WFY’25: Eastern Europe leads 2024 factoring growth in Europe

While growth in Western Europe’s factoring markets in 2024 either slowed to low levels or declined, factoring volumes in most Eastern European countries rose markedly. This appears to reflect two main factors: lower GDP growth or recession in Western Europe, and the fact that factoring markets in that region are already highly mature. Even so, the disparity between the two regions is striking.

Factoring volume growth was disappointing for many European countries. Of the 18 countries profiled, five recorded a small decline (the UK, Netherlands, Spain, Austria, and Italy), and four reported an increase in volume of two per cent or less (Belgium, Czech Republic, France, and Denmark). Three countries saw a rise in factoring volume ranging from roughly three per cent to more than six per cent:
• Portugal: +3.4 per cent, from EUR 44.2bn to EUR 45.7bn
• Germany: +3.7 per cent, from EUR 384.4bn to EUR 398.8bn
• Poland: +6.6 per cent, from EUR 103.4bn to EUR 110.2bn
Given that GDP growth in the EU in 2024 was just 1 per cent, these figures confirm that factoring volumes tend to outperform GDP growth.

The countries that saw much higher growth in volume were:
• Romania: +8 per cent, from EUR 8.7bn to EUR 9.4bn
• Greece: +9.6 per cent, from EUR 24.7bn to EUR 27.1bn
• Croatia: +9.7 per cent, from EUR 1.4bn to EUR 1.5bn
• Serbia: +25 per cent, from EUR 1.8bn to EUR 2.3bn
• Turkey: +27.8 per cent, from USD 29.5bn to USD 37.7bn
• Georgia: +57.2 per cent, from EUR 174m to EUR 274m

However, most of these countries have factoring markets that are not as mature as those in Western Europe, so their contribution to the total European factoring volume remains relatively modest.

To find out more, order the World Factoring Yearbook 2025 here.