Supply chain finance business is becoming crowded, really crowded, as more players join the party in many different ways. The fintech companies have opened up opportunities for many more players to participate. Just look at what has happened in the last few days and weeks as new partnerships emerge. The key to entry is already being part of a supply chain in some way.

Germany: Billie offers online factoring for SMEs and freelancers 

Wirecard, the leading supplier of digital payment solutions and internet technology, will support the Berlin-based FinTech Billie in the digitisation of its payment processes. Billie will offer SMEs and freelancers the opportunity to pre-finance their invoices by purchasing all liabilities from third parties and settling the outstanding amount.

(The German factoring market is currently undergoing a revolution. According to the German Factoring Association, its members' sales rose by 3.77% in 2016 to total a current level of 216.8 billion Euro. For many SMEs, factoring is an increasingly attractive funding alternative in comparison to lending.)

Finland: Fellow Finance Adds Invoice Financing

Finnish p2p lending service Fellow Finance has opened a new invoice finance service for companies, which allows businesses to convert their trade receivables into cash immediately. In the new invoice finance service, a company gets funding against its invoice receivables directly from investors.

Fellow Finance does a credit rating for the invoice entered for financing based on the receiver and payer of the invoice contract. In addition, the credit risk is not transferred to the investors, but it is retained by the company that finances the invoice. The annual interest rates of invoice financing for investors are on average between 6-10%.

Estonia and UK: Investly expands

Investly, which specializes on invoice financing for Estonian and UK SMEs, is expanding fast with recent growth of 78% month on month and 319% y-o-y growth.

UAE: Rakbank partners with Invoice Bazaar

Invoice Bazaar, a FinTech Supply Chain Finance platform in the United Arab Emirates, has just announced a partnership with Rakbank to allow them to participate in purchasing their SME receivables. Already five supply chain finance programmes have started.

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CTMfile take: The flexibility and ease of use of fintech services that can be used in supply chain finance solutions is opening up new opportunites for investors. Rakbank will be achieving returns that most banks can only dream of. Similarly, the returns from financing suppliers’ early payment are far greater than most companies normal returns. Corporate treasurers: are you missing out on the highest returns available today?