A quick read from the Economist on how factoring invoices has become cheaper and faster for hard-pressed suppliers. The market is also ripe for innovation. Globalisation has made supply chains longer and more complex. For every buyer there are an increasing number of suppliers, many of them now in Asia, which lags behind other regions in working-capital efficiency.
Still waiting for the invoice approval GROWING up on a sugar-cane farm in Australia, Lex Greensill had a front-seat view of the strains suppliers suffer as they wait to be paid. After harvesting his crops, Mr Greensill’s father had to wait a year or more to receive payment. Across industries, buyers are eager to conserve their cash. Delaying payment is one way to do it: among the most important for some, such as big retailers, says Mr Greensill. Many buyers expect their suppliers to accept payment months after delivery. Even so, many still pay late—47% of suppliers surveyed by Taulia, a fintech firm, said they had this problem. In 2011 Mr Greensill founded Greensill Capital, one of a cluster of new fintech firms overhauling how supply chains are financed.
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