The factoring industry is traveling at full speed, achieving in 2017 a growth of 9% worldwide and 7% at a European level. Significant increase also in Italy which recorded a +9,5% with a constant growth rate and a business of financial management of trade receivables and support to working capital which involves 30.000 companies, more than half of which are small and medium-sized, and is worth 13% of GDP.
In 2017, Italy ranks fifth in the world and fourth in Europe for total business volume, confirming itself among the greats of factoring, but continues to fall behind in the ranking of payment times. As stated in the note by Assifact, the Italian Factoring Association, “Italian companies pay on average within 56 days against the EU average of 34”. If payment times for public administration debts to businesses are taken into consideration, the gap becomes even wider, even reaching 104 days. The delays mainly involve the health system and the central administrations of the state, against a European average of only 40 days. 37% of outstanding credits in the portfolios of factoring companies due from the Public Administration are overdue, and more than half of these credits (55%) have been overdue for over a year".
In the event held today, 20 June, at the Milan Triennale, the president of Assifact, Fausto Galmarini, highlighted how much late payments continue to weigh on a production system that has picked up the march also thanks to the support of factoring, the protagonist of a growth that has seen the overall volume of business practically double in the last eleven years, from approximately 115 billion euros in 2007 to almost 222 in 2017. Galmarini has also released the estimates for 2018, which for the sector should close with a further leap of 4,5% after the very close to double-digit increase of 2017.
Factoring also stands out for its credit quality both in comparison with other non-bank credit intermediaries and with banks. The incidence of non-performing loans is in fact around 6% in factoring against 6,9% for consumer credit and even 19,5% for leasing, while compared to banks the incidence of non-performing loans is around 6% against 14,84% and that of non-performing loans only 3,04% for factoring against 9,33% for banks.
