MEDIA RELEASE October 28, 2014
National factoring business FactorONE has appointed experienced West Australian Gary Green to lead their team in WA, as an increasing number of SMEs look beyond the banks to source funding for their businesses.
With more than 25 years experience in the banking and finance industry, Mr Green is a local expert who is passionate about funding the working capital and cash flow needs of WA-based SMEs.
Most recently he was National Sales Director for Bibby Financial Services across Australia and NZ, after overseeing the launch of their Perth office in 2008.
His appointment to FactorONE marks their move into Western Australia, to meet the demand from local SME clients for business funding and cash flow assistance to fund growth and other opportunities.
Mr Green said small and medium businesses are the driving force behind WA's strong economic growth - however, the WA market is facing challenges due to the downturn in the mining industry and the decrease in bulk commodity prices.
"This downturn has had an adverse flow-on effect for related mining services businesses, and for business confidence in general for SMEs in WA," Mr Green said.
"The drop in confidence is providing opportunities for factoring specialists such as FactorONE to meet the increased demand for working capital and cash flow lending for SMEs, where the traditional funders such as the banks are either unable or unwilling to provide finance approval.
"There are many opportunities for FactorONE to support WA business with cash flow management and working capital in sectors including mining services, transport and manufacturing."
FactorONE is a specialist division of respected national debtor and trade finance specialist, Scottish Pacific. Mr Green said he will focus on fast growing start-ups through to more mature SMEs that don’t meet the banks' lending criteria.
"The recent ScotPac Business Finance SME Growth Index, a survey of more than 1200 SME owners nationally, indicated that availability and conditions of credit are key barriers to SME business growth. This is certainly the case in WA," Mr Green said.
"77 percent of the SMEs forecasting revenue growth said they were required to use personal assets as collateral for business growth. Factoring is a way for small business owners to remove the stress of having the family home on the line to finance their business."
Mr Green said FactorONE recently funded a new West Australian transport client servicing the mining industry - "the client had cash flow issues due to slow payment by a major debtor who comprised 70% of his outstanding receivables and FactorONE was able to provide a new debtor finance facility to allow the payment of staff wages, outstanding creditors and an ATO debt".
"SMEs are seeking practical, no fuss finance solutions, such as debtor finance or factoring, to fund their business," Mr Green said.
Debtor finance has become a mainstream funding option for SMEs in Australia, with the take up accelerating significantly over the past 10 years. There are currently more than 4500 Australian SMEs, with combined annual revenues of $65 billion, using debtor finance. The latest figures from the Debtor and Invoice Finance Association (DIFA) showed the total debtor finance turnover for the 12 months to the end March 2014 was $63.7 billion.
Mr Green is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Turnaround Management Association.
