management. She said at the time: 

“Over the 20 years running my business, 

I’ve recruited and developed numerous 

credit professionals and I think female 

credit controllers and credit managers 

have something really unique and 

special and it should be celebrated. The 

award is almost a manifestation of what 

support and achievement I would have 

liked to have seen available to me as I 

was coming up through the industry.” 

Phil Rice FCICM knew Jenny only for 

a comparatively short time, but she left a 

huge impression: “Jenny had vision and 

importantly the ability to inspire us all 

which she did in huge measure. She has 

left behind a legacy and message to the 

profession with the supporting Women 

in Credit Award which we will continue 

for her.” 

Sue Chapple FCICM was a good friend 

and colleague: “I knew Jenny for many 

many years – we attended many of the 

same events, back in the day – and had 

lots of cuppas and chats – and definitely 

put the world to rights on more than one 

occasion. 

“Jenny was always a strong, 

determined, energetic and passionate 

woman – this didn’t change following 

her diagnosis. If anything – it increased. 

She set an example to us all of absolute 

bravery and resilience and living every 

minute of life to the full – whilst doing 

so much good in the world. Jenny has 

left us much much too soon, but she 

leaves the world a better place than it 

was before. 

“Rest in Peace Jen.” 


INSOLVENCY 

NO GUARANTEES 

Do personal guarantees offer any real protection? 

AUTHOR – Giuseppe Parla 

SOME credit managers will 

be familiar with the practice 

of seeking personal guarantees 

(PGs) from Directors to 

support credit extended to 

limited companies, particularly 

where unpaid invoices have been 

mouning up. Some lenders might also 

request PGs from Directors before agreeing 

to fund their limited company. The 

question is, how much protection do PGs 

really provide? 

Whilst being a contractual commitment 

to pay any money owed, PGs are often 

just statements of assurance and often 

cannot be relied upon. They are based 

on limited disclosure about a director’s 

personal wealth and, whilst having a PG 

is reassuring, it doesn’t necessarily mean 

that the recipient of the PG will be able to 

recover the money they are owed. 

PG stacking: a risk factor 

The risk of a PG being of limited value 

increases when Directors provide 

multiple PGs (known as PG stacking) and 

their personal assets are not sufficient 

to cover the debts. Having a PG does 

not grant you any priority, whether you 

were the first or last to obtain the PG, you 

will be one of the Director’s unsecured 

creditors. 

An article from the Purbeck PG 

Insurance Monitor shows that demand 

for insurance cover to protect Directors 

from claims against their personal 

wealth and assets increased sharply 

in Q1 2023: up 93 percent year on year. 

This suggests that Directors have become 

more concerned about a call being 

made on their PGs. The article also 

reported an increased volume of PGs in 

circulation. 

Managing risk 

When managing multiple credit lines, 

it is important for credit managers 

to stay alert to any signs that the risk 

profile of a customer might be changing. 

This can be achieved through regular 

communication and by discussing any 

issues they might be experiencing. 

Sector-specific market intelligence can 

also help to flag any potential issues at 

an early stage, but there is not always 

transparency in a director’s finances. 

Often if a director’s company were 

to fail, then their personal financial 

circumstances are likely to deteriorate 

as well. One simple step that credit 

managers can take to assess the value 

of seeking a PG, or assessing an existing 

one, is to undertake a land registry 

search. For a nominal fee, this could 

help confirm that the Director owns the 

property, which is important in providing 

assurance that there is an asset that may 

need to be relied upon later down the 

line. A PG backed up by a charge over a 

property is usually considered a stronger 

form of assurance. Other steps could be 

to request HMRC and payroll information 

from the Director. However, all this 

does not resolve the issue of whether 

the PG you have is one of a number of 

PGs. 

When considering making a call on a 

guarantor to enforce the payment under 

the PG, it is important to understand 1) if 

the PG is unlimited or limited to a specific 

amount and 2) what the payment terms 

are. Failing to make a payment under the 

terms of the PG could lead to a petition for 

an individual’s bankruptcy. You should 

seek legal advice before proceeding as a 

PG should only be provided by a 

‘competent’ person. A claim against an 

individual in a bankruptcy would be 

ranked as an unsecured creditor. One of 

the reasons you may want to pursue this 

route of bankruptcy is if an individual 

was putting assets beyond the reach 

of creditors. Otherwise, you could be 

throwing more good money after bad. 

Calls for a Register 

The credit management industry has 

been calling for protection against 

the misuse of PGs for some time. 

Establishing a Register and making PGs 

a matter of public record could be an 

effective solution. But who would own 

and run the Register? And would it be 

mandatory? There have been a number 

of suggestions about how it might work, 

but ultimately the UK Government will 

need to decide what action to take. The 

credit management industry will have to 

watch and wait, but in the meantime, we 

could be sat on a mountain of worthless 

PGs. 

Giuseppe Parla is a Business 

Recovery Director and Licensed 

Insolvency Practitioner at Menzies LLP. 

“Sector-specific 

market intelligence 

can also help to 

flag any potential 

issues at an early 

stage, but there 

is not always 

transparency in a 

director’s finances.” 


CCeeer ttiiiffiiiccaatteee ooff CCoompliiiaancceee 

Thhhhiiiiiiisssssss iiiiiiisssssss tttttttooooo cccccceeeeeeeerrrr tttttttiiiiiiifffyy ttttttthhhhaaaaaattttttt TCM Exchaange Plaatform hhhhaaaaaasssssss sssssssuuucccccccccccceeeeeeeessssssssssssssfffuuullllllllyy ccccccooooomplllliiiiiiieeeeeeeeddd Peeeeeeeennnnneeeeeeeetttttttrrrraaaaaatttttttiiiiiiiooooonnnnn 

Teeeeeeeessssssstttttttiiiiiiinnnnng ccccccooooonnnnnddduuuccccccttttttteeeeeeeeddd byy PNTTTA E rrrreeeeeeeegiiiiiiissssssstttttttrrrraaaaaatttttttiiiiiiiooooonnnnn ccccccooooodddeeeeeeee 9900002221./ 

Nooooo ccccccrrrriiiiiiitttttttiiiiiiiccccccaaaaaallll dddaaaaaannnnngeeeeeeeerrrrsssssss hhhhaaaaaaveeeeeeee beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnn fffooooouuunnnnnddd. 

Ceeeeeeeerrrrttttttttiiiiiffffiiiiicccaaaaatttttttteeeeeeee 

Nuummmbeeeeeeeerrrr 

000000001//00008//2220000222222 

Fuullll nnnnaaaaammmeeeeeeee ooooffff ccceeeeeeeerrrrttttttttiiiiiffffiiiiieeeeeeeed cccoooommmpaaaaannnny 

T}| trrrrooooouuup unnnnnttttttteeeeeeeerrrrnnnnnaaaaaatttttttiiiiiiiooooonnnnnaaaaaallll eeeeeeeehhhhfff. 

Daaaaatttttttteeeeeeee ooooffff ttttttttheeeeeeee Peeeeeeeennnneeeeeeeettttttttrrrraaaaattttttttiiiiioooonnnn Teeeeeeeestttttttt 

00008ttttttthhhh ooooofff uuuguuusssssssttttttt 2220000222222 

Daaaaatttttttteeeeeeee ooooffff ttttttttheeeeeeee nnnneeeeeeee–tttttttt Peeeeeeeennnneeeeeeeettttttttrrrraaaaattttttttiiiiioooonnnn Teeeeeeeestttttttt 

00008ttttttthhhh ooooofff uuuguuusssssssttttttt 2220000222 

Heeeeaad oooff Prroooffeeeessssiiooonaal Seeeerr viiceeees 

Raazvaannn-Coosstinnn 

Ioonnnesscu 

www.tcmgroup.com 

Probably thebest debt collection network worldwide 

Razvan-Costin 

Ionescu 

Semnat digital de Razvan- 

Costin Ionescu 

Data: 2022.08.08 18:47:58 

+03'00' 

Moneyknows no borders—neither do we 


BUSINESS ADVICE 

BEYOND DISPUTE 

How arbitration can help resolve commercial 

and international trade disputes. 

AUTHOR –Nick McQueen 

COMMERCIAL arrangements 

can break down even at 

the best of times. The 

risk of disputes arising 

typically increases at times 

of political and economic 

change and uncertainty, and where 

business is conducted across borders this 

can add a further layer of complexity. 

Arbitration defined 

Arbitration is an alternative to court 

litigation as a formal means of resolving 

disputes. The parties agree to submit the 

dispute in question to arbitration – there 

is usually an agreement or clause to this 

effect included in the contract itself for 

this purpose – and then an independent 

arbitrator or panel of arbitrators makes an 

award, acting in a judicial fashion, which 

is final and binding on the parties. 

Parties are free to choose in their 

agreement or clause the number of 

arbitrators; which rules will apply (for 

example, those of a particular arbitral 

institution); where the arbitration will 

take place (known as the ‘seat’); the 

governing law of the contract and the 

arbitration agreement or clause itself; 

and the language to be used in the 

proceedings. The New York Convention 

on the Recognition and Enforcement of 

Foreign Arbitral Awards facilitates the 

enforcement of arbitral awards in most 

countries in the world. 

The seat of arbitration is a key 

consideration because this impacts 

on issues such as the extent to which 

arbitral awards can be challenged; the 

enforceability of awards; confidentiality; 

and how ‘friendly’, effective and 

interventionist the national courts will 

be in supervising and supporting the 

arbitration process. 

Prior planning 

It is essential to give careful thought to 

dispute resolution clauses from the outset. 

All too often, contracting parties are keen 

to push forward with their commercial 

arrangements and fail to plan effectively 

for how disputes will be managed if 

things go wrong. Careful drafting can 

lead to significant time and costs savings 

and make disputes easier to resolve in 

the long run. In fact, it is not unusual for 

dispute resolution clauses to be drafted 

at the last moment as an afterthought. It 

is important to take the time at the start, 

well in advance of any dispute becoming 

a reality, to weigh up the advantages and 

disadvantages of the different forms of 

dispute resolution, taking into account 

the parties’ particular circumstances and 

the likely nature of any dispute. 

An effective dispute resolution clause 

requires the parties to follow a preagreed 

route to resolution if and when 

a dispute arises. Careful thought at the 

drafting stage can prevent any potential 

secondary dispute about whether, how, 

and even where, the primary issue 

should be resolved; it can minimise 

the scope for any tactical game-playing 

(thereby helping to preserve commercial 

relationships); and it can ensure that the 

time and costs of dealing with formal 

litigation or arbitration are only incurred 

as a last resort. 

“London is a very 

well-established 

and sophisticated 

arbitration centre 

with worldclass 

facilities 

and a wealth 

of high-quality 

and experienced 

professionals.” 

Parties should consider whether tiered 

dispute resolution clauses may be suitable 

for the commercial relationship or 

transaction in question, i.e. clauses that 

mandate an escalating procedure designed 

to encourage an open and frank exchange 

to explore whether a commercial solution 

is possible and, if not, whether resolution 

can be achieved through mediation 

or another form of alternative dispute 

resolution (ADR), before proceeding to 

arbitration (or court litigation). 

The process to be followed does not have 

to be formal, but it must be sufficiently 

clear and certain, without requiring any 

further agreement between the parties. 

That means that all steps in the process, 

including machinery for the appointment 

of any mediator or other expert, must 

be comprehensively specified. This may 

include incorporating the procedures 

of an external ADR body. The clause 

should be precise and clearly drafted. If 

appropriate, it should comprehensively 

set out each party’s obligations during the 

intended ADR process and confirm their 

unequivocal commitment that the process 

must be exhausted before litigation or 

arbitration is pursued. The clause should 

also address matters such as clarification 

of the issues in dispute, confidentiality, 

any time limits and the consequences of 

any failures to comply with the clause. 

In complex contracts, it may be 

appropriate to apply different dispute 

resolution mechanisms to different 

aspects of the contract. If arbitration is 

chosen, and it is already clear what types 

of disputes are likely to arise, it may be 

possible for the parties to agree in the 

contract on a suitable procedure and 

timescale for the arbitration, including the 

use of fast-track rules where appropriate. 

Where the relevant law allows, parties 

may wish to consider excluding certain 

challenges to an arbitral award in the 

courts. While there is an implied duty of 

confidentiality in relation to arbitration 

in England and Wales, parties should 

consider agreeing express provisions to 

maximise protection. 

Once a dispute has arisen, good legal 

advice should be sought as soon as 

possible. 

So why arbitrate? 

In a 2021 survey, 2021 International 

Arbitration Survey: Adapting arbitration 

to a changing world, published by Queen 

Mary University of London, 90 percent 

of respondents chose arbitration as their 

preferred method of resolving crossborder 

disputes, either standalone or in 

conjunction with ADR. 

Parties often identified a number of 

valuable characteristics of arbitration 

such as enforceability of awards; avoiding 

specific legal systems/national courts; 

flexibility; ability of parties to select arbitrators; 

and confidentiality and privacy. 


“The fact that arbitration 

exists is a bonus, but for it to 

be relied upon as a solution 

requires early consideration 

of dispute resolution and 

the process being correctly 

inserted into agreements.” 

The inherent flexibility and adaptability 

of the arbitration process gives the parties 

the freedom to shape how their disputes 

will be resolved, and different arbitral 

institutions offer parties a wide range of 

innovative options to tailor the process 

to suit their needs, including faster and 

cheaper routes where appropriate. 

A new set of Digital Dispute Resolution 

Rules were published by the UK 

Jurisdiction Taskforce in 2021. They 

offered a bespoke, streamlined arbitration 

procedure aimed at facilitating the 

rapid and cost-effective resolution of 

commercial disputes, particularly those 

involving novel digital technologies such 

as crypto assets and smart contracts. 

54 percent of respondents to the survey 

above selected London as one of their 

most preferred arbitration seats, together 

with Singapore, ahead of Hong Kong 

at 50 percent and Paris at 35 percent. 

London is a very well-established and 

sophisticated arbitration centre with 

world-class facilities and a wealth of highquality 

and experienced professionals. 

It is also home to the London Court of 

International Arbitration (LCIA), which 

is consistently named as one of the top 

choices of arbitral institution. In 2020 the 

LCIA received the highest number of new 

cases to date (444) and of those 92 percent 

(407) were administered - according to the 

LCIA Annual Casework Report 2020. 

Commercial parties are attracted to 

London for a variety of reasons, including 

the neutrality and impartiality of the 

legal system; confidence in English law 

developed through the common law; a 

supportive national arbitration law in 

the form of the English Arbitration Act 

1996; and the renowned arbitrationfriendly 

approach of the national courts. 

This includes a proven track record of 

enforcing parties’ agreements to arbitrate 

and arbitral awards. Among other 

things, arbitrating parties can turn to the 

courts for injunctive relief for an order 

requiring a party to comply with an order 

of the arbitral tribunal and to compel 

witnesses to give evidence. Londonseated 

arbitration, and English governing 

law, are attractive options for contracting 

parties, regardless of where they are 

based or the place of performance of the 

contract. 

The impact of Brexit 

If Brexit is to have any impact at all on 

London-seated arbitration, it should 

only be to increase its attractiveness 

to commercial contracting parties. In 

relation to court litigation, there are some 

potential hurdles concerning recognition 

and enforcement of judgments post- 

Brexit. The European Commission 

recommended in 2021 that the EU should 

not consent to the UK’s application to join 

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / July & August 2023 / PAGE 13 

continues on page 14 

>


AUTHOR –Nick McQueen 

the 2007 Lugano Convention which broadly 

replicates the pre-Brexit regime; as a 

result, local laws and practice would apply. 

As a partial fall-back, the UK re-joined 

another Hague Convention on Choice of 

Court Agreements 2005 in its own right at 

the end of the transition period. This gives 

effect to exclusive jurisdiction clauses 

where parties have agreed that disputes 

will be settled exclusively by the courts of 

a chosen jurisdiction and provides for the 

recognition and enforcement of resulting 

judgments. 

Issues of recognition and enforcement 

do not arise in relation to arbitral awards, 

since the UK is a signatory to the New 

York Convention, which is unaffected 

by Brexit. Another factor to consider is 

that the English courts may no longer 

be prohibited from issuing EU-wide antisuit 

injunctions in support of arbitration, 

i.e., where a party commences court 

proceedings in breach of the parties’ 

arbitration agreement or in breach of an 

exclusive jurisdiction clause. 

The importance of giving thought 

A relatively recent case on tiered 

dispute resolution clauses illustrates the 

importance of drafting effective dispute 

resolution clauses. 

The decision, NWA and another v NVF 

and others [2021] EWHC 2666 (Comm), is 

a reminder to commercial counterparties 

of the importance of giving thought at the 

outset to what they will do in the event 

of a dispute and to draft their agreement 

accordingly. It also demonstrates the 

importance of engaging with requests to 

mediate or participate in other forms of 

ADR. 

In this case the court had to consider 

whether a party’s alleged failure to 

comply with a term of an arbitration 

agreement that the parties should first 

seek to mediate a settlement of their 

dispute before referring it to arbitration 

– a form of tiered dispute resolution or 

escalation clause – resulted in the arbitral 

tribunal not having jurisdiction to hear 

the dispute at all, or instead concerned 

only a challenge to the admissibility of the 

dispute, on which the tribunal’s decision 

was final. 

The parties’ dispute resolution clause 

provided that, in the event of a dispute 

arising out of or in connection with 

the agreement, the relevant parties to 

the dispute would first seek settlement 

by mediation in accordance with the 

LCIA Mediation Procedure. If it was not 

settled by mediation within 30 days of 

commencement of the mediation or such 

further period as the parties agreed in 

writing, the dispute would be referred to 

and finally resolved by arbitration under 

the LCIA Rules. 

The defendants’ solicitors sent a request 

for arbitration to the LCIA but asked that 

the arbitration be immediately stayed once 

commenced and prior to the constitution 

of a tribunal, to allow the parties to seek 

settlement of the dispute by mediation as 

required by the clause. The defendants 

repeatedly sought mediation in respect 

of the claims made in the arbitration, but 

the claimants failed to engage with the 

proposal. 

The arbitrator decided that he had 

jurisdiction to hear the dispute. The 

claimants challenged that decision under 

section 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996, 

seeking the court’s intervention. 

Despite having no intention of seeking 

to resolve the dispute by mediation over 

the course of a two year period, the 

claimants contended that because the 

defendants requested mediation at the 

same time as requesting arbitration and 

proposed that the arbitration be stayed 

for 30 days before appointment of an 

arbitrator to allow the parties to seek to 

resolve the dispute by mediation, they did 

not “first seek settlement of the dispute by 

mediation”, and so the arbitrator had no 

jurisdiction to hear the dispute at all. 

The court described that as “a highly 

unattractive stance to adopt” but went on 

to consider if it was correct as a matter of 

the proper construction of the arbitration 

agreement. 

The central question for the court was 

whether the defendants’ alleged noncompliance 

with the requirement for prior 

mediation was a matter merely affecting 

the admissibility of the claim, or went to 

the tribunal’s substantive jurisdiction to 

determine the claim at all. 

