Accelerated Payments collaborates with banks to provide more funding to SMEs during Covid

SME funding provider Accelerated Payments today announced that it is working collaboratively with banks to offer a lifeline to their existing SME clients as they strive to grow during the Covid-19 crisis.

Over the past year, there has been a sharp decline in bank lending to existing business customers due to stricter approval requirements. There has also been significant intervention by respective governments to provide short term liquidity through deferred tax liabilities and government back loan schemes. Now that the market is shifting back to private sector funding, many SMEs require access to additional working capital but have existing bank debt and a compromised credit risk profile.

Based on this confluence, many financial institutions are unable to provide additional funding during this critical time, yet they have security on all the assets of the company. However, an increasing number of banks are working collaboratively with invoice finance providers such as Accelerated Payments to pool their financial resources together to offer greater levels of funding to companies that are struggling with liquidity as they try to expand both domestically and internationally post-Brexit.

Ian Duffy, CEO at Accelerated Payments, said, “For the first time we are working with banks to better service their existing SME customers by increasing the amount of credit available to businesses ensuring they can address their cash-flow problems. Despite the challenges introduced by the pandemic, many companies continue to experience growth – but need working capital to keep operations running smoothly. By partnering with invoice financing companies, banks are now able to better serve their SME customers, thereby guaranteeing a continued and uninterrupted revenue stream for them – as well as ensuring support for the companies that need it most.”

Accelerated Payments is a leading invoice financing with particular expertise in financing cross border trade. The firm has built a solid reputation by enabling business owners to receive partial payment for accounts-receivable invoices that customers have not yet settled.  Since the pandemic it has lent €300m worth of invoice financing to SMEs across the UK, Europe, and North America.

Accelerated Payments funds a major part of the amount a supplier is owed in the invoice with no need for PG’s or security on company assets. When the client pays the invoice, the business then pays a small percentage of the invoice amount back to the funder as a borrowing. This presents working capital which ensures the company gets steady cash flow to keep operations running smoothly.

Duffy added, “2020 has been a difficult year for many SMEs across all sectors and as the government loan schemes for Covid-19 comes to an end, more companies will turn to their financial institutions for additional support for their liquidity challenges. As such, we expect to work with a greater number of banks over the coming year to address the funding gap that would otherwise derail the prospects of great businesses that are not only vital to the growth of banks, but also to the rebuilding of our economy.”