FIMBank found itself in good company when it was recently recognised as one of the world’s top five factoring institutions by the prestigious Trade Finance Magazine, just behind big names such as Citi, Deutsche bank, HSBC and UniCredit Group.
Commenting on the placing, FimBank president Margrith Lütschg-Emmenegger said: “This news is a source of great satisfaction to all of us at FIMBank. As a global player focused on delivering trade finance solutions to businesses worldwide, factoring, which is probably the fastest growing Trade Finance product, features prominently in the bank’s strategic development. The year 2009 was particularly important for us in this regard, as it saw the setting up of factoring operations in Russia and India, FactorRus in Moscow and India Factoring in Mumbai, in partnership with major international financial players”.
João Costa Pereira, FimBank’s first vice-president and head of Mediterranean factors, stated that: “Factoring is taking on an increasingly important role in international trade, as more and more importers demand open account conditions rather than letters of credit. This is particularly relevant with regard to exports from emerging markets to the more developed ones. The recent crisis has brought about more awareness about factoring and this product’s ability to facilitate domestic and international trade while mitigating risks.”
FimBank’s credentials in providing support to factoring joint-ventures are certainly not in question. Fim Business Solutions Ltd, a fully-owned subsidiary of the FimBank Group, was last year awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification for the company’s factoring back-office operations. On the occasion of the award, Ms Lütschg Emmenegger had commented that: “Whenever we set up a factoring JV with a local partner, FimBank enters as the technical partner providing its expertise. The achievement of ISO certification for our factoring back-office operations is an important endorsement of the quality of these services as well as recognition of the professionalism of our people.”
In 2009 FimBank plc had been recognised as Best Factoring House by another international journal, Global Trade Review (GTR).