If it was the second of these, then 

the court would have to determine the 

following further questions: 

Was the provision in the dispute 

resolution clause requiring prior 

mediation (a) sufficiently certain to be 

enforced and/or (b) a condition precedent 

to any agreement to arbitrate? If so, did the 

defendants comply with those provisions 

or not? And if they did not comply, what 

would be the appropriate remedy for noncompliance? 

If it only affected the admissibility of 

the claim, then these three issues were 

matters for the arbitrator, and not the 

court to determine. 

The decision 

The dispute had been validly submitted 

to arbitration under the parties’ dispute 

resolution clause as it was a dispute 

arising out of or in connection with the 

agreement. That clause also contained 

a procedural requirement to first seek 

settlement of the dispute by mediation. 

It was for the arbitrator to determine 

the consequences of any alleged breach 

of that procedural condition. The fact 

that the parties had agreed that both the 

mediation and the arbitration should be 

controlled by the LCIA court reinforced 

the conclusion that LCIA mediation was 

part of the procedure which must be 

followed in respect of the LCIA arbitral 

reference, which was a matter for the 

tribunal. 

The dispute as to whether the duty 

to mediate amounted to a condition 

precedent and if breached, were matters 

which should be resolved by the arbitral 

tribunal as relating to the admissibility of 

the dispute. 

In light of that conclusion, it was not 

necessary or appropriate for the court to 

second-guess the arbitrator’s rulings on 

those matters. The judge went on to add 

that, even if the clause contained a legally 

enforceable condition precedent, he 

had no doubt that the claimants were in 

breach of the alleged condition precedent 

by failing to first seek settlement of the 

dispute by way of mediation and they 

could not rely upon their own breach to 

now contend that the defendants had 

failed to comply with it; alternatively, 

compliance with the alleged condition 

precedent was waived by the parties. 

Accordingly, the judge would have 

found that the arbitrator had jurisdiction 

to resolve the dispute even if, contrary to 

the judge’s conclusion, the requirement 

to first mediate the parties’ dispute 

concerned the arbitrator’s jurisdiction 

to hear the dispute rather than the 

admissibility of the claim. 

In summary 

It’s patently clear that disputes don’t 

necessarily have to end up in a court. 

The fact that arbitration exists is a bonus, 

but for it to be relied upon as a solution 

requires early consideration of dispute 

resolution and the process being correctly 

inserted into agreements. 

Nick McQueen is a commercial dispute 

resolution specialist at Walker Morris. 


TECH IN ACTION 

SMART THINKING 

Leader in smart buildings deploys new AI tech 

platform to manage commercial debts. 

AUTHOR – Les Clisby 

THE UK and Ireland division 

of Johnson Controls, a world 

leader in smart buildings, 

has found an innovative 

way of managing a rising 

volume of commercial 

debt by engaging with a new automated 

cloud-based platform, Debt Register, and 

instantly experiencing an improvement 

in collections performance. The business 

has also experienced a surge in team 

morale. 

In tackling its debt, one of its biggest 

challenges was engaging with its 

customers and getting replies to the 

follow-up letters and emails being sent. 

The sheer volume of clients who did not 

respond was difficult to manage because 

it was hard to know whether emails had 

been received or read. It was therefore 

difficult to know whether the customer 

was deliberately avoiding payment and 

should be reported to the credit reference 

agencies, or whether the communication 

was simply never received. 

Debt Register is a CICM awardwinning 

cash recovery tool that credit 

and collections teams can simply plug 

in and set to work, freeing them to focus 

on more value-added activities. The team 

simply uploads an overdue invoice with 

all of the debtors’ details and the system 

does the rest. Automated emails inform 

the debtor that any non-payments will be 

reported to the credit reference agencies 

which ultimately impacts their own credit 

rating. 

Angelica Bontea, the Senior Finance 

Manager who runs the order-to-cash 

teams for the UK and Ireland division of 

Johnson Controls, explains: “When we 

learned that you have the option to report 

a customer, which obviously has a more 

serious impact because every company 

would like to have a good credit score, it's 

easier for them to do business,” Angelica 

explains. “The fact that we would have 

the option to check if the client received 

and was reading the e-mail was actually 

another powerful element.” 

Crucially, the system has a layer of 

artificial intelligence (AI) built in to 

recognise errors and prevent chasing 

expired emails, staff that have left or even 

companies no longer in business. This 

helps Angelica address a key challenge: 

“Debt Register resolves the issue of not 

getting replies from all our clients,” she 

says, “and it also addresses the incorrect 

contacts we might have in our database.” 

Angelica emphasises that Debt Register 

has been well received by her team 

because it is easy to implement and 

has some innovative features that solve 

the fundamental issues of high client 

volumes: “We had the option to upload 

files with hundreds of accounts if it was 

needed,” she continues. “This reduced 

our manual work significantly, and then, 

obviously, this was adopted much more 

easily by the team. 

“Then there are all the reporting 

capabilities that we can pull out and 

have a better understanding of our data 

and analysis. It is also easy to add users 

or report clients in bulk; you can do 

many things through ancillary feeds. So, 

I would say it was received well because 

it served the purpose of covering a gap in 

our process.” 

The ease with which the Debt Register 

platform could be integrated within dayto-day 

operations was essential: “The 

platform is a cloud-based solution and 

is very user friendly,” she says. “At the 

beginning, we had people training with 

the Debt Register team. That took no more 

than an hour, and once the knowledge 

was sitting in our team, they were able to 

train others internally.” 

Debt Register is designed to complement 

and support the credit team, and Angelica 

says the benefits of the platform were 

realised almost immediately: “We could 

see the benefits after the first month,” she 

says. 

She also sees a positive effect on her 

team: “We started with the end goal of 

improving collections in mind and seeing 

how the tool is helping them to collect the 

cash better and faster is definitely having 

a positive impact on their morale.” 

“The fact that we would have the option 

to check if the client received and was 

reading the e-mail was actually another 

powerful element.” 


LEGAL MATTERS 

GRIN AND BEAR IT 

A bankruptcy in Russia uncovered the limitations 

of international co-operation in insolvency law. 

AUTHOR – Peter Walker 

“O 

or Stefan Galecki, but known as Andrzej 

Russia, you unfathomable 

abyss, 

for which you have 

no human measure!” 

thought Polish 

writer Taduesz 

Strug, who had spent time imprisoned in 

Siberia at the end of the 19th century, but 

in some ways there is no great abyss. The 

commercial courts function there, and 

they deal with bankruptcies and the like 

just as in other countries. Shortly before 

the rockets started to fly in Ukraine, some 

judges of London’s Court of Appeal had to 

consider one Russian judgment concerning 

a bankruptcy and its effect in England. 

In Kreeva v Bedzhamov [2022] 3 WLR 

1253 those judges considered a request 

by a debtor’s trustee in bankruptcy. 

The application was for the recognition 

at common law of a bankruptcy order 

made by a Moscow Arbitration Court. 

That Trustee, one of the claimants, also 

wanted recognition in common law of her 

appointment as trustee in bankruptcy of 

the debtor. She also required the court’s 

assistance to her in obtaining some 

London property owned by the bankrupt 

or debtor, for that property to be sold, and 

for the proceeds to be remitted to Russia 

for the benefit of the creditors. 

This was tricky, because there had 

already been a freezing order affecting 

the assets of the debtor, and those 

assets included the property. The debtor 

therefore applied for a variation of that 

order, so the property could be sold. 

The claimant bank wanted damages 

amounting to £1.34bn against a debtor 

and against two companies for fraudulent 

misappropriation of funds. That was the 

total value of the freezing order made in 

the year 2019. 

In 2021 the debtor applied to an English 

court for a variation of the freezing order. 

He wanted money to pay his legal expenses 

and to make other disbursements. The 

English court agreed to vary the order. 

There were bankruptcy proceedings 

in Russia, and in 2018 the Moscow 

Arbitrazh court appointed the claimant 

as the receiver, the Russian equivalent of 

a trustee in bankruptcy. The court also 

declared the bankruptcy of the debtor. 

Later in 2021 the claimant trustee applied 

to London’s High Court for recognition of 

“In 2021 the 

debtor applied to 

an English court 

for a variation 

of the freezing 

order. He wanted 

money to pay his 

legal expenses 

and to make other 

disbursements.” 

the Moscow judgment, for recognition of 

her appointment in Russia, and for the 

English court’s assistance in obtaining 

possession of the debtor’s two properties 

in London’s Belgrave Square. She also 

wanted the court to set aside the variation 

to the freezing order. 

There were complications including 

the absence of the debtor from Russia. In 

the Court of Appeal Newey LJ noted that 

he appears to have been domiciled in the 

UK since 2017. There were further family 

complications, because his sister had 

pleaded ‘no contest’ to fraud charges in 

Russia for which she was sentenced to a 

term of imprisonment; since early in 2016 

her brother was sought by the Russian 

authorities. 

In the Moscow proceedings a Russian 

bank, also a claimant in the UK litigation, 

had asserted that it had made loans to 

the debtor’s sister, and that the debtor 

had given a limited personal guarantee. 

The bank claimed that he was complicit 

in various wrongdoings in relation to the 

loans. 

Common Law 

All this is background to one of the issues 

for the judges of the Court of Appeal. 

Newey LJ, for example, considered the 

various means whereby an English court 

can have jurisdiction in such cases. He 

referred to the Supreme Court’s judgment 

in Rubin v Eurofinance SA [2013] 2 AC 236, 

where Lord Collins of Mapesbury set out 

‘four main methods under English law for 

assisting insolvency proceedings in other 

jurisdictions.’ Newey LJ observed that one 

of them ceased to be appliable as a result 

of Brexit. 

In the Kreeva case we are therefore left 

firstly with section 426 of the Insolvency 

Act 1986. It applies to courts in the United 

Kingdom having jurisdiction in relation 

to insolvency law. Any such court may 

request another of these courts for 

assistance. The provisions include ‘any 

relevant country or territory’, and Newey 

LJ rightly pointed out that they did not 

encompass Russia. That is also true of 

other enactments such as the various 

Bankruptcy Acts. 

There are other provisions such as the 

Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations 2006 

(SI 2006/1030). They give the force of law 

to the UNCITRAL Model Law, whereby 


a ‘foreign representative’ may apply to 

the court for the recognition of ‘foreign 

proceedings’, in which that representative 

has been appointed. The UK court then 

has wide powers to deal with various 

aspects of the insolvency including the 

granting of various remedies. 

Any relief is set out in paragraph 43 of 

Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Proceedings 

Act 1986, but there are restrictions. They 

include ‘foreign main proceedings’ or 

foreign non-main proceedings, where 

the debtor has either ‘the centre [of his or 

her] main interests’ or ‘an establishment 

in the country in which the foreign 

representative was appointed.’ 

None of these provisions applied, so the 

claimant made her application under the 

Common Law. The debtor furthermore 

had left Russia in 2015, and he eventually 

settled in London. Recognition under 

the Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations 

therefore did not apply. This left 

recognition under the Common Law, 

where an English court is dealing with 

a case with foreign connections, i.e. 

private international law, also known as 

conflict of laws. The English Court will 

recognise the foreign court’s judgment if 

the bankrupt is living within the English 

court’s jurisdiction and has submitted to 

the foreign court’s jurisdiction. 

Immovable property 

That applied to the Kreeva case, so, if 

the movable property of the bankrupt 

person is situated in England, it will be 

considered to be assigned to the trustee in 

bankruptcy if the foreign law so provides. 

Movable property is something which can 

be physically moved, so the English law 

concepts of realty and personality do not 

apply under the rules of English private 

international law. There are different rules 

for immovable property, which consist of 

land and things attached or growing on 

the land. In English private international 

law that includes both freehold and 

leasehold land. In that instance a foreign 

judgment in relation to such property 

may be opposed on the grounds of fraud. 

The debtor asserted that the claim against 

him was tainted by fraud. 

The judges of the Court of Appeal were 

concerned about this aspect of the case. 

Newey LJ noted the lower court’s decision 

that the Russian court’s ruling was well 

founded in the light of the debtor’s 

witness statement to the effect, among 

other things, that his signature had been 

forged. This had not been tested by cross 

examination, so the proper course was 

for the matter to be remitted to the High 

Court. A judge could then give directions 

for a hearing for the testing of the debtor’s 

testimony by cross examination. 

There remained the question of the 

appointment of the claimant and her 

relationship to the immovable property 

in Belgrave Square. There was possible 

help in the decision in the case In 

re Kooperman [1928] 13 B & CR 49, where 

an English court appointed a Belgian 

receiver of English immovable property. 

Newey LJ pointed out that the court relied 

on the decision in Bergeram v Marsh [1921] 

6 B & CR 191, which related to movable 

property only. 

In the Kreeva case most of the judges 

of the Court of Appeal therefore rejected 

the reasoning of Kooperman, which 

was regarded merely as a means of 

sidestepping the strict English rule. For 

further information about that rule Newey 

LJ unusually referred to a textbook, Dicey, 

Morris & Colins on the Conflict of Laws. 

A court of a foreign country does not 

have jurisdiction ‘to adjudicate upon the 

title to, or the right to possession of, any 

immovable situated outside the country.’ 

There were many decisions by the judges 

in courts of law in England and elsewhere 

to support that position. In MacDonald v 

Georgian Bay Lumber Co [1878] 2 SCR 364 

a business in New York executed a deed 

to transfer assets to a trustee for creditors 

under local bankruptcy legislation, 

Ritchie J in the Supreme Court of Canada 

confirmed the Common Law rule that this 

did not affect the immovable property in 

Canada. 

The Kreeva case may therefore have to 

be referred to the High Court to resolve 

the specific issue. There is in any event a 

pending appeal, and we will then see, for 

example, if the common law rule about 

immovable property remains intact. For 

the moment it appears that a judgment of 

a foreign court in an overseas insolvency 

affecting immovable property in the UK 

has a limited effect. There is another 

factor in relation to cases with a Russian 

element. It is necessary to be aware of, 

and to take into account, the effect of 

sanctions against Russia as a result of 

what it calls ‘the special operation’ in 

Ukraine. 

Peter Walker is a freelance writer. 


CONSUMER CREDIT 

ALL CHANGE? 

Impending regulations may challenge the success 

of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL). 

AUTHOR – Steve Kiely 

LAST month proved to be a 

landmark for the Buy Now, 

Pay Later (BNPL) sector as 

Alex Marsh stepped away 

from his high-profile job as 

head of Klarna UK. 

Klarna has rapidly become a major 

player in the UK financial-services sector: 

since Mr Marsh first came to the job in 

2018, its customer base has grown from 

1.5m to over 18m. 

Announcing his departure, he spoke 

boldly of the future for the lender and 

the wider sector: “I wish you all the very 

best as Klarna will no doubt continue 

to trailblaze in the world of payments, 

shopping, and banking.” 

This assessment does not seem out of 

place for a market that saw exponential 

growth during the COVID pandemic, 

with the value of transactions from the 

main providers more than tripling in 2020 

alone. Research by Bain & Co, published 

in October 2021, found that transaction 

volumes were continuing to grow 29 

percent annually and were estimated 

to account for some 10 percent of all 

e-commerce by 2024. 

Rich Bayer, UK Country Manager at 

Clearpay, is in no mood to compromise: 

“In March 2023 alone, BNPL was used by 

consumers to make £1.2bn worth of orders 

and we expect this number to continue to 

grow. Our retail partners are seeing the 

value that we bring to their businesses, as 

we help to drive more customers to them 

– globally we send one million customers 

to our merchants every day.” 

Times of change 

The BNPL model of allowing consumers 

to make purchases and split the cost into 

smaller, interest-free instalments has 

certainly proven a success in recent years, 

with companies such as Klarna, Clearpay, 

Laybuy, and PayPal's Pay in 4 at the head 

of the pack. 

Whether such remarkable rates of 

growth will prove possible to maintain, 

however, is now a very open question, 

as the glare of Government falls onto the 

sector. 

Revised proposals for regulation are 

now awaited after a long-running Treasury 

consultation closed, in April, on a draft 

statutory instrument that Government 

believes will bring ‘a proportionate 

approach to regulation.’ 

“The entire ethos 

of Zilch is about 

being customerfirst 

and we have 

built the business 

around doing the 

right thing by our 

customers – even 

if it is difficult – 

every time.’’ 

Lending industry trade association, UK 

Finance, is very supportive of the need for 

regulation of the sector, with members 

insistent that BNPL products should be 

brought into the orbit of basic oversight in 

relation to issues such as creditworthiness, 

the treatment of customers in financial 

difficulty, the application of Section 75 

of the Consumer Credit Act, and the 

jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman 

Service. 

Indeed, members are doubtful of the 

Treasury’s suggestion that these products 

are inherently lower risk than credit cards, 

for example, and that they might warrant 

proportionate regulatory controls. In its 

response, UK Finance said: ‘Members 

have different views on the correctness of 

this assumption once the broader risks to 

consumers are considered. The majority of 

our members believe the same regulations 

should apply to BNPL products in order to 

ensure customers receive the same level 

of protection, and that regulations should 

be applied consistently across all forms of 

credit to promote competition.’ 

Deeply concerned 

A spokesman for fintech industry body 

Innovate Finance, however, said its 

members were “deeply concerned” by the 

UK Government’s plans to regulate the 

sector, arguing that the measures would 

be more onerous than those that apply to 

more risky products. 

He said: “All our members are deeply 

concerned and consider the latest policy 

proposals and draft statutory instrument 

to be a material departure from the heavily 

trailed, ‘tailored and proportionate’ 

regime for BNPL. Our members consider 

that the measures, in aggregate, are more 

onerous than those that currently apply to 

regulated consumer credit products with 

a greater risk of harm.” 

Specifically, he worried that the 

requirement for mandatory pre- and postcontractual 

disclosures would impinge 

upon the ease of BNPL products, and so 

drive customers away. 

BNPL fintech Zilch also took a cautious 

view, saying that too many in the sector 

had “paid lip service to the idea of 

greater oversight and control without 

taking action”, and “now, the customer 

safeguards they could – and should – 

have introduced voluntarily will become 

mandatory.” 


Zilch wants to see the outright banning 

of ‘credit stacking’, where customers are 

allowed to pay off one debt with another 

form of debt. It also wants to see all BNPL 

lenders sharing comprehensive data on 

their customers with the three major 

credit reference agencies. 

In response 

Certainly, the need for change is one that 

the leading players in such a dynamic 

market recognise. Last month, Klarna 

launched a voluntary credit ‘opt out’, 

where customers can pre-decide not to 

use credit, perhaps while saving for a 

specific life event or sticking to a very 

strict budget. The feature was initially 

suggested by Andrew Griffith, Economic 

Secretary to the Treasury. 

“As a leader in responsible credit, we 

always put our customers’ interests first,” 

says Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna’s 

Co-Founder and CEO. “Unlike credit 

card companies, who push you to put all 

your purchases on credit, we believe that 

consumers should only use credit when it 

makes sense for them. That is why I loved 

Andrew’s suggestion of a voluntary credit 

‘opt out’, so people are in control of their 

finances.” 

The move came just a month after the 

group announced plans to reduce late 

payments by customers. These include: 

• ‘Autopay’ so customers can set payments 

to be automatically taken from their 

account. 

• A £5 fee to be charged for late payments 

after a seven-day grace period and a 

minimum of four ‘friendly reminders’ 

have been sent. Each fee is capped at 25 

percent of the order value and there will 

be no more than two fees per order. 

