Press Release - Monday, 05 July 2021
The 2021 FCI Annual Review has been published online today. Usually published and distributed to the membership during the FCI Annual Meeting, the 53rd Annual Meeting will be held virtually this year on 22-23 September 2021. Hence, FCI will mail the 2021 Annual Review to all of its 400 members.
The FCI Annual Review is a globally recognised publication in the world of Factoring and Receivables Finance. In addition to publishing the final statistics for the industry, it includes the highly appreciated Global Industry Annual Report (GIAR) analysis that reports on quantitative but also qualitative data.
Peter Mulroy, FCI Secretary-General, introduces the publication by highlighting major achievements in 2020 but also the challenges and opportunities facing FCI and the industry in the next years to come. Mulroy stated “2020 was a challenging year for the FCI members. We entered the new year with the continuation of the trade war, major geopolitical issues, and the finalisation of BREXIT. However, the most significant event, Covid-19, was waiting just around the corner. Despite the challenges, FCI made substantial investments in its future.”
In this year’s edition, we have a special roundtable discussion moderated by John Beaney, (The Director, HSBC GTRF) which discusses with Senior Executives spread around the world (Brendan du Preez - Group Head Supply Chain & Working Capital Finance, Standard Bank, South Africa; Eric Lu - Senior Vice President, CTBC Bank, Taiwan; Maria Luisa Muñoz - Head of Transaction Banking, Bancolombia, Colombia and Roberto Weckop - Director & Head of International Business, Deutsche Factoring Bank, Germany) the relevance of factoring in times of crisis and how it’s playing a critical role through providing liquidity, supporting adaption of supply chains, and managing risk. The panel also shared their digital transformation experience and their thoughts on both the importance of innovation and industry standards.
The publication also profiles each region with updates, challenges, and their 2021 outlook presented by the FCI Regional Directors (Mr Nassourou Aminou, Mr Alberto Wyderka, Mr Lin Hui, Mr Thompson Lui and Mrs Betül Kurtulus) and the Chair of the EU Federation Mrs Françoise Palle-Guillabert.
Aysen Çetintas, Director of Education, highlights the importance of Education even more in these challenging times. FCI offers a globally recognised learning platform, FCI Academy that provides students with certifications in factoring and receivables finance. The Academy has recently opened its virtual doors and unveiled its online curricula of the Certificate Programmes and the Specialised Online Courses to all industry stakeholders.
The Chairman of FCI, Patrick de Villepin, reflected on how we are to recover, post Covid-19, in the introduction in the Annual Review. He states “We all expect that 2021 will be better than 2020, albeit with some credit challenges possibly later in the year. We are already beginning to see a surge in domestic factoring as reported by our members in N. America, Europe and China and according to our latest international factoring figures, the volume has surged, growing nearly double-digit. However, we are still not out of the woods. But as the global economy will return to some normalcy, global trade will recover. Let’s be prepared for this.”
You may download the annual review here or read it online here
About FCI
FCI was set up in 1968 as a non-profit global association for factoring companies around the world. Today, FCI has grown into the world's representative factoring and receivables finance business network and association with close to 400 members in more than 90 countries. Today, FCI is truly the global representative body for the Factoring & Receivables Finance Industry.
FCI offers three major areas of activities:
CONNECT: the Business network supports cross-border factoring activities through which its members cooperate as export and import factors
EDUCATE: FCI promotes and develops best practices in both domestic and international factoring and related Open Account Finance products
INFLUENCE: FCI promotes and defends the Industry with stakeholders and policymakers worldwide