The role of factoring for financing small and medium enterprises

Leora Klapper

No 3593, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Around the world, factoring is a growing source of external financing for corporations and small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). What is unique about factoring is that the credit provided by a lender is explicitly linked to the value of a supplier's accounts receivable and not the supplier's overall creditworthiness. Therefore, factoring allows high-risk suppliers to transfer their credit risk to their high-quality buyers. Factoring may be particularly useful in countries with weak judicial enforcement and imperfect records of upholding seniority claims because receivables are sold, rather than collateralized, and factored receivables are not part of the estate of a bankrupt SME. Empirical tests find that factoring is larger in countries with greater economic development and growth and developed credit information bureaus. In addition, the author finds that creditor rights are not related to factoring. The author also discusses reverse factoring, which is a technology that can mitigate the problem of borrowers'informational opacity in business environments with weak information infrastructures if only receivables from high-quality buyers are factored. She illustrates the case of the Nafin reverse factoring program in Mexico and highlights how the use of electronic channels and a supportive legal and regulatory environment can cut costs and provide greater SME services in emerging markets.

Keywords: Banks&Banking Reform; Banking Law; Financial Intermediation; Environmental Economics&Policies; Economic Theory&Research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-05-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cfn and nep-fmk
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Journal Article: The role of factoring for financing small and medium enterprises (2006)
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