• Fees collected will be used to fund the 

Klarna Customer Recovery Programme 

to support customers who are in arrears. 

Under the programme, Klarna will offer 

to waive 50 percent of the balance owed 

by customers who have fallen behind 

on their payments instead of engaging a 

debt collection agency. The customer 

will be blocked from making 

additional purchases until they have 

made a payment for 50 percent of 

their overdue debt. At that point 

the company will consider the 

debt closed and no further action will be 

taken. 

• For the first six weeks after the fees are 

introduced, customers who agree to 

take a short financial awareness test – 

the ‘Never Forget’ test – in the Klarna 

app will have their late fee waived. 

Elsewhere in the sector, Boodil has 

launched a new rewards and loyalty app 

so that users will be able to checkout 

via the Boodil ‘Pay by Bank’ service and 

earn points. Sam Owens, Chief Operating 

Officer and Co-Founder, says: “The 

consumer discounts available on our app 

not only make everyday and discretionary 

spending more cost effective, but also offer 

the ability to win vouchers, experiences, 

products or even cash as a unique way 

of rewarding customers for utilising our 

solution and being loyal to the brands we 

work with.” 

Meanwhile, Zilch itself has agreed a 

partnership to work with StepChange, 

which will see Zilch fully integrate 

StepChange Direct into its platform. The 

two organisations have even identified 

a number of steps that are currently 

required, when a customer is in financial 

stress and are referred for support, that 

can be removed. 

Philip Belamant, CEO and Co-Founder 

of Zilch, says: “The entire ethos of Zilch 

is about being customer-first and we 

have built the business around doing 

the right thing by our customers – even 

if it is difficult – every time. It is why we 

have invested so much time and resource 

into building a meaningfully proactive 

relationship with StepChange. To Zilch, 

this partnership is a natural and obvious 

one – why would any responsible lender 

of credit not want to align with an 

establishment such as StepChange that is 

doing so much to support people in these 

hard times? 

“This partnership ensures we provide 

our customers with the very best support 

if they do fall behind on repayments – all 

for free.” 

And the changes come not only in the 

area of customer relations. Openpay Group 

has moved to strengthen its financial base, 

with receivables funding rising from $55m 

to $110m due to an investment provided 

by existing financier GCI Commercial 

Finance Fund, and Fortress Investment 

Group. 

Dion Appel, CEO of Openpay, said: “This 

increased facility reflects the confidence 

our long-term funding partners GCI have 

in the quality of our book and execution 

of our business model. Clubbing together 

with Fortress, it delivers the upsize in 

funding facility required to meet the 

growth we are experiencing, and our 

commitment to achieve cash profitability 

by June 2023.” 

Another Milestone 

As with any emerging financial-services 

market, the onset of substantial regulation 

will certainly have a significant impact 

upon the BNPL sector. As Jayadeep Nair, 

Chief Product and Marketing Officer at 

Equifax UK says: “We are still a long way 

from the finish line, but the outcome of 

this consultation is another milestone 

on the path to a set of well-reasoned 

and much-needed regulatory standards; 

standards that keep the features of BNPL 

so many consumers like, but that protect 

people from problem debt.” 

But the industry is ready to face the 

challenge with the dynamic and forwardthinking 

approach that has become its 

hallmark. 

Steve Kiely is a freelance business writer. 

“This partnership 

ensures we 

provide our 

customers with 

the very best 

support if they 

do fall behind on 

repayments – all 

for free.” 


OPINION 

Trial and Tribulation 

New legislation will change the landscape for data protection. 

AUTHOR – Jeanette Burgess 

“The intention 

is to update and 

simplify the UK's 

data protection 

framework, 

reducing burdens 

on organisations 

while maintaining 

high data protection 

standards.’’ 

AT the start of March, the Government 

announced the reintroduction 

of the Data Protection and 

Digital Information Bill. First 

mooted in July 2022, the original 

Bill was withdrawn ‘to allow ministers 

to consider the legislation further.’ 

But if the UK General Data Protection 

Regulation (GDPR) and UK Data Protection 

Act (DPA) are around five years old, why is the 

Government introducing new legislation… and 

why now? 

The Government says that it is seeking to 

capitalise on post-Brexit freedoms to make 

changes to the current data protection regime. 

The Government's view, according to the new 

Bill’s explanatory notes, is that some elements of 

the UK GDPR and DPA create barriers, uncertainty 

and unnecessary burdens for businesses and 

consumers. This new Bill is the culmination of 

a reform programme which began with a public 

consultation back in autumn 2021. A Bill was first 

introduced in July 2022, but it never got off the 

ground and was paused so that ministers could 

engage in a co-design process with business 

leaders and data experts. This new version of the 

Bill is the result of that process. It doesn't create 

wholesale change, but rather seeks to amend 

current laws. 


As part of the drive to cut ‘red tape’, 

the Bill relaxes the currently strict rules around 

website cookies. – Jeanette Burgess 

The goal of the Bill 

In its announcement of the new Bill, the 

Government describes it as a 'commonsense-led' 

UK version of the EU's GDPR. 

The intention is to update and simplify 

the UK's data protection framework, 

reducing burdens on organisations 

while maintaining high data protection 

standards. One of the key aims is to 

give businesses more flexibility with 

how they comply, moving away from a 

box-ticking approach. The Government 

also wants to promote growth and 

innovation and 'unleash' more scientific 

research. 

In overview, key features of the new 

Bill include: 

• a reduction in the paperwork and the 

number of consent pop-ups people 

see online; 

• the establishment of a framework for 

the use of trusted and secure digital 

verification services; 

• an increase in public and business 

confidence in AI technologies; 

• an increase in fines for nuisance calls 

and texts; and 

• reforms to the ICO and to the rules 

on transferring personal data to third 

countries. 

Overall, the Bill doesn't radically 

change the data protection regime and 

organisations will still need to make 

sure that they only process personal 

data where they have a lawful basis to 

do so and that data protection principles 

are complied with. 

There are, however, various changes 

introduced by the Bill which could help 

businesses reduce costs. For example, 

under the proposed new regime, 

the obligation to maintain records 

of data processing will only apply to 

organisations that carry out high risk 

processing activities. The role of the 

Data Protection Officer will be replaced 

with that of the Senior Responsible 

Individual (SRI). Organisations will only 

need to appoint an SRI where they are 

a public authority or otherwise engaged 

in high-risk processing. As the name 

implies, the SRI must be a senior person 

in the organisation but can carry out 

this role in addition to other functions. 

It remains to be seen what impact these 

changes will have on organisations 

in practice, and it will depend on the 

nature of their processing activities. 

(There are also proposed changes to the 

data subject access requests (DSARs) 

regime – see below.) 

Companies with operations in the 

EU will still need to comply with the 

EU GDPR, and so it may be cheaper for 

them to continue to follow the current 

regime in the interests of consistency 

– to the extent that is possible under 

the new Bill. If they choose to adopt 

separate compliance programmes for 

their EU and UK operations, that is 

likely to increase rather than reduce 

costs. 

Businesses will be able to continue 

to use their existing international 

data transfer mechanisms to share 

personal data overseas if they’re already 

compliant with current UK data laws, 

meaning that they won't need to incur 

extra costs in implementing a new 

system. 

The Bill proposes the establishment 

of a 'digital verification services trust 

framework' where providers of digital 

verification services are accredited and 

listed on a DVS register. 'Verification 

services' means services provided at 

an individual's request and involve 

ascertaining or verifying a fact about the 

individual from information provided 

by another source, and confirming 

to another person that the fact about 

the individual has been ascertained or 

verified from the information provided. 

In essence, once an individual has 

created a re-usable digital identity, it 

is anticipated that they may – once in 

wider acceptance – be able to re-use 

it to assert their identity or something 

about themselves – for example, 

their age or address. It will also give 

individuals more control over the data 

points they share, rather than sharing a 

whole document that doesn’t allow an 

adjustable level of control. 

If implemented effectively, the 

framework could make it easier for 

employers to use digital verification 

services providers when verifying 

employees/future employees. The devil 

will be in the detail, however, and the 

Secretary of State will need to consult 

with the ICO and possibly others when 

setting up the framework. 

In a similar vein, the Bill creates 

powers for the Secretary of State 

and HM Treasury to introduce 

smart data schemes in consumer 


“It will also give 

individuals more 

control over the 

data points they 

share, rather than 

sharing a whole 

document that 

doesn’t allow an 

adjustable level 

of control.’’ 

continues on page 22 >

OPINION 

AUTHOR – Jeanette Burgess 

“The Bill increases 

the level of fines 

for nuisance calls 

and texts to up to 

four percent of 

global turnover or 

£17.5m, whichever 

is greater.’’ 

markets, which could lead to smart 

data schemes in energy, utilities and 

telecommunications. Consumers would 

then be able to provide access to their 

accounts to authorised third parties 

which could result in a number of 

benefits for consumers such as reduced 

costs and increased competition. Open 

banking is the best and only current 

example of open data, and the Bill gives 

the Government powers to create a 

much wider open data economy. 

The future of AI 

Under the UK GDPR as it currently 

stands, solely automated decisions 

(including profiling) that produce 

'legal or similarly significant' effects on 

data subjects may only be carried out 

where (a) it's necessary for entering 

into or performing a contract between 

a controller and a data subject, (b) it's 

required or authorised by law or (c) 

the data subject has given their explicit 

consent. 

The Bill amends the UK GDPR so 

that automated decision making is not 

restricted to these circumstances, which 

might make it easier for organisations to 

use AI in some situations, for instance, 

when screening job applications. Under 

the new Bill, a decision is based solely 

on automated processing if there is no 

meaningful human involvement in the 

taking of the decision. When considering 

whether there is meaningful human 

involvement in the taking of a decision, 

the extent to which the decision is 

reached by means of profiling must be 

considered. 

Using employment as the contextual 

example, there are risks arising from 

the use of AI which the Bill attempts 

to address. For example, a 'significant 

decision' based entirely or partly on 

special category data which covers, 

for example, race, religion, sexual 

orientation etc., may not be taken based 

solely on automated processing unless 

certain conditions are met. 

Where a significant decision taken by 

or on behalf of a controller in relation 

to a data subject is (a) based entirely 

or partly on personal data, and (b) 

based solely on automated processing, 

the controller must make sure that 

safeguards for the data subject's rights, 

freedoms and legitimate interests are 

in place. This includes providing the 

data subject with information about 

the decision taken and enabling them 

to: make representations about the 

decision; obtain human intervention on 

the part of the controller in relation to 

the decision; and to contest the decision. 

The Government hopes that by 

clarifying the circumstances when 

robust safeguards apply to automated 

decision making, this will increase 

public and business confidence in AI 

technologies 

Data protection trials 

One of the biggest data protection bugbears 

can be dealing with DSARs. 

DSARs can be a significant burden, 

and while this data subject right is 

maintained under the proposed new 

regime, businesses will be entitled 

to charge a fee for or refuse to act 

on requests considered 'vexatious 

or excessive.' Under the UK GDPR, 

businesses can only do this where 

the request is manifestly vexatious or 

excessive. Not only does this change 

have the potential to reduce paperwork 

and costs, but it can help guard against 

disgruntled individuals seeking to 

weaponise their data. However, it will 

be the data controller's responsibility 

to prove that a request is vexatious or 

excessive. As the Bill is currently drafted, 

it is anticipated that there will be debate 

on a case-by-case basis as to whether the 

threshold has been met. 

New penalties proposed in the Bill 

The Bill increases the level of fines for 

nuisance calls and texts to up to four 

percent of global turnover or £17.5m, 

whichever is greater. Presently the 

maximum fine is £500,000. How effective 

these much higher penalties will be as a 

deterrent depends on how stringent the 

level of enforcement is in practice. 

The Information Commissioner’s 

Office (ICO) explained, in November 

2022, its new strategic approach to 

regulatory action where fines are just 

one of the enforcement tools available 

to it on a spectrum. The ICO has been 

active in issuing monetary penalties for 

breaches of the Privacy and Electronic 

Communications (EC Directive) 

Regulations 2003 (PECR). 

The Bill proposes certain changes 

concerning the Information 

Commissioner's role. For example, 

a Statement of Strategic Priorities is 

proposed to set out the Government’s 

data protection priorities to which the 

Commissioner must have regard. It 

remains to be seen whether this will 

have any effect on the type and level of 

enforcement imposed, under the PECR 

or otherwise. Many still expect to see 

the Information Commissioner taking 

a proportionate approach, reserving the 

highest penalties for the most severe 

incidents of non-compliance. 

Other changes 

There are two other changes worth 

highlighting. 

The rules around cookies are to be 

relaxed. As part of the drive to cut ‘red 

tape’, the Bill relaxes the currently strict 

rules around website cookies. A website 

operator would be able to place certain 

types of cookies, including statistical 

and location cookies without the need 

for obtaining the current ‘pop-up’ 

consents. 

And lastly, the Bill reforms the UK 

Information Commissioner’s Office 

(ICO). Among other changes introduced, 

the Bill abolishes the UK Information 

Commissioner’s Office in its current 

form and creates a new Information 

Commission in its place to assume the 

responsibilities of the current regulatory 

body. 

Summary 

The Bill is not in finalised form yet, 

however, it shines light on the main 

areas of reform introduced by the 

Government. The changes introduced 

by the Bill are not radical, however 

data protection is a serious matter and 

organisations should ensure they fully 

understand the implications of the 

current law and the proposed changes. 

Jeanette Burgess is Head of Regulatory 

& Compliance at Walker Morris. 


Fill your vacancy or find your next career 

move at www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

RECRUITING FROM 

YOUR OFFICE... 

Portfolio Credit Control, part of 

the Portfolio Group, are proud 

to be the only true specialist 

Credit Control recruitment 

agency in the UK. 

Specialising in solely recruiting for Credit 

Controllers and Credit professionals since 

2008. We place permanent, temporary and 

contract credit professionals at all levels. 

Our expert market knowledge & industry 

experience is trusted by SME’s through 

to Global Blue Chip businesses including 

FTSE 100 companies across the UK for all 

their Credit Control hiring needs. 

We recruit for: Credit Manager / Head of Credit Control; (Senior) 

Credit Controller / Team Leader / Supervisor; Credit and Billing 

Manager; Sales Ledger / Accounts Receivable (Manager); 

Credit Analyst. 

...OR 

REMOTELY 

Contact us to hire 

the best Credit Control talent 

Scan with your phone to fill your vacancy or find your 

next career move at www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

Contact one of our specialist recruitment consultants to fill your vacancy or find your next career move! 

LONDON 020 7650 3199 

1 FINSBURY SQUARE, 3 RD FLOOR, LONDON EC2A 1AE 

MANCHESTER 0161 836 9949 

THE PENINSULA, VICTORIA PLACE, MANCHESTER M4 4FB 

www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

recruitment@portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

theportfoliogroup 

portfolio-credit-control 

portfoliocredit 


Rated as Excellent

CONSUMER CREDIT 

DRIVING FORCE 

The force-fitting of payment meters 

is creating challenges and opportunities. 

AUTHOR –Jayne Gardner 

THE new rules outlined by 

Ofgem to re-permit the use 

of force-fitting prepayment 

meters is a welcome development 

– one which will 

help ensure that customer 

debts don’t continue to escalate, while 

also protecting vulnerable customers. 

The Code of Practice, which all energy 

suppliers have signed up to sets out a 

mandatory framework which the providers 

must meet before resuming force-fitting 

of prepayment meters, started from May. 

While in practice this may be much later 

for a minority of companies to enable them 

to implement the necessary process and 

system changes, in many ways this Code 

of Practice is already primarily second 

nature in most suppliers' operations. The 

new rules require suppliers to: 

• Carry out at least 10 attempts to contact 

the customer before installing a 

prepayment meter 

• Carry out a site welfare visit before the 

current pre disconnection visit which 

is the first step towards installing a 

prepayment meter 

• Give £30 credit for each prepayment 

meter installed, to remove the risk of 

customers going off supply 

• Assess the need for a prepayment meter 

once customers’ debts have been repaid 

• Ensure body cameras are worn for any 

on-site visits/installations. 

Alongside the above, the final aspect 

of the Code revolves around the banning 

of involuntary prepayment meter 

installations for the most vulnerable 

people, including: those over 85 years of 

age, residents with severe health issues, 

residents with the physical/mental 

incapacity to top up the meter, and for 

households which require a continuous 

supply of power for health reasons. 

Whilst the prospect of power and 

heating being switched off when 

a prepayment meter runs out is 

understandably uncomfortable, in my 

experience, vulnerable individuals are 

rarely left in a situation by providers 

where this would occur when the provider 

is aware of the situation. Providers are in 

the main continuing to take active steps to 

support vulnerable customers struggling 

during this difficult time, however without 

customer engagement they cannot be 

expected to have a full understanding of 

customer circumstances. Providers must 

of course do what they can to contact 

customers about how and where they 

can be helpful, and customers also share 

the responsibility to engage with their 

providers if they are in difficulty. 

Needless to say, there is a strict, 

lengthy process which must be followed 

before the involuntary installation of 

prepayment meters, where the granting 

of a warrant by the courts is the last 

resort and this should of course be the 

case. Agents will not continue if there is 

clear evidence that the household is in a 

vulnerable situation – many wrongfully 

believe a narrative that enforcers will 

come knocking one day if households 

fall behind on bills when it could not be 

further from the truth. However, making 

the Code of Practice mandatory will help 

to remove any misconceptions – ensuring 

that providers can take the steps to protect 

themselves from accumulating debts, 

without exacerbating a sensitive situation 

for vulnerable individuals. 

Providers are very structured when it 

comes to debt management of customers 

– notwithstanding that Ofgem rules are 

in place, the retailers themselves set 

processes to be followed and closely 

monitor all aspects of how customers 

are treated during their journey. It’s not 

just providers who have been receiving 

negative publicity lately, individuals 

working for companies hired by providers 

to fit meters have been faced with violence 

and verbal abuse in some occasions. This 

is of course an extremely emotive subject. 

The requirement of body cameras for 

any on-site visits/installations is a real 

positive for both customers and providers 

– while it is in the minority in some cases 

these processes don’t always run smoothly, 

so measures such as this helps to ensure 

that all parties are protected. 

While the new requirements from 

Ofgem are welcome, the additional 

steps which providers must perform will 

inevitably have an impact on cash flow 

and profitability, so too will the need to 

hire companies to assist with their debt 

management processes. The concern is 

that these additional costs may eventually 

fall on the customer. In addition to this, 

for each provider that fails, a cost of 

failure is ultimately passed on to retailers. 

Ofgem has to appoint a Supplier of Last 

Resort (SoLR), which comes at the cost 

of the tax payer, so allowing providers 

to weather the storm by making bills as 

manageable as possible for consumers, as 

well as allowing providers to take action to 

protect themselves when needed, should 

help to break a vicious circle. 

It is still very likely that household 

energy bills will reduce, particularly with 

wholesale prices for providers already 

shrinking, and there are many tools 

available for providers to make bills more 

manageable for their customers who are 

struggling. As always, communication is 

key. If customers can engage with their 

provider as soon as they can, this will help 

to avoid debts snowballing if it is not left 

until the bill becomes unsustainable, and 

debts have accrued. The retailers want 

to provide customers support where it is 

needed, and open lines of communication 

are key to making this happen. 

