Improving Access to Finance for SMEs through Secured Lending
28
The use of factoring imposes several costs on the SME, however—the discount charges which, based on
bank interest rates, may range from 1.5% to 3% over the base rate, and the service fees, which typically
range from 0.2% to 0.5% of the turnover.
33
There may also be other charges, such as those related to credit
protection for non-recourse factoring agreements, which can range from 0.5% to 2% of turnover.
Factoring for SMEs faces obstacles, particularly in developing economies. In these economies credit
information bureaus, for example, are often incomplete, meaning that information on smaller firms is
unavailable. Developing markets also face an elevated likelihood of fraud. Owing to the lack of a supportive
legal framework, there is little trust on account of false receivables or non-existing customers.
34
A collateral
registry—where factors can register the receivables (whether assigned or transferred) and perfect their right
in these types of assets—is essential to support factoring. Across OECD economies, non-recourse factoring
is largely adopted; in emerging markets, most factoring is done on a recourse basis, due to the greater
difficulties the factor encounters in assessing the risk of default.
35
In Latin America, a small percentage of SMEs request banks loans. Between 2003 and 2010, just 33% of
the SMEs in Latin America sought a bank loan; only 60% of these applicants obtained a loan. In this context,
in which SMEs struggle to access bank lending, factoring is especially advantageous for SMEs as the large
customers they supply are considered more creditworthy than the SMEs.
36
However, as factoring involves
considerably higher implied interest rates than bank loans, factoring companies may also be vulnerable to
legal challenges. For example, although factoring companies in Brazil point out that they do not charge
interest, the implicit interest rate can be easily calculated, resulting in court disputes over their charging of
usurious interest rates.
37
HOW IS FACTORING REGULATED?
The legal framework that facilitates international factoring was issued by the International Institute for the
Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) in May 1988.
38
To date, nine economies have ratified this convention
and, in February 2016 the convention was submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification by the United States.
39
The convention sets forth how a factoring contract is defined as well as the rights and duties of the parties
involved, among other provisions,
40
and specifies that factoring should be regulated by the same laws that
regulate security interests (to ensure its integration into modern secured transaction systems).
The degree of regulation governing factoring varies between economies. However, economies tend to fall
into four main categories of regulatory approaches to factors. These are: (i) economies with complete
government supervision, regulation and licensing of all factoring products and services, such as China; (ii)
economies that require factors to obtain a full banking license issued by the central bank and compliance of
capital adequacy, such as Austria, France, Italy and Mexico; (iii) economies that require registration by the
factor as a financial institution, but do not regulate capital adequacy, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany,
Hungary, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Turkey; and (iv) economies with no official regulation
or governmental supervision, but in which membership to international factoring associations is highly
advanced, such as the Czech Republic, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
41
Doing Business data show that only 64 of 153 economies have regulations on factoring and only 20
economies specifically regulate reverse factoring. In many economies, reverse factoring is not a separate
category—the same rules regulate these contracts as regular factoring contracts. Almost every economy that