The ICTF International Credit Professionals Symposium in Europe BEST PRACTICES AND IDEAS EXCHANGE FORUM PANEL DISCUSSION May 15, 2017

1. THE ROLE OF THE CREDIT MANAGER IN EUROPE   1. THE ROLE OF THE CREDIT MANAGER IN EUROPE I may shortly be undertaking a new role in Europe and would welcome advice as to what it is like to be a Credit Manager for a European company in terms of working with Sales Department; i.e. do they consider Credit to be their equal or a drag on sales?

2. THE ROLE OF THE REGIONAL CREDIT MANAGER IN TIMES OF CHANGE   2. THE ROLE OF THE REGIONAL CREDIT MANAGER IN TIMES OF CHANGE How do members see the role of the Regional Credit Manager in the context of constant changes and the increasing challenge of doing business? Will the role grow within the finance organisation or within the Company as a whole?

3. THE VETTING OF CUSTOMERS IN EUROPE How do delegates typically go about vetting customers? What due diligence exercises do they undertake; bank references, trade references, etc.?

4. INCREASING BORROWING COSTS AND RELATED SOLUTIONS With an increasing upward trend of borrowing costs throughout Europe via banks, granting credit to customers is becoming a more expensive trading option for large corporations. Working on an Open Account basis, especially with debt collection costs attached, is becoming a more complex issue and a hardly sustainable solution where many departments are focused overwhelmingly on collecting outstanding receivables rather than increasing sales proceeds or expanding to different markets.

While banks are loaded with non-performing loans and with low and medium sized businesses unable to pay their debts, legal obstacles are forcing the hands of large companies to create extra areas for generating additional revenues to compensate potential losses. What solutions or discussions are under way to break this vicious circle? Are there any other preventative or intermediary measures being considered by commercial authorities or experts in Europe?

5. PORTFOLIO RISK MANAGEMENT – BROADLY SPEAKING  Can Conference broadly discuss/recommend best practices, tools, techniques, bank offerings, AR securitisation programmes and collection agencies; the pros and cons?

6. RISK MANAGEMENT – MORE THAN 5000 CUSTOMERS  I would welcome advice as to how to effectively manage a portfolio of more than 5000 customers in high risk countries; which collection tools, credit assessment procedures, bank offerings to use?

7. NEW KPI'S What new KPI's, if any, for Credit and Collections are members using today in addition to the common DSO, Collection, Cost of Capital and Overdue Variances statistics?

8. THE INCREASING THREAT OF FRAUD I would be interested to learn if delegates have had to adopt new procedures and processes to combat the increasing threat of fraud, particularly socio-engineered fraud.

 9. SHARED SERVICES STRUCTURES With regards to large international Shared Services structures, what type of organisation would other delegates recommend for the Credit and Collection function? A group aligned with the business organisation, based on geography or what alternatively?

10. SOLUTIONS FROM THE FINTECH INDUSTRY  How far are solutions brought by the so called Fintech Industry being used by large corporates and, if implemented, what are the pros and cons perceived by Credit Managers and Treasurers?

 11. AN OVERFLOW OF INFORMATION?  Credit Managers are faced with a huge amount of information - perhaps an overflow – as an aid to making credit decisions or credit policy. What criteria for selection do they use and what information – reports, market analysis, publications – is most highly valued?

12. BANK PAYMENT OBLIGATIONS Have members seen any take-up in the use of Bank Payment Obligations as a means of payment?

13. AR INVOICES THROUGH A PORTAL More and more of our large customers request that we submit our AR invoices through a portal, such as Tungsten. Implementing same however proves challenging and leads to payment delays. What experience and advice can other members offer in this regard?  

14. EU FUND TRANSFER REGULATION Members may be aware that the EU Fund Transfer Regulation comes into effect on 26 June. Incoming payments from customers must have their name, account number and full address. Where this information is missing the bank is obliged under regulation to adopt a risk based approach and the payment may be rejected outright. Have members engaged with their customers about this requirement?

15. SAP-TOLERANCE FUNCTION Do members use the Tolerance Function within SAP in relation to credit checks against aged overdue items? Is this a standard function within SAP and easy to 'switch on'? Can you advise and share your experiences around this, please?

 16. ARE ROBOTICS THE SOLUTION? Can robotics be the solution creditors are looking for in terms of debt collection or credit appraisals? How widely do delegates think the use of robotics will spread and how cost and time efficient do you think they will be for those using them?

17. JOBS AND CAREERS AT RISK Jobs and careers are becoming increasingly at risk of becoming obsolete by automation, e.g. block chain technology making peer to peer banking/trading possible, online shopping decimating retail and 3D printing destroying mass manufacturing and transportation. How should we change the education on offer in order to equip people of all generations to succeed in the future?  

  18. DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN CREDIT MANAGEMENT  What level of digital technology, if any, are delegates using in credit management and which tools are used in the recovery of overdues from a digital world point of view?

  19. IS ANYONE USING 'POWER BI'?  Power BI is a business analytics service provided by Microsoft, providing interactive visualisations with self-service business intelligence capabilities. Is anyone using it and, if so, do they recommend it and why?