Jayne Gardner is Partner 

at Shakespeare Martineau. 


“Providers must of course do what they can to 

contact customers about how and where they can be 

helpful, and customers also share the responsibility 

to engage with their providers if they are in 

difficulty.’’ – Jayne Gardner 

“Many wrongfully 

believe a narrative 

that enforcers will 

come knocking one 

day if households 

fall behind on bills 

when it could not 

be further from 

the truth.’’ 


HIGH COURT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ASSOCIATION 

Future Planning 

The HCEOA hosted the Ministry of Justice and the 

Enforcement Conduct Board at its recent AGM. 

AUTHOR – Alan J. Smith FCICM 

“Collaboration 

with bodies like 

the MoJ, ECB, 

and CICM will be 

absolutely critical 

moving forward, as 

we look ahead to 

another 12 months 

of progress.’’ 

IT’S been a busy year in the High 

Court enforcement world. That 

was reflected in the turnout, the 

calibre of speakers and the range 

of topics at our recent Annual 

General Meeting. 

We welcomed senior level speakers 

from the Ministry of Justice, the Enforcement 

Conduct Board (ECB), and the Chartered 

Institute of Credit Management 

(CICM), who all shared valuable insights 

that will help shape the future of our profession. 

Key priorities and achievements 

The AGM for any organisation is a time 

to reflect and acknowledge progress, and 

there’s been a lot of that in the last 12 

months for the HCEOA: 

• Fee Scale review: The HCEOA 

engaged in ongoing discussions 

with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) 

regarding the long-overdue review 

of High Court enforcement fees. The 

Association submitted a response 

to the MoJ's consultation on fees in 

February, and we are eagerly awaiting 

the report and recommendations. We 

know the Ministry has listened to all 

contributions to the debate and knows 

the importance of this issue. 

• ECB: The HCEOA engaged with the 

ECB, submitted a response to its draft 

business plan, and participated in the 

ECB Stakeholder Engagement Forum. 

• Freedom of Choice campaign: The 

HCEOA has been working on behalf of 

court users to advocate for a jurisdiction 

change concerning non-regulated 

judgements under £600. 

• Safety in enforcement activity: The 

HCEOA remains committed to ensuring 

that enforcement activity is conducted 

safely, prioritising the protection of 

debtors, the public and enforcement 

agents. 

• Education partnership with CICM: The 

HCEOA has established a partnership 

with the CICM to revamp the Level 4 

qualifications and certificates, ensuring 

a modernised education pathway for 

members. This collaboration enhances 

professionalism and provides access to 

high-quality learning materials. 

Looking ahead to the future 

The next steps on these issues will 

go a long way towards setting out the 

landscape for High Court enforcement for 

the next decade and more. We’re working 

with our members to help creditors, 

inform debtors and support Government 

on a range of issues: 

• Fee Scale Review: While awaiting the 

MoJ’s report and recommendation, the 

HCEOA will continue discussions to 

ensure the fee scale review progresses 

as soon as possible, hopefully providing 

a satisfactory resolution to a situation 

where fees in England and Wales haven’t 

changed for the past seven years. 

• Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB): 

We will continue to engage fully with 

the ECB, and it was great to hear its 

new Chief Executive Chris Nichols at 

our AGM talking about his passion 

and determination for developing a 

shared truth around enforcement and 

to ensure it is a listening organisation – 

both are vital for its long-term success. 

• Freedom of Choice campaign: 

Collaborating closely with the MoJ, we 

are continuing to make the case for 

change alongside the fee review and are 

hopeful that 2023 is the year for change 

here. 

• Body Worn Video (BWV): The MoJ is 

developing a consultation document, 

guidelines, and a complaint process 

for BWV. The HCEOA will provide 

updates on these developments, and we 

anticipate their publication in the next 

few months. 

• HMCTS Digital Reform: Preliminary 

discussions with HM Courts and 

Tribunals Service (HMCTS) have been 

held regarding the digitisation of its 

processes. We’re hugely supportive of 

this important modernisation and the 

flexibility it will provide for Government 

and other parties. 

• Promoting diversity: The HCEOA has 

initiated a long-term effort to encourage 

a more diverse profession, aiming for 

increased representation on the HCEOA 

Board. This initiative acknowledges the 

importance of diversity and inclusion 

in shaping the future of the Association. 

We will continue to advocate and push for 

a meaningful fee scale review, to promote 

safety and fairness in enforcement, and 

to pursue a change in jurisdiction orders 

that will allow greater freedom of choice 

for court users. 

Collaboration with bodies like the MoJ, 

ECB, and CICM will be absolutely critical 

moving forward, as we look ahead to 

another 12 months of progress and an 

equally successful AGM in 2024. 

Alan J. Smith FCICM is Chairman 

of the High Court Enforcement Officers 

Association (HCEOA). 


CICM TRAINING 

Training courses that offer high-quality approaches 

to credit-related topics and practical skills 

Now, more than ever, the Credit Management and Collections industry 

is seeing drastic changes and impacts that affect the day-to-day roles of 

Credit and Collections teams. 

CICM Training offers high-quality approaches to credit-related topics. 

Granting you the practical skills and necessary tools to use in your 

workplace and the ever-changing industry. A highly qualified trainer, with 

an array of credit management experience, will grant you the knowledge, 

improved results, and greater confidence you need for your teams to 

succeed in the Credit Management profession. 

Get trained with your 

professional body and the only 

Chartered organisation that delivers 

Credit Management training 


On-Demand | Online | Face-to-Face 

METHODS OF DELIVERY 

CICM Training courses can be delivered through a variety 

of options, ensuring a range of opportunities for your 

teams to be trained on the most up-to-date methods in 

CICM On-Demand 

Training 

CICM Online 

Training 

CICM Face-to-Face 

Training 

On-Demand training can be viewed anytime, anywhere with our downloadable 

training videos. 

Online training will be for those who find it easy to learn from the space 

of their home or office. 

Face-to-face training It’s been a long time coming but now you can mingle and 

learn together in the same room as your colleagues and peers. 

TRAINING COURSES 

CICM have a collection of training courses to meet the needs of your Credit and 

Collections’ teams. Take a look at the courses below and start training towards 

the CICM Professional Standard. 

Advanced Skills in Collections • Best Practice Approach to Collections 

Best Practice Skills to Assess Credit Risk • Collect that Cash • Credit Bootcamp 

Effective Communication in the Credit Role • Emergency Guide to Credit 

Harness your leadership Style • Know Your Customer • Managing Insolvency 

Reflect and Develop • Set Targets that Work 

For more details, visit our website, scan the 

barcode or contact us at info@cicm.com 


Rising stars 

A new series which puts the spotlight 

on rising stars who are demonstrating 

outstanding professionalism and 

commitment to positive change within the 

credit industry. 

Leading by Example 

Qualifications and accreditations lay the 

foundation for successful credit teams. 

AUTHOR – Roshika Perera 

“The CICM course 

was one of the 

first professional 

qualifications 

I achieved. It 

definitely started 

me down the route 

of continuous 

professional 

development.’’ 

IMPERIAL College London, which 

generates an annual turnover of 

over £1bn, was the first higher 

education institute to become 

CICMQ Accredited, doing so on 

the recommendation of Gavin 

Jones FCICM, Imperial’s Head of Income. 

He also led his team to win two awards 

at this year’s British Credit Awards, the 

CICM Excellence in Credit Management 

Award and the B2C Collections Team 

Award. His illustrious career in credit, 

however, had a rather unexpected start: “I 

studied at university to be a psychologist, 

but when I realised that I wanted a break 

from university and more studying 

(not realising I would soon return as a 

postgraduate student and then as a staff 

member), I decided to give the corporate 

world a try. A role as an Investigator, which 

I took because it ‘sounded interesting’, 

turned into the launchpad for my entire 

career. This was a first step into the world 

of credit management.” 

Reflecting back on his 18 years in credit, 

Gavin shares the highlights and challenges 

that he has encountered and the numerous 

opportunities within the industry that 

have enabled him to sharpen his skills and 

those of his team. 

Collecting Income 

As the Head of Income, Gavin and his 

team collect a range of income that 

includes student fees, research debt 

with international organisations, rent, 

scientific services and much more. Having 

such a wide variety of responsibilities, 

Gavin, together with his team, have 

worked hard to ensure that they’re 

continuing to provide better outcomes 

for both the university and its students 

and customers: “We’re constantly focused 

on making the customer journey as easy 

as possible,” says Gavin. “For example, 

we recently introduced two new payment 

solutions, one allowing students to pay 

online in their own currencies (including 


using open banking), and the other which 

integrates with a range of new products and 

services we offer.” 

Having spent nearly six years in his current 

role, it is the variety of the job that keeps 

him motivated. There is no such thing as a 

typical day: “my day can vary from a call with 

a CFO in Korea, to a meeting with a university 

department about the welfare of a student 

who may be struggling, to discussing internal 

adjustment accounting with our auditors.” 

Professional development 

Gavin places great importance on professional 

development, having completed a string of 

qualifications including the CICM Level 3 

Advanced Credit Control course and an MBA. 

His qualifications have taught him a range of 

useful skills that help him with his day-to-day 

job of overseeing a wide range of customer 

segments: “The CICM course was one of the 

first professional qualifications I achieved. 

It definitely started me down the route of 

continuous professional development. It 

teaches you a lot in a small space of time on 

topics that range from accounting to law. I 

still use most of these skills to this day.” 

Being a member of CICM also brings with 

it the benefits of being part of a network 

within the industry. Within the Income team, 

there are 12 CICM members and more that 

our studying for their membership. 

“The Income team work closely with the 

CICM on a range of topics. We are constantly 

in discussions about enrolling onto further 

CICM training, and we ourselves have 

contributed our expertise to various CICM 

initiatives such as the being part of the 

steering group for the new Professional 

Standards, attending CICM Think Tanks, and 

delivering best practice webinars and talks.” 

CICMQ Accredited 

Becoming CICMQ Accredited was another 

milestone for Gavin’s team, one which 

has helped improve the structure of 

processes, procedures, documentation, and 

development within their function: “The 

Accreditation process highlighted the things 

we needed to improve within our organisation 

and that itself led to better results. We also 

had the opportunity to network with other 

CICMQ accrediting organisations, and we 

learnt a great deal by discussing our shared 

problems.” 

The Accreditation has also been a useful 

internal benchmarking tool that has allowed 

the team to measure and celebrate their 

efforts and successes: “We have improved 

our cash application automation by 11 

percent, freeing up Accounts Receivable’s 

time for more complicated tasks,” explains 

Gavin. “Our compliance has also seen 

a huge improvement in the last year as 

we implemented new programmes to 

improve our payment security as well 

as onboarding the anti-money laundering 

function within Income.” 

The Accreditation was a joint process in 

which the Income team came together to 

ensure that they were following best practice. 

And it was another opportunity that further 

strengthened Imperial’s relationship with 

CICM: “The Accreditation is not a one-off 

process. We need to get reaccredited every 

three years, and we receive continuous 

support from CICM to make this happen. For 

instance, we’re in constant contact with CICM 

members that have specialist knowledge in 

certain areas. You can always reach out to 

them to ask their opinion on certain issues 

or to put you in touch with someone who can 

help.” 

Credit leadership 

From improving overall delinquent debt 

year on year to increasing customer contact 

across various methods, Gavin is proud of his 

team and what they’ve achieved under his 

leadership. He credits his own mentors for 

moulding him into an effective leader: “I’ve 

been very lucky to have some amazing bosses 

in my career. They’ve supported me and 

pushed me to get qualified and to continue 

improving myself. And they were kind and 

patient enough to put up with my constant 

questions. I’m doing my best to pay that 

forward.” 

Being a leader, however, also comes with 

its challenges. Gavin has had to make hard 

decisions and have difficult conversations: 

“The toughest challenge I’ve encountered by 

far as a leader was downsizing my function 

within an organisation,” he says. “Having to 

make decisions about redundancies or even 

just watching your colleagues and friends go 

through it is by far the hardest part of the job. 

I was inspired to make this the subject of my 

MBA dissertation as I wanted to understand 

the potential mistakes organisation are 

making when downsizing and find ways of 

improving this process.” 

Drivers of success 

The desire for continuous improvement is a 

consistent theme in Gavin’s career and has 

been the driving force of his success: “If I had 

to focus on one element of what I love about 

my career, it would be seeing something 

improved to how it was done previously in 

whatever form that takes. Whether it’s a new 

system, a new process or staff improvement, 

I get a buzz out of knowing that my ideas and 

efforts are producing tangible results.” 

And the variety that his job affords is 

another key driver for his motivation: “Every 

role I’ve had seems to have grown and grown, 

because there’s a great deal of freedom to 

create opportunities for yourself. I’ve learned 

new things and continue to do so; it’s a job 

where you never know what the next day is 

going to bring,” he concludes. 

“The 

Accreditation 

process 

highlighted the 

things we needed 

to improve 

within our 

organisation and 

that itself led to 

better results.’’ 

Gavin Jones FCICM 


International Trade 

Monthly round-up of the latest stories 

in global trade by Andrea Kirkby. 

Romania is 

expanding 

THE Economist recently 

wrote that Romania needs 

more people as a result of a 

collapsed birth rate following 

the 1989 revolution and the departure 

of millions who left for opportunities 

overseas. With an economy that has 

been growing steadily for a decade, the 

country faces ‘severe labour shortages’ 

– especially in the hospitality and 

construction sectors which are having 

to recruit workers from abroad. 

Local demand has been helped 

by the EU’s post-pandemic 

reconstruction funds of which 

“Local demand 

has been helped 

by the EU’s 

post-pandemic 

reconstruction 

funds of which 

Romania will get 

€27bn.’’ 

Romania will get €27bn. Along with 

other EU funds the country could 

receive more than €80bn by 2027. 

With demographic change, the 

number of non-EU nationals has risen 

by 110 percent in five years and by 

2030, there could be 600,000 foreigners 

in Romania. In a country of 19m, that 

is a ‘big and very rapid change.’ 

For exporters considering Romania 

this all points to a need to understand 

which nationals now reside in the 

country (to cater for their ‘home’ 

needs) while targeting an economy 

that isn’t doing too badly. 

HEAD FOR INDIA 

THE British High Commission in 

India, Energy Systems Catapult, and 

the Indian Institute of Science, have 

launched a new ‘challenge call’ to 

help UK firms tackle some of India’s 

key transport decarbonisation 

challenges. 

Through a new bi-lateral initiative, 

Innovating for Transport Energy 

Systems (ITES), successful applicants 

will receive grant funding, real 

world testing with user feedback, 

and incubation support, as well 

as opportunities for relationship 

building or partner matching 

with Indian entities. Locations for 

hardware installation, engagement 

with local partners, stakeholders and 

EV users, and local on the ground 

resources will also be provided where 

necessary. 

Projects involved in the challenge 

will be individually matched with 

applicants to ensure the most ideal 

size of opportunity. All sustainable 

transport solutions will be 

considered, but some particular areas 

of priority have been highlighted on 

its website - https://bit.ly/3M8U5FU. 

The call will close when 15 SMEs 

have been accepted. 

Argentina's economy close to crisis 

A story on Reuters has detailed the 

mess that Argentina is in. Those in 

the country will already know that its 

economy is heading toward a deep 

crisis. According to 32 economists 

polled in April, economic activity is 

set to contract 2.3 percent this year, 

the worst performance among the 

Group of 20 countries, with consumer 

prices expected to rise by more than 

100 percent. 27 of the 32 polled are 

also expecting a recession. It doesn’t 

help that the International Monetary 

Fund gave Argentina a leg up by easing 

targets in its $44bn loan deal, a move 

which subsequently raised fears of a 

potential devaluation that would send 

Argentina further into crisis. 

As MoneyWeek has commented: 

‘Inflation is above 100 percent and 

rising; the Government runs an 

unsustainable fiscal deficit; farming, 

the main export sector, is suffering the 

worst drought on record; and general 

elections this year are causing political 

instability.” 

Interestingly, Argentina is only 15 

percent smaller than India and, on its 

side, would reach from Portugal 

to Russia. MoneyWeek said that ‘with 

45m people, if Argentina managed its 

resources properly its citizens could be 

as wealthy as Qataris.’ 


SMEs abandon 

international expansion plans 

EU PREPARING SANCTIONS 

THE European Union is preparing a new 

round of sanctions against Russia that 

will target companies and countries that 

are considered to be helping Russia evade 

restrictions placed upon it by the bloc in 

February 2022. 

This is a new move for the EU since it 

requires the application of extraterritoriality, 

a contested legal principle that allows a 

governmental body to sanction entities 

that fall outside its jurisdiction. It’s aimed 

at preventing sanctions from being 

circumvented while preventing goods that 

have been banned from being exported to 

Russia. 

The EU is bothered that EU-made goods 

are going to countries in the South Caucasus 

and Central Asian regions for re-routing to 

Russia. China, Iran and Turkey are firmly 

in the sights of Brussels. Firms fearing EU 

intervention and subsequent retaliation 

should be careful who they export to. 

ACCORDING to the SME Empowerment 

Report from currency firm HedgeFlows, 

SMEs are halting plans to expand. The 

report is based on a survey which asked 

industry leaders about their plans for 

expansion, ambitions for the year ahead, 

and concerns around the economy. 

The report found that resources and 

training were a barrier to international 

trade. 68 percent reckoned that 

their businesses lack the technical 

infrastructure to operate overseas, and 

72 percent said that they were unable to 

manage foreign payments. Further, 65 

percent said that they lacked the financial 

expertise to open an office overseas. 

Owners want their bank to do more to 

help; 72 percent felt that transfer fees were 

too high and should be reduced for SMEs. 

Of course, reports and surveys can be 

written to prove almost anything, but if 

this survey is correct, the Government 

should be worried. 

Destination Ethiopia? 

COULD Ethiopia be the next African 

business destination? Reuters has noted 

that Ethiopia is to issue up to five banking 

licenses to foreign investors in the next 

five years as part of plans to open up 

the financial services sector to foreign 

competition. This follows prime minister 

Abiy Ahmed’s promise to open up sectors 

previously controlled by state firms to 

help drive foreign investment inflows and 

economic growth. 

Currently, Ethiopia's banking industry 

is dominated by state-owned Commercial 

Bank of Ethiopia, and 29 other players, all 

of them locally owned. 

It’s planned that foreign investors would 

be to enter the industry via joint ventures 

with domestic players or establishing local 

subsidiaries. 

Reuters says that foreign investors have 

‘long eyed sectors including banking, 

telecoms, transportation and aviation in 

Ethiopia.’ The country has more than 100m 

people and one of the biggest economies 

in Sub-Saharan Africa. Two years ago, the 

Government granted a telecoms licence to 

a private operator to break the monopoly of 

state-owned Ethio Telecom in that sector. 

Colombia moves away from oil 

A report in MoneyWeek noted that 

Colombia wants to wean itself off oil and 

mining to cut its current account deficit; 

the Government wants instead to focus 

on restoring other industries, such as 

textiles, fertilisers, and pharmaceuticals 

manufacturing. The country is very 

interested in foreign investment, but in 

industry as opposed to oil and coal. 

