Wednesday 13 May 2020
10:00-11:15 BST


Crucial questions for factors and SCF providers to protect their business and secure their future

  • How might the receivables finance sector change and what could we expect over the coming weeks, months and beyond? How will the situation differ in different regions?
  • Can banks do more in providing help to SMEs, or will SMEs to turn to alternative funding in the search for faster and more flexible financing?
  • How will credit insurers react and will emerging markets see cover largely disappearing as in the banking crisis?
  • The global increase in need for working capital finance will be substantial in the fallout – how will the sector cope?
  • Force Majeure contract clauses – how can factors react when invoked by debtors?
  • How do businesses press ‘pause’ when it comes to cash preservation, extend terms with suppliers, lay off staff, defer costs? How quickly can they bounce back?
  • The various government support schemes will continue for a while. What’s going to happen after that?
Michael Bickers
Managing Director, BCR Publishing

Michael Bickers is Managing Director of BCR Publishing Ltd, a specialist publishing company dedicated to the provision of market information on areas of receivables finance including factoring and supply chain finance, through books, the Internet (trfnews.com) and global receivables finance conferences and seminars. He is author of twelve editions of Factoring in the UK, a market report and guide to the UK factoring industry, (1993 – 2008, 2nd and 3rd editions, published by HMSO, other editions BCR); Editor of twenty five editions of the World Factoring Yearbook (published annually by BCR since 1996 in association with FCI); Publisher of the European Trade Finance Yearbook 2012 (BCR in association with EBRD); Editor and joint author of A Review of Global Trade Finance and the Effects of the Current Financial Crises on Emerging Markets - a report commissioned by the World Bank, December 2008; Publisher of the World Supply Chain Finance Report 2010 – 2021; Chapter contributor of Factors and Actors (Peter Lang, 2018); Editor of Equipment Leasing in the UK (HMSO, 1995,1996).; Editor of Venture Capital in the UK (HMSO, 1996); Series Editor, International Business Intelligence Reports (published by the Stationery Office Ltd), 1997. His views, opinions and findings have been printed in leading newspapers and journals including The Financial Times, The Sunday Times, The Times, The Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Director Magazine, Accountancy Age, Business Age, Chartered Banker, Investors Chronicle and Export Today.
Parvaiz Dalal
Managing Director, Global Head Payables Finance, Treasury and Trade Solutions, Citi

Parvaiz Dalal Heads Global Payables Financing Vertical for Citi. Parvaiz’ role is to integrate various offerings into a holistic solution across payables vertical for clients on a global basis. Payables Finance comprises Supply Chain Financing (a flagship and market leader product offering), Dynamic Discounting, Deep-Tier and Second-Tier financing, Purchase Order Financing, Open Account Draft Discounting, and various related financing across the payables value chain of the Institutional and Commercial Client Group of Citi. Parvaiz leads the business end-to-end, including product management, on-boarding and sales capabilities, working in close partnership with sales, coverage and banking partners. Prior to his current role, Parvaiz was Head of Supply Chain Finance for Treasury and Trade Solutions EMEA. Parvaiz moved to London in February 2015, primarily to uplift SCF business to the next level by fully automating and digitising supplier onboarding, and automating the end-to-end flow, doubling SCF EMEA business. Prior to this move, Parvaiz worked for five years in Singapore as Trade Head, Asean, and at RBS, Asia, as Regional Trade Sales and Business Development Manager for Asia Pacific. He has over two decades of banking experience with Citi, ABN-RBS and Credit Lyonnais. Parvaiz’ wealth of experience has been mostly spent in transaction banking, but he has also managed corporate relationships.

