150 representatives from the European Factoring Market meet in Vienna

On 21 and 22 March, FCI and The EU Federation for Factoring & Commercial Finance (EUF) hosted the 9th EU Factoring Summit in Vienna, Austria. This ninth Summit provided a unique opportunity for Industry Leaders to network and address topics that matter to the Factoring Industry. The programme addressed the latest updates and promoted the impact of the Factoring and Commercial Finance Industry in Europe.

The event saw record numbers in attendance with over 150 delegates from across the European industry. Over the two days, attendees listened to various speakers and panels. EUF presented the Preliminary Statistics and Figures for the Factoring Industry in Europe in 2023 with an increase by 2% compared to 2022, reaching EUR 2,44 trillion in turnover. When sharing the concentration of 2023 Factoring turnover, the top 5 countries, being France, Germany, UK, Italy and Spain, held 71,4%. The Austrian market had a total volume of EUR 36,463 billion in 2023. Expressing that once more, the growth was higher by 1,61 % than the GDP growth of -0,8%.

Attendees heard reports from the EUF’s ESG, Prudential Risk and Legal Committees. The presentations included latest developments on CRR reform / Basel III​ and the EBA Definition of Default (DoD). In the CRR Reform/Basel III, the update in the final text is that the mention of factoring among the “ancillary services” has been removed​, and that the mandate to study the eligibility of credit insurance as CRM tool has been kept and extended to EIOPA but with a very short deadline. On the Late Payment Regulation, the EUF responded to the COM call for evidence on LPD review in March 2023.

Mr. Ignacio Tirado, UNIDROIT Secretary-General, shared updates on the launch of the UNIDROIT Model Law on Factoring, its success will depend on implementation and that​ UNIDROIT is looking to expand its coalition of stakeholders to promote and implement the MLF.​

Attendees then witnessed a panel discussion on Digital evolution in Trade and Commercial Financing and what to expect from the future.

During the panel discussion on Factoring for Sustainable Development, attendees could hear from Mr. Othmar Karas, Member of the European Parliament via video message and Mr. Fabien Le Tennier from the EBA along with other industry practitioners.

Ms. Antonella Correra, European Commission Senior Policy Officer, shared a presentation on EU Commission Proposal for Late Payment Regulation, highlighting the rationale and expectations. Ms. Correra explained that the three pillars of the LPD Revision include Clarity & Transparency, Enforcement, and Redress. The following panel on the same topic was very lively and having on the stage both European Commission, the factoring industry and trade industry resulted on interesting take-aways.

The presentations we had from the various speakers were very insightful, including UNIDROIT Factoring Model Law, the economy in CEE & SEE, the upcoming changes around AML/CFT and the opportunities and challenges of Factoring & Supply Chain Finance (SCF) in the age of AI.

The final Panel on looking at where the industry will be by 2030 gave attendees a hint about what to expected from the future.

All in all, the Summit was a great success and FCI and the EUF thank everyone who attended the event, including all the speakers for their invaluable insights and knowledge sharing. FCI and EUF would like to thank the event Sponsors, Raiffeisen, CODIX, Comarch, Lendscape, Lenvi Riskfactor and Finwave for their support, also extending a thank you to the event partners, EBRD, Österreichischer Factoring Verband, BCR Publishing, Global Trade Review, and Trade Finance Global.

FCI Chairman, Mr Çagatay Baydar, had this to say about the Summit: “What a wrap, the last two days have been extremely interesting. Seeing again so many faces at our European Summit is great. The topics covered are so important for our industry and networking was amazing to create new relations with other factors”.

EUF Chairman, Mr Fausto Galmarini, shared his thoughts on the Summit: “The EUF is very satisfied for the strong attendance of the Summit in which a lot of topics have been   touched, starting from the Regulatory framework, to the digital innovation in the sector and the role of factoring in helping the businesses to manage the net working capital, giving a big support to the real economy. So wide participation give us further strength to continue the work for the success of our sector”.