GDP growth reached 7.5 percent last year 

in Latin America’s fourth-largest economy 

but has since slowed, while annual 

inflation is running at 13 percent. 

There’s more, in other words, to Colombia 

than oil, mining, and dare I say it, illegal 

drugs. 

BAE SYSTEMS ON TARGET 

AN ‘elevated global threat environment’ 

has meant that BAE Systems should 

meet its targets for the year. Its progress 

has been helped with a contract 

extension to develop fighter aircraft 

technology worth £656m. 

BAE reckons that it should achieve an 

increase in sales of up to five percent in 

2023, ahead of the £23.3bn it brought in 

last year. 

The company has signed £2bn of 

orders in its first quarter and was 

selected by the US Navy to be a supplier 

on a ten-year contract worth $4.1bn. 

Also, it was awarded a contract from 

the Ministry of Defence to work on the 

Tempest aircraft due to enter service 

with the Royal Air Force in 2035. The 

programme is expected to span decades. 

GOOD NEWS FOR 

DEFENCE EXPORTS 

THE Government has reported that the UK 

and Poland have signed a £1.9bn export 

agreement to install a British air defence 

system across Poland. 

Under it, MBDA will provide Poland with 

‘cutting-edge, ground-based-air-defence 

capabilities that will protect the country 

for generations to come.’ 

The deal is one of the largest bilateral 

European air defence deals of its kind in 

NATO and is the culmination of months 

of close collaboration between the UK 

and Poland as the UK equips 22 Polish 

air defence batteries with UK Common 

Anti-Air Modular Missiles (CAMMs) and 

launchers, under a programme called 

PILICA+. 


For the latest exchange rates visit 

www.currenciesdirect.com or call 020 7874 9400 

HIGH LOW TREND 

GBP/EUR 1.17073 1.14683 Up 

GBP/USD 1.26242 1.23103 Up 

GBP/CHF 1.14282 1.11373 Up 

GBP/AUD 1.91587 1.85077 Down 

GBP/CAD 1.69243 1.66166 Flat 

GBP/JPY 176.872 169.532 Up 

Currency Exchange Rates for the previous month: 13th May 

to 13th June. This data was taken on 14th June and refers 

to the month previous to/leading up to 13th June 2023. 

Currencies Direct is authorised and regulated by the 

Financial Conduct Authority

COUNTRY FOCUS 

Jamaica goes beyond 

the stereotypes of 

pirates, reggae and 

rum. 

Caribbean 

Queen 

FANS of Ian Fleming’s James 

Bond will know Jamaica from 

the 1962 film, Dr. No, while 

those interested in music will 

associate the country with 

Bob Marley and reggae. 

But, of course, there’s more to Jamaica 

than these two icons. There’s rum to start 

with – Appleton Estate is good, especially 

the eight-year-old, while Wray and Nephew 

is deliciously strong. And then there are 

numerous beautiful beaches, jerk spices, 

and old plantations. 

Background 

Jamaica is an island in the Caribbean 

that, although the third largest in the 

region, only occupies some 10,990 sq.km 

– a fraction of the UK’s 242,495 sq.km. It’s 

located 90 miles south of Cuba and 119 

miles west of Hispaniola which is home to 

the countries of Haiti and the Dominican 

Republic. The Cayman Islands are around 

134 miles to the northwest. 

With an inviting tropical climate, its 

annual average temperature is 27C with 

cooler temperatures in mountainous 

areas. Jamaica’s rainy months are usually 

May, June, September, and October, while 

tropical storms and hurricanes can occur 

any time between July and November. 

Indigenous people that occupied the 

land from at least 4000BC came under 

Spanish control after Columbus arrived in 

1494. However, many were killed or died 

from diseases brought by the Spanish thus 

the ‘necessity’ to bring African slaves to 

the island by the Spanish. 

Jamaica remained under Spanish rule 

until 1655 when the English, with the 

help of Maroons – escaped slaves and 

indigenous people – seized the island for 

its sugar. Spanish interest in the island 

didn’t wane and various attempts to 

recapture it led to the English supporting 

pirate attacks on Spanish ships in the area. 

Jamaica became a slave-dependent sugar 

exporter with a large Irish population 

which outnumbered the English two to 

one. The population in the 1660s was 

estimated to be around 4,500 white and 

just 1,500 black. Crops other than sugar 

including coffee and cotton soon gained 

importance. 

Come the start of the 1800s, the 

black population outnumbered white, 

20 to one. With the end of slavery in 

1838 came a labour shortage as freed 

slaves understandably resisted working 

on plantations. The result was the 

‘importation’ of indentured servants 

from India and China with many of their 

descendants still living in Jamaica today. 

During the early 20th century, Jamaica 

began to move away from the UK. In 1958 

it became a province of the Federation 

of the West Indies. Unhappiness with 

the federation saw Jamaica leave with 

independence from the UK in August 1962 

after a referendum. Interestingly, a 2011 

survey, in the International Business Times, 

found that Jamaicans felt that they would 

have fared better under British rule. 

Demographics 

A 2022 UN publication, World Population 

Prospects, stated that the population in 

2021 was 2.87m compared to 1.4m in 1950. 

The CIA World Factbook estimated 2.82m 

(2023). 

2010 UN data suggests that Jamaica has 

a young population with 29 percent under 

15 years of age, 63.1 percent between 15 

and 65 years, and just 7.8 percent were 


COUNTRY FOCUS 

over 65. A population pyramid using 2020 

data from the US Census Bureau suggests 

that the profile has changed somewhat 

with a bulge that now tops out at age 22, 

narrows markedly between 22 and 44, but 

then expands again – albeit to a lesser 

extent – between 44 and 60. 

Indeed, the Planning Institute 

of Jamaica’s Review of Economic 

Performance, October–December 2022, 

acknowledged the country’s aging 

population. It said that the population 

will become ‘…top heavy, the elderly 

population (that is, 65+) will double (by 

2050), the working age group (that is 

15-64 years) will be declining and the 

child population (under 15 years) will be 

stabilising at much lower levels. This shift 

is expected to temper the pace of growth 

and create additional health expenditure.’ 

Ethnically, a 2011 estimate suggests that 

92.1 percent of the population are black, 

6.1 percent are mixed, 0.8 percent Indian, 

0.4 percent other and unspecified are 0.7 

percent. English is the official language of 

Jamaica. 

As for religious beliefs, Jamaica is 

not that diverse with 64.8 percent being 

Protestant, 2.2 percent Roman Catholic, 

1.9 percent Jehovah's Witness, 1.1 percent 

Rastafarian, 6.5 percent other, 21.3 

percent none, and 2.3 percent unspecified 

(2011 estimate – CIA). However, it should 

be noted that of the Protestant faith the 

estimate records 11 ‘sub-faiths’. 

In terms of settlements, the 2011 census 

showed that there are three cities – the 

capital Kingston with 584,627 residents, 

Portmore with 182,153 and Montego Bay 

with 110,115. Then there are 13 key towns 

of which Spanish Town was the largest 

with 147,152 followed by May Pen with 

61,548, and Mandeville with 49,695. Ten 

others range in number from 10,423 and 

28,912. 

Below these settlements are 125 towns 

and villages, the vast majority have 5,000 

or fewer inhabitants. 

According to theglobaleconomy.com, 

43.35 percent of the population – as borne 

out by the figures above – are rural (2021). 

Typically, these people are poorer. 

The economy 

Jamaica’s economy is not the largest but 

given the size of the country that’s not 

surprising. 2021 data from the World Bank 

states that it’s GDP stood at $14.66bn. 

However, the stated GDP doesn’t tell the 

full story as there’s a sizable informal 

economy which the International Labour 

Organisation (ILO) reckoned in 2015 was 

worth around 45-50 percent of the overall 

economy and 34.2 – 42.6 percent in 2021. 

Notably, the World Bank, in an April 

AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein 

“Tourism and 

agriculture, which 

account for more 

than a third of 

available jobs, are 

vulnerable to shocks 

and there’s a need 

to address money 

laundering and 

stronger financial 

supervision.” 

2023 report, said that ‘improved fiscal 

discipline allowed the country to weather 

the impact of recent overlapping crises, 

including the COVID-19 pandemic and 

tightening global financial conditions.’ 

It added that ‘the public debt to gross 

domestic product ratio increased by 15 

percentage points to 110 percent of GDP 

in FY2020/21 but has since declined 

to 85 percent of GDP and is expected 

to gradually fall below 70 percent over 

the medium term.... Jamaica maintained 

its highest credit rating in 20 years from 

Standard & Poor’s (B+) and in 14 years 

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com /July & August 2023 / PAGE 35 

Jamaica 

from Fitch (B+).’ 

At this point it should be said that 

Jamaica is vulnerable to external 

influences given its reliance on imported 

essentials and external financing. 

Tourism and agriculture, which account 

for more than a third of available jobs, are 

vulnerable to shocks and there’s a need to 

address money laundering and stronger 

financial supervision. 

Indeed, the World Bank in May 

2022 noted that Jamaica faces several 

infrastructure constraints including 

poor road connectivity, high energy 

continues on page 22 

continues on page 36 >

COUNTRY FOCUS 

“Jamaica is 

not what many 

expect. It goes 

far beyond 

the stereotype 

of pirates, 

plantations, 

beaches and 

dreadlocks.” 

costs which are among the highest in 

the Latin American and Caribbean region, 

dependence on energy imports and a 

need for investments in renewable energy 

and energy efficiency. 

A labour market update was 

conducted in July 2022 at which time 

the unemployment rate was 6.6 percent 

among a labour force that was 1,272,700 

strong. The March 2023 inflation rate was 

5.8 percent. 

Business sectors 

Agriculture, forestry and fishing 

Jamaica’s traditional agricultural 

industries produce sugar, cocoa, banana 

and coffee production. Statista states that 

this sector contributed 8.34 percent of 

GDP in 2021. DoBusinessJamaica reckoned 

that in 2021 the sector was worth $1.2bn 

of which $413.5m was exported. Notably, 

the same site records that for 2018 

those figures were $1.7bn and $329.9m 

respectively. Top exports were rum, 

sauces, baked products, coffee and allied 

products, and seafood. 

The sector employed, reckons Trading 

Economics citing ILO data, 15.69 percent 

of the total workforce in 2020. In 

comparison, the percentage employed 

from 2009 to 2015 hovered around the 18 

percent level but has fallen since then to 

where it is now. 

For the US Trade Department, Jamaica 

imports much – around $1.12bn worth 

in 2021. Some 60 percent of food imports 

were for the hotel, restaurant, and 

institutional sector, while the remaining 

imports went to consumers. Key imports 

were meat, fruit and vegetables, and 

grains and soybeans. 

Tourism 

Jamaican tourism was hurt by COVID 

but seems to have recovered a little. In 

2021 there were 1.57m arrivals who spent 

around $2.1bn staying in just under 30,000 

rooms. However, Worlddata.info citing 

the World Tourism Organization noted 

that in 2018 and 2019 Jamaica received 

around 4.3m visitors a year. 

DoBusinessJamaica says that investor 

interest in hotel and resort development 

should lead to 8,000 new rooms with 

5,000 of these to be realised by 2025. 

Opportunities in Jamaica include 

accommodation, entertainment and 

sports tourism, eco-tourism and resorts, 

medical and wellness, casinos and 

timeshare ownership. 

Overall, 58.22 percent of GDP, according 

to Statista, came from the services sector 

in 2021 and according to a Vision 2030 

Jamaica report, Jamaica’s Tourism Sector 

is Resilient (September, 2022), tourism 

directly employed 175,000 Jamaicans 

and generated indirect employment for 

another 354,000 – ‘it drives 15 percent of 

construction, 10 percent of banking and 

finance, 20 percent of manufacturing and 

21 percent of utilities, agriculture, and 

fisheries.’ Overall, the report says that 

Kingston is the capital of the 

island of Jamaica, lying on its 

southeast coast. In the city center, 

the Bob Marley Museum is housed 

in the reggae singer’s former home. 

the sector has grown by 36 percent over 

the past 30 years against a total economic 

growth of 10 percent. 

Manufacturing 

The Ministry of Finance and the Public 

Service, detailed in a January 2020 report, 

Renaissance of Jamaica’s Manufacturing 

Sector, that ‘the manufacturing sector 

of the economy has been experiencing 

the most robust and consistent period of 

growth of any period in at least 25 years.’ 

However, the same report says that 

external shocks caused several quarters 

of strong double-digit growth and other 

quarters of heavy double-digit decline. As 

a result, the Government is implementing 

projects to improve irrigation and 

storage capacity to alleviate volatility 

in agriculture output and mining firms 

are investing in retooling their plants 

and upgrading capacity to absorb 

international commodity price swings. 

Overall, the sector now constitutes ‘only 

8.7 per cent of the economy.’ In 2022 the 

sector generated $1.2bn of which $721.8m 

was exported. 

The US Trade Department lists a 

demand for telecommunications and 

data related products, batteries, and 


COUNTRY FOCUS 

electrical components, right-handed 

vehicles, car parts, solar, machinery for 

the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, 

cosmetics, and jewellery. 

Mining 

Bauxite – the ore for aluminium - was 

discovered in Jamaica in 1938. Mining 

Technology noted in March 2023, that 

‘Jamaica is the world’s seventh-largest 

producer of bauxite, with output of 

7,048kt in 2022, up by 22 percent on 2021.’ 

However, the country has since 

diversified over the years into gold and 

non-metallic minerals such as limestone, 

silica sand, marble, marl and fill and clay. 

The Japan Times wrote in January 2020, 

under a headline, The revitalisation of 

Jamaica’s mining sector, that ‘mining is 

the principal growth engine for Jamaica’s 

drive to prosperity. It contributes over 

50 percent of the economy’s growth, 

represented 2.7 percent of gross domestic 

product in 2018, up from 2.1 percent 

in 2017, employs over 3,500 people and 

earned $1.2bn in 2018.’ 

But being a cost driven sector, Jamaica 

lost its position as the world’s leading 

bauxite and alumina producer, with 

buyers turning to cheaper supplies in 

Australia and the Middle East. That, 

however, may change. Indeed, the 

Jamaica Gleaner wrote, in June 2022, that 

‘the Jamaican Government expects the 

value of mining exports from bauxite 

and alumina to improve to $507m, seven 

percent higher than last year.’ 

Digital services 

The website DoBusinessJamaica details 

that digital is a sector that is growing in 

Jamaica and as of 2022, was worth $900m 

and features some 70 companies which 

employed 55,000 people. Notably, the 

same site comments that in 2020 those 

figures were $700m, 60 companies and 

40,000 workers. 

To expand the sector further, some 

1m sq. ft. of commercial facilities are 

being developed to promote the growth 

of services in animation, voice services, 

business process outsourcing, knowledge 

process outsourcing, legal process 

outsourcing, and software development. 

Transportation 

Situated in the middle of the Caribbean, 

and not that far from the US, South 

America and the Panama Canal, Jamaica 

is well placed as a transportation hub. 

Marine Insight published 10 Major Ports 

in Jamaica in May 2022. It noted that 

Kingston Port underwent major expansion 

in recent years to enable further growth. 

It can now handle approximately 3.4m 

TEU per year and vessels up to 12,000 

TEUs. In comparison, Felixstowe in the 

UK handled 3.85m TEU in 2017 according 

to Lloyd's List's One Hundred Container 

Ports 2018 Edition. 

There are other ports - the Montego 

Freeport in Montego Bay which handles 

cargo similar to that of the Port of Kingston 

as well as agricultural products, Port 

Esquivel in St. Catherine, Port Rhoades in 

Discovery Bay, Rocky Point in Clarendon, 

Reynolds Pier in Ocho Rios, Port Kaiser 

in St. Elizabeth, and Boundbrook Port in 

Port Antonio. 

Tax 

The standard corporate tax rate in Jamaica 

is levied at 25 percent for unregulated 

companies and 33.3 percent for regulated 

companies (a company that is regulated 

by the Bank of Jamaica other than 

building societies, the Financial Services 

Commission other than life assurance 

companies, the Office of Utilities 

Regulation, or the Ministry of Finance). 

The tax year is a calendar year and 

returns must be filed in quarterly 

instalments and payments made by 15th 

of March of the subsequent tax year. 

The late payment penalty is 20 percent 

interest, and a 50 percent penalty and 

imprisonment may also be imposed. 

General consumption tax 

This value-added tax is imposed on the 

supply of goods or services within Jamaica 

(above a minimum turnover threshold) 

and on the import of goods or services 

to Jamaica. The annual turnover GCT 

registration threshold is currently JMD 10 

million. At the time of writing £1 = JMD 

190.81. 

The standard rate is currently 15 percent 

but there are different rates of GCT 

applicable to certain goods and services. 

The provision of telephone services 

(including phone cards) and handsets is 

subject to 25 percent and 10 percent is 

imposed on hotels and other businesses 

in the tourism sector. Operators within 

the tourism industry who were granted 

approval under legacy tourism incentives 

and who have not elected to move to the 

current regime cannot benefit from the 10 

percent rate. 

Items exempt from GCT include many 

basic food items, prescription drugs, 

certain medical supplies, as well as 

certain construction, transportation, 

and financial and insurance services. 

Zero-rated goods and services include 

certain agricultural and fisheries inputs, 

exported goods and services, and 

purchases by diplomatic and international 

organisations and foreign governments. 

Personal Income Tax 

Individuals are generally liable to income 

tax at the rate of 25 percent on their 

chargeable income up to JMD 6m less 

an annual tax-free threshold. Income in 

excess of JMD 6m is taxed at 30 percent. 

The current annual tax-free threshold 

available to Jamaican tax resident 

individuals is of JMD 1.5m. 

There are proposals to change some 

taxes. Currently, Jamaica imposes multiple 

statutory levies and contributions on 

employers, employees, and the self-employed 

– National Housing Trust, National 

Insurance Scheme, Human Employment 

and Resource Training contributions, and 

an Education Tax. The Government has 

announced an intention to consolidate 

these into a single payroll deduction. 

Also, a proposed reform of customs and 

income tax regimes is on the cards with 

a major overhaul of the Customs Act and 

Income Tax Act. 

Summary 

Jamaica is not what many expect. It goes 

far beyond the stereotype of pirates, 

plantations, beaches and dreadlocks. It’s 

a country that is deeply rooted in tourism 

but with a number of other sectors 

that need exploration. With an Englishspeaking 

population and proximity to 

both north and south America, Jamaica 

really should be a target for British 

exporters. 

Adam Bernstein is a freelance finance writer. 



Little things 

HMRC’s trivial benefits are no trivial matter. 

AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein 

BENJAMIN Franklin famously 

stated that “in this 

world nothing can be said 

to be certain, except death 

and taxes.” Focusing on the 

second of these, as a rule 

of thumb, we know that tax and National 

Insurance Contributions (NICs) are payable 

on most types of income and benefits 

an employer provides to their employees. 

However, HMRC has what is known as 

Trivial Benefits – a handy tax exemption 

– which partly disproves Franklin’s statement 

and may be of benefit in most workplaces. 

In essence, if employers keep within 

the rules, the trivial benefits exemption 

allows them to provide small gifts and 

other perks to their employees without 

either party suffering tax or NICs. 