Parvaiz holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce with specialisation in Advanced Accounting and Statistics, and has a post-graduate degree in Banking Law and Practice.
Robert Koopman Dr Robert Koopman
Chief Economist and Director of Economic Research and Statistics Division, World Trade Organization (WTO)

Robert Koopman is Chief Economist and Director of Economic Research and Statistics Division at the World Trade Organization. In this post Bob provides the Secretariat and Member Countries with analysis and information that promotes a deeper understanding of trade and trade policy's role in economic growth and development. Prior to this, he served as the Director of Operations and Chief Operating Officer for the United States International Trade Commission. Bob oversaw the Commission’s trade policy research and negotiation assistance to the President, the U.S. Trade Representative, and Congress; antidumping, countervailing duty, and safeguard; investigations; intellectual property investigations; maintenance and analysis of the Harmonized Tariff System, as well as the agency’s strategic planning and performance measurement initiatives. He previously served as Chief Economist at the USITC, and various leadership positions at the Economic Research Service of USDA. He is also currently a visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.
Wayne Mills
Founder and Managing Director, Atom Advisory

After a successful banking career of more than 30 years, Wayne founded Atom Advisory Limited in 2022. Wayne has held various senior leadership positions in Transaction Banking, most recently leading the build-out and growth of the Transaction Banking Solutions team at Lloyds Bank, supporting clients across the UK, EMEA, US and Asia. Combining strategic, technical and commercial acumen, Wayne oversaw the delivery of innovative, risk-appropriate solutions across trade, SCF and receivables. Atom Advisory creates value through expert, real world advice and training on trade, receivables and supply chain financing to banks, NBFIs and corporates. A core focus is to deliver ROI through actionable outputs aligned to strategy and purpose. Wayne also sits on the advisory board of an international training company and is Corporate Finance Advisor to ICC United Kingdom Trade Corporate Digitalisation Taskforce.

HPD Lendscape

Cash flow is the lifeblood of a business and we work hard to support and improve SME finance globally, through technology partnerships, innovation, and collaboration. Award winning HPD LendScape is the world’s leading technology vendor for secure lending, currently deployed by over 100 lenders across the UK, EMEA, North America, APAC, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The LendScape team forms a blend of finance professionals, technology experts and developers. Our vision is to continue to develop new capabilities that offer an environment for supporting all secured business lending. LendScape is a cloud first business process management solution for factoring, invoice discounting, supply chain finance and asset finance. The platform streamlines banks' and lenders' systems and reduces risk, whilst cutting down on administration and speeds up ‘invoice to funding’ time. Our customer portfolio spans over 50 markets and includes some of the worlds’ greatest brands in finance. hpdlendscape.com

TRF News

In a fast-changing world, trfnews, which is part of BCR, is designed to keep you up to date with the latest news and developments in factoring and supply chain finance. Stay informed about the impact of Covid 19, new senior appointments, mergers and acquisitions, the latest deals happening within the industry on global basis.

FCI

FCI was set up in 1968 as a non-profit global association for factoring and receivables finance companies around the world. Today, FCI has grown into the world's representative factoring network and association with close to 400 members in 90 countries and member transactions representing nearly 90% of the world’s international correspondent factoring volume. In 2018, FCI added two business line: FCIreverse and Islamic International Factoring. Today, FCI is the global representative body for the factoring and 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 policy makers worldwide

Neurosoft

Neurosoft S.A., a Greek company listed on the AIM Italia market, organized and managed by the Italian Stock Exchange (ISIN GRS802003004, Reuters NRST.MI, Bloomberg NRST:IM), was founded in 1994 with the vision to provide superior products, innovative solutions and exclusive services to its international clients. Neurosoft is a fully integrated ICT company with Software Development, System Integration and Information Security capabilities. The staff headcount exceeds 200+ highly skilled employees with deep experience in their field. The company is based in Athens with presence in Cyprus, UAE and UK. Neurosoft designed and developed a unique ecosystem for Factoring & Supply Chain Finance Operators with fully customized Business Intelligence & Risk Management modules using topnotch technologies such as Blockchain and IoT. In an ever-changing financial landscape where the need for liquidity is overwhelming, our almost 20-year experience in the field is transformed into valuable solutions that meet your day-to-day financing demands.