WFY’26: Germany’s factoring market grows 6.2% to €423.5bn despite weak economy

Germany’s factoring market expanded strongly in 2025 despite weak economic growth, elevated energy costs and rising corporate insolvencies, with total factoring revenues increasing 6.2% to €423.5bn. In this country report, Jens Hoter, Branch Director at Crédit Agricole Leasing & Factoring S.A. – Niederlassung Deutschland, examines how domestic factoring, larger corporate clients and continued demand for working-capital finance are supporting the market through a difficult industrial environment.

The article included in the World Factoring Yearbook 2026 (WFY’26) explores a market where factoring penetration rose to 9.5% of GDP and more than 112,000 companies used factoring as part of their financing mix. It also examines the dominance of inhouse factoring, slowing international business, rising insolvency risk and the legal factors that have made non-recourse structures particularly important in Germany.

Below is an excerpt from his article.

The German factoring industry has succeeded in increasing once again its total factoring revenues which in 2025 amounted to EUR 423.5bn, a significant growth of 6.2 per cent. However, this growth was not evenly distributed. Thirty per cent of the members of the German Factoring Association reported declines in their revenues. Considering the ongoing weak economic development in Germany due to high energy costs, global political uncertainties, increasing competition in traditional export markets and still too-extensive bureaucracy, this unbroken growth in factoring volumes is remarkable.

The GDP factoring ratio rose accordingly from 9.3 to 9.5 per cent, still not reaching the next benchmark of 10 per cent, but getting closer again to the all-time high of 9.7 per cent in 2022.

During the last year, 112,025 customers used factoring as part of their financing mix. In 2025, the factoring industry was able to increase the number of customers compared to the previous year (plus 4.8 per cent). However, not all factoring companies managed to keep their number of customers constant or even increase it. Around 35 per cent of providers recorded a decline in customers. The range of customers per provider varies widely from four customers to over 34,000 customers.

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To read the whole article and 50 other specialist articles and country market reviews, order World Factoring Yearbook 2026 here.