Employment benefits defined 

David Wright, a technical officer at the 

Association of Taxation Technicians, 

outlines that benefits in kind are noncash 

items provided to employees by their 

employer and are often just referred to 

as benefits. Common benefits include 

the provision of a company car or van, 

private medical insurance, or living 

accommodation. 

He explains that “employees who receive 

benefits like these from their employer 

will generally pay income tax on the value 

of whatever they have received.” He adds 

that “while there is no NIC charge on the 

benefit for the employee, their employer 

will pay a special type of NIC every year 

on the value of taxable benefits provided 

to its employees.” 

Trivial benefits are different 

But unlike standard employment 

benefits, Wright says that trivial benefits 

“are not subject to tax or NICs for either 

the employee or the employer; they 

allow employers to provide employees 

with small gifts, treats and general perks 

without creating a tax or NIC cost for 

either party.” 

However, as is often the case when it 

comes to tax, the devil is in the detail. 

This means that employers wanting to 

make use of this exemption will need to 

make sure they understand the rules so 

as not to inadvertently create tax issues. 

It should also be said here that company 

directors can also receive trivial benefits, 

but face additional restrictions on what 

can qualify. More on this later. 

As to what counts as a trivial benefit, 

Wright says that they are items that 

meet four conditions – the cost to the 

employer of providing the benefit has to 

be £50 or less per recipient; it cannot be 

a reward for work done by the employee, 

or an incentive for future work; it cannot 

be in the form of cash or cash vouchers 

(explained below); and it can’t be provided 

as part of contractual arrangements, 

including salary sacrifice – i.e. the 

employee can’t have any right to expect 

the benefit. 

Common examples that qualify which 

Wright cites are flowers for a birthday, 

team meals out to celebrate new staff 

joining, or chocolate treats at Easter. 

Pitfalls to watch for 

“Used correctly,” says Wright, “trivial 

benefits can help employers take care 

of their employees, and build a happier, 

more productive working environment.” 

But he issues a warning: “While the 

rules might appear straightforward at 

first, it’s important to be aware of the 

hidden quirks which can catch out a wellmeaning 

employer.” 

Cost 

The first is that the £50 limit applies 

to the cost including VAT of providing 

the benefit. He explains that “if the cost 

exceeds £50 per employee, the entire value 

is subject to income tax for the employee 

and NIC for the employer, like a normal 

benefit. So, a £60 bottle of champagne 

given to an employee on their birthday 

would result in tax and NIC being charged 

on the full £60, not just the £10 excess over 

the trivial benefits exemption.” 

Another ‘gotcha’ Wright highlights is 

that the value of benefits can be linked. 

Consider, the employer who in May 

gives an employee a £30 gift voucher 

for their favourite retailer, which is not 

exchangeable for cash. This qualifies as 

a trivial benefit. But a month later, the 

employer tops up the voucher by £20 and 

then in September tops it up again by a 

further £15. The £20 top up qualifies as a 

trivial benefit as the cost of the voucher 

is still within the £50 limit. The key point 

for Wright is that “the top up in September 

will not qualify as a trivial benefit because 

the total cost to the employer of proving 


‘‘It is likely that very frequent gifts to employees 

could be subject to challenge by HMRC, who 

may argue they were a reward for work done by 

the employee.” 

the voucher now exceeds £50. Now, if the 

employer had bought the £15 voucher in 

September with a different retailer, that 

would have qualified for the exemption as 

it would have been treated as a separate 

benefit.” 

In many cases a benefit may be 

provided to a number of employees and it 

won’t be practical to work out the cost per 

employee. In this instance Wright says 

that the £50 cap applies to the average 

cost per employee instead. He gives an 

example: “An employer pays to take their 

10 employees out for a meal at a total cost 

of £450. Everyone chooses different food 

and drinks. It is not practical to work out 

the cost for each employee so an average 

cost per head of £45 would be accepted 

and should be exempt as it is less than 

£50.” 

Non-cash vouchers count 

Wright says that it’s important to 

recognise that only non-cash vouchers 

qualify for the exemption. He says that 

any vouchers can be used – for online or 

high street shops – “but only if they can’t 

be exchanged for cash.” 

In another example, he illustrates 

what he means: “A £50 voucher that can 

be used to buy £30 of goods and which 

allows the holder to take the £20 change 

in cash would not qualify. By contrast, 

if that £20 surplus was only available as 

another voucher or store credit, then the 

original £50 voucher should qualify as a 

trivial benefit.” 

Frequency 

Next comes the matter of frequency 

and Wright says that “providing a gift to 

employees annually should not make it a 

contractual entitlement. So, a Christmas 

hamper which costs the employer £50 or 

less can be provided to employees every 

year and still qualify as a trivial benefit.” 

However, in drawing a comparison 

to regular income, Wright says that 

providing gifts on a very frequent basis 

may prove problematic. So, while the 

giving of a different £50 gift voucher 

every month is not specifically excluded 

from the trivial benefits exemption, he 

says that the exemption is intended to 

cover occasional gifts and gestures of 

goodwill. Where this happens, he thinks 

that “it is likely that very frequent gifts to 

employees could be subject to challenge 

by HMRC, who may argue they were a 

reward for work done by the employee, or 

that the frequency created an expectation 

by the employee such that they could 

demand the employer kept providing the 

benefit.” 

And if this were the case, Wright 

states that the provision of vouchers 

would then be treated as ordinary pay, 

meaning tax and NICs would be payable. 

He emphasises that “in guidance from 

2019, HMRC suggested that it would 

look unfavourably on the provision of a 

weekly cream cake! It’s wise therefore to 

avoid a regular pattern of gifting.” 

Reward for services 

The whole point of the trivial benefits 

exemption is that it’s meant for random 

well-meaning gifts. In other words, as 

Wright tells, “it’s not something that 

provides gifts or perks as a reward for 

services or incentivises employees to 

work harder.” 

His point is best made through another 

example. Suppose Employer A takes sales 

representatives who have reached their 

target out to lunch at a cost of £45 per 

head. As the meal is a reward for services 

performed, it will not qualify as a trivial 

benefit. In contrast, Employer B takes the 

sales team out to lunch to celebrate the 

end of a busy year. This should qualify 

for the exemption as it is not rewarding 

specific performance. 

Employees, gifts for colleagues and 

employer repayment 

Another quirk of the rules to watch out 

for is, as Wright says, “unfortunate” 

and occurs where an employee buys a 

colleague a gift – on behalf of the business 

– and is reimbursed by the employer. This 

would not meet the criteria for exemption 

because, Wright explains, “it is crucial 

that it is the employer who incurs the cost 

of the benefit directly.” 

In more detail, where an employee 

is retiring and a colleague, with the 

employer’s permission, buys a £40 bottle 

of wine as a present from the company 

and submits an expense claim for the 

wine, the purchasing employee will lose 

out. The recipient will not pay tax on 

the value of the wine, and the company 

will not pay NIC on it because it is a 

trivial benefit. “But,” says Wright, “the 

purchasing employee may have to pay 

tax on the £40 reimbursed to them by the 

company as if it was part of their normal 

pay… this would have been avoided if the 

employer had bought the wine directly.” 

Directors are treated differently 

For good reason Wright details a specific 

rule that applies to directors of close 

companies – that is, a company 50 

percent or more of which is owned 

either by its directors, or by five or fewer 

shareholders. 

Here he says that “the cost of trivial 

benefits that close company directors can 

receive from ‘their’ company is capped 

at £300 per tax year; this includes the 

value of any trivial benefits received by 

members of the director’s household (say, 

partner, children, parents) unless they 

themselves are a director or employee of 

the company.” 

The reason is obvious – anything 

otherwise would be open to abuse as 

directors control the business and its 

spending. 

Take-away message 

It’s very clear that employment 

relationships have seen significant 

changes in recent years. All-employee 

events such as team lunches may be 

harder to arrange due to the increase in 

remote working, but this doesn’t reduce 

the need for team-building and other 

efforts to increase staff retention. 

In Wright’s view, used properly, “the 

trivial benefits exemption can help boost 

staff morale and build loyalty between 

employers and employees. Remote 

working is no barrier to its use, since 

small gifts posted to home-workers can 

still be covered by the exemption, as long 

as the total cost per head to the employer 

does not exceed £50 per gift.” 

However, the pitfalls identified above 

require careful consideration, and so 

Wright reckons that employers would 

be “well advised to keep records of the 

costs of all trivial benefits provided in 

case HMRC raise any questions later. 

Documenting the cost of trivial benefits 

and the reasoning behind them is good 

practice, but especially so where they are 

provided to company directors.” 

None of this, of course, trivialises the 

value in giving a gift. 

Sam Allard is a freelance business writer. 


CICM BEST PRACTICE 

Setting Standards 

Credit and insolvency professionals share their 

expertise at the latest CICM Best Practice event. 

AUTHOR – Imogen Wollastan 

PEOPLE from across the 

credit management industry 

gathered for the CICM 

Best Practice Summit hosted 

by national law firm 

Clarke Willmott LLP. 

The event, which was the first in person 

CICM Best Practice event since COVID 

was held at Clarke Willmott’s newly refurbished 

Taunton office. 

Insolvency: when are creditor’s 

petitions appropriate? 

After an introduction by the CICM’s CEO 

Sue Chapple FCICM and Head of Accreditation 

Karen Tuffs FCICM(Grad), delegates 

learned about the insolvency process 

from Phil Roberts, Partner and Head 

of Debt Recovery at Clarke Willmott, and 

Associate Kayleigh Cullis. 

Phil and Kayleigh are both experienced 

lawyers, dealing with complex debt recovery 

litigation and insolvency actions for a 

large variety of commercial and private 

clients, so were ideal to provide their presentation 

on a complex area of law which 

has many intricacies. 

Phil was clear in his warning to delegates 

that insolvency should only be used 

where appropriate, and that there are 

risks involved in bankruptcy and winding 

up petitions. Creditors should always 

try and engage with debtors (both companies 

and individuals) to try and obtain 

payment voluntarily in the first instance. 

Where this is not possible however, there 

are circumstances where insolvency action 

is necessary, and creditors should be 

aware of the implications. 

“A bankruptcy petition is a class action 

and not just a debt collection process” 

explained Phil. “It can be an expensive 

process with sometimes limited chances 

“Whilst business 

confidence is high, 

the same cannot be 

said for candidate 

confidence. 

Hence employers 

need to present 

a compelling 

narrative to tempt 

candidates to join 

their organisation.” 

of recovery. Bankruptcy is not appropriate 

in circumstances where there is a genuine 

dispute about the debt. Where a debtor 

cannot pay their debts as and when they 

fall due and there is no genuine dispute, 

provided the debt meets the necessary 

requirements under the insolvency legislation, 

then insolvency action may be a 

worthwhile process for creditors to consider.” 

Insolvency: holding directors to 

account 

Martin Askew, Partner and Head of Restructuring 

and Insolvency at Clarke Willmott, 

talked through what occurs after an 

insolvency order has been made. 

Martin is skilled in contentious insolvency, 

investigating the causes of insolvency, 

obtaining freezing orders where 

necessary to secure assets and pursuing 

claims against directors and third parties, 

including offshore trust entities, to recover 

assets for the benefit of creditors. 

Martin discussed a variety of topics including 

Director’s duties and how you can 

potentially impose personal liability on 

directors to creditors for fraudulent misrepresentation 

in certain circumstances. 

He also discussed Administrators’ and 

Liquidators’ powers. 

One concern frequently raised by creditors 

of an insolvent company is fraudulent 

actions by directors. So, Martin posed the 

question to delegates: what constitutes 

fraud? 

“In the context of a tortious (negligence) 

claim, what constitutes fraud may in fact 

involve a smaller degree of wrongdoing 

than one might imagine,” he said. 

To illustrate the point, he quoted 

Mr. Justice Irwin in the 2006 case of Contex 

Drouzhba Ltd v Wiseman: “In my view, 


‘‘It was such a pleasure to join this event and to meet so 

many of our CICMQ clients at our first face to face session for 

several years. Huge thanks to our hosts, Clarke Willmott for 

arranging a fantastic day.’’ – Karen Tuffs FCICM(Grad) 

there is no necessary contradiction between 

a foolish optimism that something will turn 

up and dishonesty. Specifically, it is perfectly 

possible for a businessman to practice 

deceit in order to keep his business alive, in 

the unreasonable hope that things will come 

right in the end.” 

Stars of tomorrow – talent recruitment 

initiative? 

Natascha Whitehead of Hays Credit Management 

gave an overview of an initiative aimed 

at supporting employers on recruiting new 

talent to the credit and collections industry. 

The scheme, Stars of Tomorrow, is a joint 

initiative between Hays Credit Management 

– a national specialist division of Hays dedicated 

exclusively to the recruitment of credit 

control and accounts receivable professionals 

– and the CICM. 

Natascha provided advice on attractive job 

adverts and interviews, as well as outlining 

winning strategies in the race for talent. 

She said employers need to factor in rising 

inflation and salary creep when pitching offers 

and pay rises, to move “at pace” due to 

high job flow numbers and to “flex the brief” 

on what they can offer, for example, hybrid 

work arrangements. 

“Whilst business confidence is high, the 

same cannot be said for candidate confidence. 

Hence employers need to present a 

compelling narrative to tempt candidates to 

join their organisation,” said Natascha. 

“Could you offer part time, job shares or 

flexible working to entice the economically 

inactive population back into work? Alternatively, 

could you hire more junior candidates 

and upskill them?” 

Natascha said there are currently 1.1m live 

job vacancies in the UK, so candidates have 

a lot of choice. 

“Continue to hire on potential, rather 

than skills,” Natascha advised. “Skills can be 

taught.” 

CICM Professional Standards – the key 

to CICM Accreditation 

The event also saw the CICM’s Chief Advisor, 

Debbie Tuckwood, introduce a new publication 

designed to help organisations to embed 

best practice within a team and ensure 

continuous professional development. 

Developed in conjunction with over 100 

credit and collections professionals, ‘CICM 

Professionals Standards – the key to CICM 

Accreditation’ provides a guide to the key 

knowledge, skills and behaviour for people 

working across all sectors of credit collections. 

What’s new in CICMQ? 

The closing session of the Best Practice 

Summit was hosted by Karen Tuffs FCICM 

(Grad), the CICM’s Head of Accreditation. 

Karen provided an overview of CICMQ, the 

credit and collection industry’s accreditation 

for best practice, which Clarke Wilmott’s 

debt recovery team achieved in November 

2021. 

The session closed with an introduction to 

CICMQ from assessor Barry Durham, who 

has over 25 years’ industry experience and 

held consultancy and interim positions in 

more than 50 companies. 

Karen said it was a very successful Summit: 

‘‘It was such a pleasure to join this event 

and to meet so many of our CICMQ clients 

at our first face to face session for several 

years. Huge thanks to our hosts, Clarke Willmott 

for arranging a fantastic day.’’ 

Imogen Wollastan is Business Development 

Executive at Clarke Willmott. 

“In the context 

of a tortious 

(negligence) 

claim, what 

constitutes 

fraud may in 

fact involve a 

smaller degree 

of wrongdoing 

than one might 

imagine.” 


Choosing the 

right career path 

that suits you!

From Base Camp to the Summit – 

YOUR CICM CAREER PATH 

IN CREDIT AND COLLECTIONS 

TO THE TOP! 

Advanced Level 

Qualifications 

• Level 5 Credit and 

Collections - MCICM(Grad) 

• Level 4 Diploma High 

Court Enforcement 

THE NEXT LEVEL 

Intermediate Level 


• Level 3 Credit and 

Collections - ACICM 

• Level 3 Diploma Money 

and Debt Advice - ACICM 

• Level 3 Award Advanced 

Enforcement 

STARTING OFF 

BECOME A STUDYING 

MEMBER 

Entry Level 


• L2 Credit and Collections 

• L2 Taking Control of Goods 

Fellowship 

FCICM (Grad) 

FCICM 

INDUSTRY 

RESOURCES 

National and 

Regional Events 

Member 

Support 

Credit Management 

magazine 

Webinars, Blogs 

and Podcasts 

MCICM 

5 years relevant management 

experience in the credit and 

collections arena 

ACICM 

3 years relevant work 

experience in the credit and 

collections arena 

Affiliate 

This level of membership is 

open to all who are working 

or interested in credit 

management/collections 

industry. Affiliate membership 

gives you immediate access to 

CICM resources to help you in 

your role and career. 

Qualification path 

Experience path 

For more information contact: 

T: 01780 722900 E: info@cicm.com

Introducing our 

CORPORATE PARTNERS 

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

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

My DSO Manager is an intelligent SaaS AR and 

credit management solution for SMEs to international 

enterprises, helping AR analysts manage risk, 

maximize cash collection and streamline the credit-tocash 

cycle, by a real-time insight to KPIs. 

Due to its inventive in-house IT teams and their tight 

collaboration with support staff, many of whom were 

credit managers at large firms, it can quickly integrate 

any ERP data and customize as needed. 

T: +33 (0)458003676 

E: contact@mydsomanager.com 

W: www.mydsomanager.com 

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 ERP, CRM, and billing 

systems, YayPay presents your real-time data 

through cloud-based dashboards. Automation 

improves productivity by 3X and accelerates 

collections by up to 34 percent. Predictive analytics 

provide insight into payor behavior and an online 

portal enables customers to access their accounts 

and pay at any time. 

T: +44 (0)7465 423 538 

E: marketing@yaypay.com 

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

Esker’s Accounts Receivable (AR) solution removes 

the all-too-common obstacles preventing today’s 

businesses from collecting receivables in a 

timely manner. From credit management to cash 

allocation, Esker automates each step of the orderto-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. 

T: +44 (0)1332 548176 

E: sam.townsend@esker.co.uk 

W: www.esker.co.uk 

Reduce or eliminate manual tasks, allowing AR 

teams to focus on actions that drive results, and 

strengthen decision intelligence to deliver significant 

value to the organisation. Cash Application / Credit 

& Risk Management / Collections Management / 

Disputes and Deductions Management / Team & Task 

Management and AR Intelligence. 

Optimise working capital by driving world-class 

order-to-cash processes and leveraging decision 

intelligence to drive better business outcomes. 

To learn more visit www.blackline.com/solutions/ 

accounts-receivable-automation/ 

T: +44(0) 203 318 5941 

E: sales@blackline.com 

W: www.blackline.com 

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. 

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

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

W: menzies.co.uk/creditor-services 

ContactEngine is a proactive customer engagement 

platform which connects organizations to its 

customers through AI powered digital conversations. 

ContactEngine enables collections treatment 

automation using conversational AI, dynamic 

engagement strategies, and easy-to-trigger payment 

transactions that help organisations collect debt 

faster. ContactEngine anticipates the need to interact 

with customers and fully automates personalized, 

multichannel, multi-day conversations to achieve 

specific milestones and trigger next steps. 

E: info@contactengine.com 

W: www.contactengine.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. 

