Australia

Small businesses in Australia have become very active in seeking creditors and pursuing better deals to fund the continued growth of their operations.

Baycorp said in a statement released after the market closed in New Zealand that it wanted to correct some "misconceptions" about Alliance Factoring.

The federal Government's export agency, Austrade, plans to double the number of exporters within three years, mainly through small businesses run by women.

Alliance Factoring last year bought Telstra's $300 million debt book, 800,000 accounts that date back as far as six years. Now tens of thousands of Telstra customers have been unwittingly put on a credit blacklist over unpaid phone bills.

The Institute for Factors and Discounters of Australia and New Zealand have published the industry statistics for quarter 1 2003.

AUSTRALIAN MARKET

The Institute for Factors and Discounters of Australia and New Zealand (IFD) will hold its next meeting on 26 June at the IFD offices in Sydney.

Items on the agenda include:

A survey of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Australia showed business expectations were at four-year highs, despite some weakening in sales and profit figures in the three months to April.

The successful integration of Export Finance Insurance Corporation of Australia's (EFIC) and Gerling NCM's business and operational systems in December 2002 has resulted in a substantial increase in EFIC's technological capacity.

A director who submitted false invoices worth A$1.3 million to a debt factoring company received a jail term in the Victorian County Court yesterday.

Executive Summary