European companies fear increase of high-risk customers

Atradius news

Amsterdam, 26 October, 2016 - Atradius Collections releases 10th edition of the Global Collections Review examining the collections behaviour of companies across 30 countries.

The report also looks at potential future developments regarding the services offered by debt collection agencies while also identifying the factors that influence the collection process.

According to the 10th edition of the Global Collections Review, the majority of European companies do not expect a significant change in the quality of their customers’ portfolios. However, they expect an increase in payment delays, a deterioration of the credit risk situation and an increase in high-risk customers. On the other hand, companies in the Americas and Asia Pacific appear to be more positive, expecting improvements in the ability of their customers to pay invoices on time due to expected improvements in the liquidity position of buyers.

Looking at the quality of the overdue receivables portfolio, with the exception of Europe, companies in all other regions expect improvements in the number and the age of outstanding invoices, as well as a decrease in the number of disputed invoices.

Trading on credit in both domestic and international B2B transactions is a common practice in all countries surveyed, however it is more prevalent in domestic transactions. One side-effect of offering credit terms is payment delays.

This year a shift in the recovery approach has been noted: more companies, especially in Europe and in the Asia Pacific region, have opted for legal collections more frequently with the cooperation of law offices. Companies located in the Americas and Asia Pacific region have a different approach compared to those in Europe: they appear to be more inclined to adopt alternative solutions than (or in addition to) traditional debt collections services.

About the Global Collections Review

The Global Collections Review is based on a survey of over 6.400 companies across 30 countries in the APAC, Americas and European regions. The appropriate contacts for accounts receivable management were interviewed. The interviews were all conducted exclusively for Atradius and there was no combination of topics. The GCR report presents the results of the evaluation of collections behaviour and it includes only those countries for which completed responses are available. The full report can be downloaded here.

About Atradius Collections

Through a presence in 25 countries, Atradius Collections provides trade invoice collection services in 96% of the countries across the world. Its wide breadth of services, ranging from first party to legal collections, helps companies around the globe recover unpaid invoices. Atradius forms part of Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO.MC), one of the leading insurers in Spain and worldwide in credit insurance.

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For further information:
Gea Buijs
Email: gea.buijs@atradius.com
Telephone: +31 (0)20 553 2046