T: +44 (0)1273 696933 

W: www.americanexpress.com 

Tinubu Square is a trusted source of trade credit 

intelligence for credit insurers and for corporate 

customers. The company’s B2B Credit Risk 

Intelligence solutions include the Tinubu Risk 

Management Center, a cloud-based SaaS platform; 

the Tinubu Credit Intelligence service and the 

Tinubu Risk Analyst advisory service. Over 250 

companies rely on Tinubu Square to protect their 

greatest assets: customer receivables. 

T: +44 (0)207 469 2577 / 

E: uksales@tinubu.com 

W: www.tinubu.com. 

Building on our mature and hugely successful 

product and world class support service, we are 

re-imagining our risk awareness module in 2019 to 

allow for hugely flexible automated worklists and 

advanced visibility of areas of risk. Alongside full 

integration with all credit scoring agencies (e.g. 

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

for analysis and automation. Impressive results 

and ROI are inevitable for our customers that also 

have an active input into our product development 

and evolution. 

T: 01235 856400 

E: info@credica.co.uk 

W: www.credica.co.uk 


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. 

They're waiting to talk to you... 

Hays Credit Management is a national specialist 

division dedicated exclusively to the recruitment of 

credit management and receivables professionals, 

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

the CICM’s only Premium Corporate Partner, we 

are best placed to help all clients’ and candidates’ 

recruitment needs as well providing guidance on 

CV writing, career advice, salary bench-marking, 

marketing of vacancies, advertising and campaign 

led recruitment, competency-based interviewing, 

career and recruitment trends. 

T: 07834 260029 

E: karen.young@hays.com 

W: www.hays.co.uk/creditcontrol 

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 percent early engagement 

resulting in market-leading recovery rates. Our 

multi-award-winning technology provides real-time 

reporting 24/7. 

T: +44 (0)1992 367 092 

E: a.whitehurst@courtenforcementservices.co.uk 

W: www.courtenforcementservices.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 • Insolvency 

• Post-litigation services including enforcement 

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. 

T: 03700 86 3000 

E: paula.swain@shoosmiths.co.uk 

W: www.shoosmiths.co.uk 

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)1246 555055 

E: info@forumsinternational.co.uk 

W: www.forumsinternational.co.uk 

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-tocash 

process and increase working capital availability 

by automating receivables and payments processes 

across credit, electronic billing and payment 

processing, cash application, deductions, and 

collections. 

T: +44 (0) 203 997 9400 

E: infoemea@highradius.com 

W: www.highradius.com 

FIS GETPAID solution is a fully integrated, webbased 

order-to cash (O2C) solution that helps 

companies improve operational efficiencies, lower 

DSO, and increase cash flow. The solution suite 

includes strategic risk-based collections, artificial 

intelligence, process automation, credit risk 

management, deduction and dispute resolution and 

cash application. FIS is a global leader in financial 

services technology, providing software, services 

and outsourcing of the technology that empowers 

the financial world. 

T: +447730500085 

E: getinfo@fisglobal.com. 

W: www.fisglobal.com 

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. 

TCN is an industry leader in call centre technology 

with offices around the world including, the United 

Kingdom, the United States, Romania, Canada, 

India and Australia. TCN has met the global 

communication needs of its diverse customers. 

Utilising best-practice solutions and 24/7 technical 

support, TCN empowers clients to drive consumer 

interactions through omni-channel, inbound and 

outbound communications. TCN’s call centre 

platform is entirely web-based and available 

on-demand with unlimited capacity. 

The UK’s No1 Insolvency Score, available as a 

platform to help businesses manage risk and 

achieve growth. The only independently owned 

UK credit referencing agency for businesses. We 

have modernised the way companies consume 

data, to power businesses decisions with the most 

important data taken in real-time feeds, ensuring 

our customers are always the first to know. Enabling 

them to deliver best in class sales, credit risk 

management and compliance. 

T: +44 (0) 1302 513 000 

E: sales@keyivr.com 

W: www.keyivr.com 

T: +44 (0) 800-088-5089 

E: spencer.taylor@tcn.com 

W: www.tcn.com 

T: +44 (0)330 460 9877 

E: sales@redflagalert.com 

W: www.redflagalert.com 


HR MATTERS 

Web of Lies 

Lying on a CV brings consequences 

for employees and employers. 

AUTHOR – Gareth Edwards 

MAKING dishonest 

claims and lying on 

a CV can have serious 

consequences for 

both employees and 

employers. It may 

be that a CV includes inaccurate details 

around a person’s job history or qualifications. 

It may be that gaps between jobs 

are disguised, or that an applicant suggests 

they have individual skills that they 

do not. 

Making dishonest claims on a CV can 

amount to fraud by false representation. 

The Fraud Act 2006 states that a person is 

guilty of fraud if they dishonestly make a 

false representation, and intend, by making 

the representation, to make a gain for 

theirself or another, or to cause loss to another. 

If there is fraudulent information 

on the applicant’s CV, then not only could 

this lead to a claim for damages from an 

employer, but the applicant could also be 

guilty of a criminal offence. 

Discovering lies 

If a prospective employer has discovered 

that an applicant has lied on their CV 

before the individual’s employment has 

started, consideration should be given to 

revoking the employment offer. Where 

possible, offers should be made conditional 

and subject to the employer receiving 

satisfactory references or evidence of 

qualifications, as appropriate, to allow 

revoking the offer if enquiries suggest inaccurate 

information has been provided. 

Serious inaccuracies and lies may 

result in a breach of the duty of trust and 

confidence that is implied in every employment 

contract. Lying on a CV could 

amount to gross misconduct entitling the 

employer to summarily bring the employment 

relationship to an end – it can allow 

an employer the right to summarily dismiss 

the employee without notice or compensation. 

Care should be taken, however, 

to ensure that the breach is sufficiently 

serious to justify summary dismissal. 

An employer could also pursue a misrepresentation 

claim to seek compensation 

for the loss suffered. If it can be established 

that the misrepresentation was 

a material factor in inducing the offer of 

employment, then the employer may be 

entitled to compensation. Potentially this 

could include the cost of replacing the 

employee and any recruitment agency 

fees and training fees incurred. 

The consequences for the employee 

As stated above, fraud is a crime and 

therefore a person lying on their CV could 

be committing a criminal offence in the 

UK. Lying on a CV could impact the content 

of an employment reference. There is 

no legal obligation on an employer to provide 

a reference in respect to a formal employee 

but if it does so the reference must 

be true and accurate. This could mean 

that reference to the inaccuracies could 

be recorded on an employment reference. 

This will cause further problems in the 

future for that employee when trying to 

secure alternative employment. 

“Individuals 

expanding on 

their experience 

and skills is 

nothing new. 

However, there’s 

a real distinction 

between that and 

outright lying.” 

R v Andrewes 

As to what can happen to a lying 

applicant, consider the 2022 case of R v Andrewes. 

In this instance, a court found that 

Mr Andrewes had falsely claimed to have 

relevant qualifications and experience 

which were essential to the CEO position 

he applied for. Andrewes was appointed 

to the role in 2004, however his employment 

terminated in 2015 when the truth 

about his qualifications and experience 

came to light. In 2017 Andrewes was convicted 

of obtaining a pecuniary advantage 

by deception and of two counts of fraud. 

He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment 

and the Crown sought a confiscation 

order against him. The Supreme 

Court ordered that nearly £100,000 of his 

earnings should be confiscated. Although 

this case is a rarity, it does show that CV 

fraud can lead to serious consequences 

for an individual. 

Steps for employers 

It follows that an employer needs to be 

certain about who it hires. To do this, it 

should make it clear to applicants that it 

will be attaching significant importance to 

the accuracy of the information provided 

in their CV. The employer can also highlight 

that it reserves its right to summarily 

dismiss and/or seek compensation if any 

information provided in a CV is misleading 

or inaccurate. It should make it clear 

to the applicant what specific information 

is being relied upon when discussing and 

offering contracts of employment to those 

employees. An employer may wish to go a 

step further and ask applicants to sign a 

written declaration to confirm that their 

application, and information provided 

during the course of the recruitment process, 

is true and accurate. 

Overall, employers should seek proof of 

the applicant's qualifications – especially 

where the qualifications are important 

for the role. It would be prudent to make 

offers of employment conditional on receiving 

satisfactory references. Further 

questions may need to be asked of a recruitment 

agency where necessary – it 

should not be assumed that background 

checks have been carried out thoroughly. 

Employers should also review the way 

in which they run a recruitment process, 

for example, putting an assessment in 

place for applicants to help prove whether 

those applicants have the necessary skills 

and qualifications they claim to have. 

Data protection issues 

Lastly, an employer should think carefully 

about the information and data that it 

will be collecting in relation to candidates 

and employees. The employer should also 

have good reasons for doing so and provide 

the appropriate privacy notices; and 

should not collect information or data for 

the sake of doing so. Information should 

be securely stored in line with data 

protection obligations. 

Summary 

Individuals expanding on their experience 

and skills is nothing new. However, 

there’s a real distinction between that 

and outright lying. Employers do need to 

be careful and must take steps to verify 

employee claims. 

Gareth Edwards is a partner in the 

employment team at VWV. 


PAYMENT TRENDS 

UNITED 

PERFORMANCE 

UK regions and sectors lead the way in cutting 

late payments. 

AUTHOR – Rob Howard 

AFTER a topsy turvy month 

that showed a mixed bag 

of performances, the 

latest late payment data 

is fairly encouraging, 

particularly across 

UK regions and sectors, with several 

steady improvements across the board. 

The average Days Beyond Terms (DBT) 

across UK regions and sectors both 

reduced by 1.1 days. In Ireland, average 

DBT across the regions increased by 0.4 

days, but dropped by 2.3 days across 

sectors. Average DBT across the four Irish 

provinces decreased by 0.8 days. 

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT 

The UK sector outlook is mostly positive, 

with 14 of the 22 making reductions to 

late payments. The IT and Comms sector 

is certainly on the up, cutting its DBT 

by 7.6 days to move into the top three 

performing sectors with an overall DBT of 

6.9 days. The Education sector also made 

a small step forward (-2.8 days), reducing 

its overall DBT to 6.0 days, but was just 

pipped to top spot by the Health & Social 

sector, with a drop of 4.4 days taking its 

overall DBT to 5.9 days. At the other end 

of the spectrum, the International Bodies 

sector is on the slide. An increase of 6.4 

days – the biggest rise among UK sectors 

– means it is now the worst performing 

sector with an overall DBT of 21.9 days. 

Over in Ireland, eight sectors are on the 

up, with 10 going in the wrong direction 

and two seeing no change at all. Of those 

going backwards, the Energy Supply 

sector is moving at the most alarming 

rate, with an increase of 28.0 days to its 

DBT. The Water & Waste (+13.3 days) and 

Construction (+12.0 days) sectors are also 

on the decline, but the Business Admin 

& Support is now the worst performing 

sector with an increase of 11.7 days taking 

its overall DBT to 39.4 days. Looking at the 

positives, no sector in Ireland has seen a 

bigger improvement than the Wholesale 

and Retail trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles 

and Motorcycles sector. An impressive 

reduction of 50.9 days takes its overall 

DBT to 6.2 days. The Transportation and 

Storage (-25.4 days), Mining and Quarrying 

(-21.7 days) and Entertainment (-13.7 days) 

all made significant improvements to late 

payments. 

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT 

The UK regional standings are full of 

encouragement, with all but one of 

the 11 regions moving forward in the 

right direction with small, rather than 

significant, improvements to their DBT. 

Northern Ireland has struggled over the 

past few months but moves off the bottom 

of the standings thanks to the biggest 

improvement, reducing its DBT by 2.6 

days to take its overall DBT to 12.2 days. 

Looking forward, the South West 

replaces Yorkshire and Humberside, the 

only region which saw an increase to DBT 

(+1.7 days), as the best performing region 

with an overall DBT of 8.1 days thanks to a 

cut of 1.8 days. 

In Ireland, of the 12 regions on the 

up, Louth saw the biggest improvement, 

reducing its DBT by a sizeable 32.0 days 

and taking its overall DBT to 10.3 days. 

Carlow also made big strides, cutting its 

DBT by 15.0 days, and joining Leitrim, 

Monaghan and Waterford at the top of 

the standings, each with an overall DBT 

of zero days. At the opposite end of the 

scale, 13 regions saw increases to DBT, 

none bigger than Donegal, which slides 

right down the rankings following a huge 

increase of 54.9 days to its DBT. Elsewhere, 

Westmeath (+27.1 days), Dublin (+18.2 

days) and Kilkenny (+12.7 days) also saw 

sharp rises to DBT. 

Across the four Irish provinces, Munster 

(-4.2 days) has overtaken Connacht (+3.7 

days) at the top of the standings, now 

with an overall DBT of 8.2 days. A further 

increase of 1.8 days means that Leinster 

remains the worst performing province 

with an overall DBT of 27.5 days. 

“The Education 

sector also made a 

small step forward 

(-2.8 days), reducing 

its overall DBT to 

6.0 days, but was 

just pipped to top 

spot by the Health 

& Social sector.” 


STATISTICS 

Data supplied by the Creditsafe Group 

Top Five Prompter Payers 

Region May 23 Change from April 23 

South West 8.1 -1.8 

South East 9.9 -1.9 

Scotland 10.3 -2.5 

East Anglia 10.3 -1.1 

East Midlands 10.3 -1.5 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers 


Wales 13.2 -0.1 

Northern Ireland 12.2 -2.6 

Yorkshire and Humberside 11.4 1.7 

London 11.1 -2 

North West 10.8 -0.6 

Getting worse 

International Bodies 6.4 

Public administration 3.7 

Entertainment 3.6 

Dormant 1.4 

Financial and Insurance 1.3 

Mining & Quarrying 0.8 

Construction 0.3 

Hospitality 0.3 

Top Five Prompter Payers 

Sector May 23 Change from April 23 

Health & Social 5.9 -4.4 

Education 6 -2.8 

IT and comms 6.9 -7.6 

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 7.8 -5.2 

Professional and Scientific 8.2 -2.2 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers 


International Bodies 21.9 6.4 

Mining & Quarrying 16.4 0.8 

Dormant 13.1 1.4 

Manufacturing 12.5 -0.9 

Energy Supply 11.7 -0.8 

Getting better 

IT and Comms -7.6 

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing -5.2 

Other Service -4.5 

Health & Social -4.4 

Water & Waste -3.3 

Business admin & support -3.2 

Education -2.8 

Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor 

vehicles and motorcyles -2.8 

Professional and Scientific -2.2 

Transportation and Storage -2.1 

SCOTLAND 

-2.5 DBT 

Real estate -1.4 

Manufacturing -0.9 

NORTHERN 

IRELAND 

-2.6 DBT 

SOUTH 

WEST 

-1.8 DBT 

WALES 

-0.1 DBT 

NORTH 

WEST 

-0.6 DBT 

WEST 

MIDLANDS 

-0.2 DBT 

YORKSHIRE & 

HUMBERSIDE 

1.7 DBT 

EAST 

MIDLANDS 

-1.5 DBT 

LONDON 

-2 DBT 

SOUTH 

EAST 

-1.9 DBT 

EAST 

ANGLIA 

-1.1 DBT 

Energy supply -0.8 

Business from home -0.2 

Region 

Getting Better – Getting Worse 

-2.6 

-2.5 

-2 

-1.9 

-1.8 

-1.5 

-1.1 

-0.6 

-0.2 

-0.1 

1.7 

Northern Ireland 

Scotland 

London 

South East 

South West 

East Midlands 

East Anglia 

North West 

West Midlands 

Wales 

Yorkshire and Humberside 


PAYMENT TRENDS 

MUNSTER 

-4.2 DBT 

DONEGAL 

54.9 DBT 

CONNACHT 

3.7 DBT 

SLIGO 

-7.6 DBT 

WATERFORD 

-12 DBT 

ULSTER 

-4.5 DBT 

MONAGHAN 

-13 DBT 

LEITRIM 

0 DBT LEINSTER 

1.8 DBT 

CARLOW 

-15 DBT 

KILKENNY 

12.7 DBT 

DUBLIN 

18.2 DBT 

Getting worse 

Donegal 54.9 

Westmeath 27.1 

Dublin 18.2 

Kilkenny 12.7 

Kildare 8.3 

Laois 8 

Meath 7.1 

Top Five Prompter Payers – Ireland 


Carlow 0 -15 

Leitrim 0 0 

Monaghan 0 -13 

Waterford 0 -12 

Sligo 1.6 -7.6 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers – Ireland 

Galway 5.7 

Roscommon 4.9 

Tipperary 3.1 

Clare 2.7 

Wicklow 1.1 

Limerick 0.2 


Westmeath 89.2 27.1 

Donegal 64.5 54.9 

Dublin 37.6 18.2 

Wexford 33.9 -1.5 

Kilkenny 28 12.7 

Top Four Prompter Payers – (Irish provinces) 


Munster 8.2 -4.2 

Connacht 12.2 3.7 

Ulster 14.2 -4.5 

Leinster 27.5 1.8 

Getting better 

Louth -32 

Offaly -18.4 

Longford -16.9 

Carlow -15 

Monaghan -13 

Top Five Prompter Payers – Ireland 


Education 0 0 

International Bodies 0 -11.9 

Mining & Quarrying 0 -21.7 

Public Administration 5.2 -10.9 

Wholesale and retail trade 6.2 -50.9 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers – Ireland 


Business Admin & Support 39.4 11.7 

Water & Waste 31 13.3 

Construction 30.1 12 

Energy Supply 28 28 

Professional & Scientific 21.3 4.7 

Waterford -12 

Cavan -9.3 

Cork -8.8 

Sligo -7.6 

Kerry -5 

Mayo -3.1 

Wexford -1.5 


LOOKING FOR 

YOUR NEXT 

CAREER MOVE? 

CREDIT CONTROLLER 

Marylebone (Onsite), £30k-£35k 

A publishing company based in Marylebone seeks a highly 

skilled and detail-oriented credit controller. You’ll manage and 

optimise credit control processes, ensuring timely and accurate 

payments. You’ll be responsible for maintaining healthy cash 

flow, minimising bad debt, and fostering strong relationships 

with both internal teams and external stakeholders. The ideal 

candidate will have a solid understanding of credit control 

procedures, exceptional analytical skills and the ability to 

communicate effectively with customers. Ref: 4414417 

Contact Hannah Healy on 020 3465 0020 

or hannah.healy@hays.com 


Kensington (6-month FTC), £125-£200 daily 

A multinational health insurance firm in High Street 

Kensington is hiring a credit controller to join its finance 

team. You’ll be chasing payments, resolving queries and 

ensuring that overdue debt is successfully collected. 

You’ll be responsible for reducing the age and volume 

of outstanding payments in line with the credit control 

policies and procedures. Ref: 4415373 

Contact Megan Macdonald on 020 3465 0020 

or megan.macdonald@hays.com 

CREDIT MANAGER 

Wickford (Onsite), £35k 

A highly successful group business in Wickford requires an 

experienced credit manager. You’ll manage a team of six 

credit controllers overseeing all AR, credit operations, and key 

customer accounts. You’ll also support the FD in commercial 

business decision-making. The successful candidate will 

have confidence reporting information and developing credit 

processes and policies. Ref: 4408080 

Contact Will Plom on 01603 760141 

or will.plom@hays.com 

SALES LEDGER/CREDIT CONTROLLER 

Leeming Bar (Hybrid), up to £26k 

A world-class FMCG manufacturer based in Leeming Bar 

is looking for a motivated individual to join a large finance 

team of over 30 people. In this position. You’ll work within a 

tight-knit immediate team of four people. You must be able 

to take ownership of numerous tasks and support several 

critical clients with household names. You’ll have various 

responsibilities including credit control, allocating cash 

received, query resolution, maintaining the customer database, 

liaising with sales managers on customer issues or queries, 

and flagging overdue or at-risk accounts. Ref: 4395419 

Contact Catherine Duke on 01325 352911 

or catherine.duke@hays.com 

hays.co.uk/credit-control-jobs 

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

The H devices are original designs protected by registration in many countries. All rights are reserved. AF-1206952248

REVENUE/CREDIT MANAGER 

Southampton, up to £55k plus benefits 

A Southampton-based business is looking for a motivated 

individual to join their team. You’ll be responsible for the O2C 

cycle, managing a team and tracking billings and collections 

targets. Prior experience successfully managing a team in a 

professional services organisation is essential. You’ll also need 

solid Excel skills (incl. VLOOKUP’s, Pivots and basic macros). 

Ref: 4412700 

Contact Jack Bailey on 023 8202 0104 

or jack.bailey1@hays.com 


Manchester, £25k plus bonus 

Take advantage of an excellent opportunity to join a highly 

reputable property firm in Manchester. As part of a large team 

with lots of support, you’ll manage your own ledger, chase 

outstanding and upcoming debt from customers and allocate 

payments. Ref: 4354265 

Contact Luke Lontton on 0161 236 7272 

or luke.Iontton@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. 


LEGISLATION 

MISSING IN ACTION 

The Bankruptcy and Diligence 

(Scotland) Bill – a missed opportunity? 

AUTHOR – Stephen Cowan 

THE Bankruptcy and Diligence 

(Scotland) Bill introduces 

some welcome 

reforms to Scotland’s judgment 

enforcement regime 

(known generically in Scotland 

as “diligence”). In addition, certain 

parts of the Bill seek to clarify and modify 

existing legislation. As such these proposals 

are very much technical in nature. 

Mental Health Moratorium 

The first section of the Bill attempts 

to align Scotland with England with 

the introduction of a mental health 

moratorium on debt recovery action. In 

the event of an individual having a mental 

health illness Scotland’s parliament will 

be given power by regulations to establish 

such a moratorium. The Bill details what 

the regulations may include which will 

be neither exhaustive nor mandatory and 

incorporate the following: 

• The eligibility criteria for the 

moratorium to apply 

• The types of debt which will be eligible 

• The process for establishing the 

eligibility criteria 

• The time frame for the moratorium 

• What creditors can and cannot do 

during the currency of the moratorium 

and the ramification should these be 

breached 

• The debtor’s obligations during the 

moratorium 

• How information can be recorded 

to establish whether an individual is 

subject to a moratorium. 

Bankruptcy 

The Bill’s amendments are technical in 

nature and as such modify the Bankruptcy 

(Scotland) Act 2016. For example, the 

current process of applying for a recall of 

bankruptcy (sequestration) award on the 

ground that a debtor has paid, or is about 

to pay their debts in full, will be clarified 

in the following three scenarios: 

1) where the Accountant in Bankruptcy 

(AiB) is not the trustee, 

2) where the AiB is the trustee and another 

party makes the application, or 

3) where the AiB is the trustee and acts on 

its own accord. 

Further miscellaneous provisions concern 

to the following: 

• Bankruptcy should be awarded without 

delay where a debtor application is made 

by the debtor to the AiB (as opposed to 

an application by petition to the court) 

in both for the Minimal Asset Process 

(known as ‘MAP’ bankruptcy) for debtors 

who have a lower level of debt or, 

alternatively, in a debtor application for 

a full administration bankruptcy. 

• Addressing the current lacunae in time 

limits to appeal a decision to audit a 

trustee’s remuneration which has been 

determined by commissioners to the 

sheriff. Such appeals will have to be 

made within 14 days to the court. 

• Addressing an error in the 2016 Act 

relating to gratuitous alienations. A 

gratuitous alienation occurs when a 

debtor voluntarily disposes of assets 

for little or no value. Where there is a 

successful challenge, the court must 

grant a decree of reduction. However, 

this will not apply where any right is 

acquired by a third party in good faith. 

However the incorrect subsection of 

section 98 of the Act is referred to. The 

Bill now makes reference to the correct 

subsection. 

Arrestment 

Perhaps of greater impact to those 

involved in the debt recovery process 

relates to the Bill’s provisions which will 

affect arrestment. A potential arrestee 

could be a bank. If the debtor has a credit 

balance with that bank the creditor can 

attach these funds by “arresting” them 

in the hands of the third-party arrestee 

(Bank). If the arrestment is successful, its 

effect creates a ‘nexus’ over those funds 

and prevents their release to the debtor. In 

these circumstances the bank must advise 

the debtor if the arrestment has been 

successful within three weeks. However, 

it is entirely possible that no funds have 

been attached, possibly because the 

debtor’s account is overdrawn or because 

the debtor does not maintain an account 

with that bank. In these circumstances 

there is no requirement for the bank to 

provide the creditor with a ‘nil’ return. 

The Bill helpfully requires the arrestee to 

confirm to the creditor within three weeks 

from the date on which the arrestment 

schedule is served on the arrestee if 

nothing is attached and the reasons why 

this is the case. Failure to make such a 

disclosure may render the arrestee, on 

the creditor’s application, to pay £500 

to the creditor. This will apply where t 

here is a failure to disclose in response 

to both successful and unsuccessful 

arrestments. 


“The Bill provides that should the debtor be an 

individual (as opposed to a limited company) then 

the debtor must be provided with a debt advice 

and information package in advance of a hearing 

on the application.” – Stephen Cowan 

“Creditors may 

be disappointed 

that more radical 

reforms have not 

been introduced 

which could 

assist them in 

the recovery of 

their cash.” 

Diligence against Earnings 

An earnings arrestment is used to recover 

a judgment debt by means of regular 

payments from the debtor’s salary by 

the debtor’s employer to the arresting 

creditor. The Bill modifies current 

legislation by providing that should the 

debtor not be employed by the person 

thought to be employing the debtor then 

that person must respond confirming 

this to the creditor within three weeks of 

receiving the schedule of arrestment. 

Currently the debtor’s employer is 

obliged to notify the creditor should the 

debtor’s employment be terminated and 

to provide details of any new employment. 

Here the Bill makes a minor amendment 

by requiring that the employer completes 

a specific form to provide these details. 

Should the employer fail to give the 

notification then, subject to the employer 

not having a reasonable excuse, the 

creditor can apply to the sheriff requiring 

the employer to provide any known 

information to the creditor. In addition, 

the sheriff may make an order requiring 

the employer to pay the creditor an 

amount not exceeding twice the amount 

which the creditor would have received 

on the debtor’s next pay day. In effect the 

Bill provides that the amount payable 

should not exceed £500. 

Diligence on the Dependence 

Diligence on the dependence (such as 

arrestment or inhibition) are provisional 

measures designed to give the creditor 

some ‘security’ for the debt prior to the 

decree (judgment) being granted by 

preserving the debtor’s property subject to 

the diligence. If the creditor’s application 

for the diligence is granted, then such 

property may be available to satisfy the 

creditor’s claim. The current legislation 

is quite complex with a creditor’s 

application being granted either with or 

without a hearing. 

The Bill provides that should the 

debtor be an individual (as opposed 

to a limited company) then the debtor 

must be provided with a debt advice 

and information package in advance of 

a hearing on the application. Failure to 

do so will mean that should a hearing be 

scheduled the warrant will not be granted. 

In circumstances where no hearing was 

scheduled the warrant will be recalled 

and the arrestment or inhibition executed 

in pursuance of it recalled should the 

package not have been served. 

Exceptional Attachment 

Currently where an ‘exceptional 

attachment order’ is granted (essentially 

removing non-essential moveable items 

from a debtor’s house) the attached 

goods must be immediately removed by 

the sheriff officer. However, this may be 

impractical, for example, due to the size 

of the goods and the non-availability of 

transport at the time of the attachment. 

If their immediate removal is not possible 

then the officer must give the debtor 

seven days’ notice of their removal. 

During this seven-day period the debtor 

may redeem the goods at their appraised 

value. The Bill increases the seven-day 

period to fourteen days from the day the 

goods were attached. 

Money Attachment 

Currently ‘money attachment’ can only 

be carried out during certain hours (not 

before 8am or after 8pm nor on Sundays 

or public holidays). Attachment can 

be executed out with these hours on a 

successful application to the court. The 

Bill amends these restrictions in relation 

to premises in which a trade or business 

is carried on at any time out with these 

hours and when the premises are open for 

business. So gone will be the days when 

an application must be made to carry out 

money attachment at 2am in a night club. 

Conclusion 

The Bill will introduce some clarifications 

to the current law and some welcome 

additions such as the ‘mental health 

moratorium’. However, creditors may be 

disappointed that more radical reforms 

have not been introduced which could 

assist them in the recovery of their cash. 

For example, ‘money attachment’ is 

quite unpopular. Since it was introduced 

in 2007 most businesses do not deal in 

cash. Following a prior consultation, it 

was identified that some means may be 

possible to attach non-cash receipts. Also, 

earnings arrestment could be made far 

more effective if there were a mechanism 

by way of court application to require 

a debtor to divulge their employment 

details. Also, attachment and sale of a 

debtor’s assets could be made far more 

effective by, for example, introducing 

the English concept of a control of goods 

order. The plain fact is that there is not 

an effective creditors’ organisation to 

lobby for such changes and, until such 

time as there is, most Scottish reforms 

in diligence will tend to be debtor, as 

opposed to creditor, focussed. 

Stephen Cowan is Director of Yuill and Kyle. 


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 

UPGRADED 

Wijesinghe Alwis ACICM Kath Fisher FCICM Kerry Anne WraithMCICM 

MCICM 

Aashish Raithatha MCICM Elizabeth (Liz) Paul MCICM Ahmed Damadi MCICM 

AWARDING BODY 

Congratulations to the following, who successfully achieved Diplomas 

Level 3 Diploma in Credit Management (ACICM) 

Amy Brindley 

Emily Hant 

Michael Hegarty 

Wendy Janes 

Jennifer Jenkins 

Subashnie Mols 

Claudia Muresan 

Laura Neal 

Lauren Rogers 

Maria Vigrass 

Level 3 Diploma in Credit Managemen 

Clare Samwell 

Level 3 Diploma in Credit & Collections (ACICM) 

Andrew Cargill 

Charlotte Coates 

Ciaran Devine 

Gyula Kecskes 

Louise McCarthy 

Christina O'Carroll 

Level 3 Diploma in Credit & Collections 

Liam O'Hare 

Lucinda Pickering 

Sandeep Rath 

Ana Romera Frago 

Michael Sutton 

Emma Williams 

Lero Moue 

Danielle Richardson 

Level 5 Diploma in Credit & Collections Management MCICM(Grad) 

Orla Lynch 

Chandni Premgi 

CM 

CREDIT MANAGEMENT 

THE CICM'S HIGHLY ACCLAIMED MAGAZINE 

Credit Management, the magazine of the Chartered Institute of Credit 

Management (CICM), is the leading publication in its field. The magazine 

includes full coverage of consumer and trade credit, export and company 

news, as well as in-depth features, profiles and opinions. To receive the free 

magazine you must be a member of the CICM or subscribe. 

SPECIAL 

FEATURES 

IN DEPTH 

INTERVIEWS 

ASK THE 

EXPERTS 

GLOBAL 

NEWS 

LEGAL 

MATTERS 

INTERNATIONAL 

TRADE 

CURRENCY 

EXCHANGE 

HR 

MATTERS 

MOBILE DIGITAL 

EDITION 

EDUCATIONAL 

STUDIES 

THE LEADING JOURNAL FOR CONSUMER AND COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS 

TO SUBSCRIBE CONTACT: T: 01780 722903 


WORKING LIFE 

Well-Connected 

The perks of creating a career network. 

AUTHOR – Natascha Whitehead 

IT’S long been known that building 

a strong network is crucial for a 

successful career and networking 

continues to be one of the most 

effective ways to enhance your 

professional life. Whether that 

be communicating with other credit 

professionals online through LinkedIn 

or face-to-face at industry events, the 

extent to which you interact and nurture 

relationships with like-minded individuals 

will significantly impact what you get out 

of your career. Here are some of the reasons 

why you should prioritise networking today: 

Access exciting opportunities 

One of the benefits of networking includes 

the opportunities you may come across whilst 

conversing with relevant communities. For 

instance, a fellow credit professional might 

recommend a training and development 

programme that they’ve taken part in, which 

could also help you to improve your skillset. 

By speaking to your peer about their firsthand 

experience of the training course, 

you’re able to access exclusive insights such 

as what the learning entailed, to assess if the 

course is right for you. Whilst networking, 

you could also find out how to play an even 

more active part in the credit sector, through 

attending upcoming events and webinars or 

joining useful forums online. 

The contacts you make could inform 

you of workplace opportunities, such 

as recent vacancies within their own 

company, to support you during your job 

search. Similarly, by utilising the power of 

networking, professionals become more 

visible to recruiters. In today’s digital age, 

where candidates often send a generic 

application for multiple jobs online and 

employers go through a pile of CVs, building 

a rapport by networking can help you 

really stand out from the crowd. A positive 

interaction with an employer at a careers 

fair for instance is more memorable than a 

broad CV. 

Be inspired by others 

Personal connections are often formed 

through sharing stories and experiences and 

this works well in a professional landscape. 

Speaking to people with varying degrees 

of experience will help inform and shape 

your own career. For example, someone 

who has been a credit manager for 20 years 

will have invaluable wisdom, skills and 

experience that someone just starting out 

their credit career can learn from. It's often 

“Personal 

connections are 

often formed 

through sharing 

stories and 

experiences 

and this works 

well in a 

professional 

landscape.” 

interesting to find out how a person’s career 

pathway evolved and what changes they’ve 

witnessed in the industry over time. You 

might also be inspired by a person’s journey 

into the world of credit and how they feel 

that route impacted the beginning of their 

career, whether that be as a graduate or an 

apprentice. 

To avoid obtaining a narrow set of 

perspectives or ideas, it’s important that 

your network consists of a diverse range 

of people from different walks of life. The 

same can be said about networking with 

people in a range of roles, as someone who 

is a revenues manager will be able to share 

different insights from someone who is an 

income recovery officer. Hearing from a 

variety of individuals might also inspire you 

to think about trying something new within 

the finance sector. You might also learn 

about a particular company through one of 

your contacts and what it’s like to work there, 

giving you a snippet into an organisation you 

may have a desire to work for in the future. 

Become more confident 

Having the confidence to reach out to people 

within your network to ask for guidance and 

support when you need it will help you reap 

the benefits of a strong network. Building 

a network might be the best thing you do, 

especially when you reach points in your 

credit career where the help of a specific 

person is necessary: you can utilise your 

network in these particular moments. 

Although one of the key aspects of 

networking is being inspired by others, this 

should work both ways, whereby you’re 

also open to offering your own advice, 

experience and insights. By sharing your 

wisdom, you will inevitably enhance your 

communication skills and build confidence: 

both of which can improve your career in 

the long run. It’s important to ensure the 

sentiment is reciprocated, so other people 

feel as though they can contact you too. It 

goes without saying that helping others is 

rewarding and can do wonders for our own 

wellbeing. A strong network can similarly 

foster a sense of belonging that in turn 

makes your career more fulfilling. 

Once you’ve got the foundations of a 

good network, and you dedicate some time 

to maintaining the positive relationships 

you’ve achieved, you will start to experience 

the power of networking. 

Natascha Whitehead is Business Director 

of Hays Credit Management. 


Cr£ditWho? 

CICM Directory of Services 

COLLECTIONS 

CREDIT DATA AND ANALYTICS 

CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 

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. 

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 

COLLECTIONS LEGAL 

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%. 

CREDIT DATA AND ANALYTICS 

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. 


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. 

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.” 

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 

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/ 

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 


FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION OPTIONS 

AND PRICING CONTACT 

paul@centuryone.uk 01727 739 196 



FINANCIAL PR 

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. 

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. 

CLOUD-BASED SOFTWARE 

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 

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. 

TCN 

T: +44 (0) 800-088-5089 

E : spencer.taylor@tcn.com 

W: www.tcn.com 

TCN is a leading provider of cloud-based call centre technology 

for enterprises, contact centres, BPOs, and collection 

agencies worldwide. Founded in 1999, TCN combines a deep 

understanding of the needs of call centre users with a highly 

affordable delivery model, ensuring immediate access to robust 

call centre technology, such as SMS, email, predictive dialler, 

IVR, call recording, and business analytics required to optimise 

operations while adhering to callers’ requests. 

ENFORCEMENT 

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. 

INSOLVENCY 

My DSO Manager 

22, Chemin du Vieux Chêne, 

Bâtiment D, Meylan, FRANCE 

T: +33 (0)458003676 

E: contact@mydsomanager.com 

W: www.mydsomanager.com 

My DSO Manager is an all-in-one intelligent SaaS accounts 

receivable and credit management system that provides realtime 

insight and scalability from SMEs to international multientity 

companies. It helps AR analysts, accounting or finance 

managers, and any client-facing employee, manage risk and 

maximize cash collection. 

It can swiftly integrate any kind of data from any ERP and 

implement any customization due to its creative, competent IT 

teams that are headquartered inside the firm and collaborate 

closely with support employees, many of whom were formerly 

credit managers at big corporations. 

The feature-rich functions, automated reminders, alerts, and 

numerous services connected to the solution, such as EDM/ 

CRMs/insurance/e-payment/BI platforms etc., along with a 

reasonable pricing system, have simplified the credit-to-cash 

cycle by monitoring daily KPIs like DSO, aging balance, overdues/ 

past-dues, customer behavior, and cash forecast. 

My DSO Manager's worldwide clientele are its real ambassadors, 

who assist the company in expanding on an ongoing basis. 

Cr£ditWho? 


FOR ADVERTISING 

INFORMATION OPTIONS 

AND PRICING CONTACT 


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. 

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. 

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. 


Cr£ditWho? 


FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION 

OPTIONS AND PRICING CONTACT 


LEGAL 

PAYMENT SOLUTIONS 

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 •Insolvency 

•Post-litigation services including enforcement 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION 

OPTIONS AND PRICING CONTACT 



CICM MEMBER 

EXCLUSIVE 

A specialist and dedicated 

debt collection 

service 

Your CICM lapel badge 

demonstrates your commitment to 

professionalism and best practice 

TAKE PRIDE IN 

WEARING YOUR BADGE 

If you haven’t received your badge 

contact: cicmmembership@cicm.com 

020 8080 2888 

REDWOODCOLLECTIONS.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)

Ethical and efficient debt recovery solutions to 

help organisations improve cash-flow, increase 

productivity and reduce overheads 

Debt 

Recovery 

Customer 

Care 

Receivables 

Management 

Business Support 

Services 

IT and Application 

Services 

Software 

Solutions 

01527 386 610 

controlaccount.com

CM July and August 2023 digital

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?