Our Customers - RiskFactor Solutions

UK customers

Neil McGivern, Divisional Director at Davenham Trade Finance says:

“Fraud is an ever present threat in invoice finance but in recessionary times the 'cornered rat syndrome' - ostensibly honest business owners resorting to irrational and illegal methods to keep their companies afloat - becomes ever more prevalent.

The key to the factor's ability to deal with such situations revolves around early detection and having a clear strategy once the position has been ascertained.

A fraud recently perpetrated by a client of Davenham revolved around a long standing relationship, a tier 2 supplier into the automotive sector, resorting to fresh air invoicing to maintain turnover and cover the fixed costs of the business. There was a clear change in the pattern of the business - a fact immediately identified by RiskFactor. However we now see the other problem in detecting fraud, in that the client manager who had a close relationship with the client preferred to believe the story of the business owners, rather than the objective data presented by RiskFactor. False invoicing was running at the rate of £300k per month, a fact picked up by RiskFactor in month 1.

In the end a satisfactory outcome was managed. In assessing collateral, as well as in life generally, changes in patterns of behaviour are usually indicative of wider issue. RiskFactor pinpoints these changes in a real-time environment. The responsibility of the factor is to act accordingly.”

More testimonials from UK customers

Ian Ramsden, Risk Director at Bibby Group of Factors in the UK says:

“We have had a good relationship with RiskFactor for nearly 4 years now and throughout that time they have been flexible and proactive. Due to the global nature of Bibby Financial Services, having RiskFactor produce standard risk reports from all our different operating platforms has been immensely useful.

The RiskFactor reports enhance our risk control within each of our businesses and are a key tool in our client risk management.”

Andrew Curry, Operations Director at Close Invoice Finance in the UK says:

“With a growing portfolio in an increasingly competitive environment it is essential we drive up client management productivity but without compromising risk. RiskFactor has been, and continues to be, a key tool in achieving this aim by identifying those clients on which we need to concentrate our energies and by ensuring that those clients with a riskier profile are managed by staff with the appropriate skills.”

John Compton, Managing Director at Eurofactor UK in the UK says:

“RiskFactor gives us all the warning signals necessary to show where problems lie in a portfolio.”

Hugh Fitzpatrick, Portfolio Director at GE Commercial Finance in the UK says:

“GE has used the RiskFactor system since 1998, and over that time it has consistently proven to be an extremely valuable and important risk tool within our organisation. It is so completely embedded in our risk management process that we have recently created a hot button direct from our core operating system straight into RiskFactor to make it instantly available to our portfolio management teams. There have also been numerous occasions when RiskFactor, used as a fundamental part of our review process has identified risk situations well in advance of them becoming terminal and we have been able to react with time to spare.”

Gordon Harris, a Senior Manager at HSBC Invoice Finance in the UK says:

“RiskFactor works for us on three levels - it helps us focus our activity on those clients where the risks are greatest, it provides clues as to the nature of those risks, and it enables us to take a portfolio view of risk.”

Alec Rankin, Director of Portfolio Risk at RBS Invoice Finance in the UK says:

“RiskFactor has become our risk management system of choice. It is integral to our daily risk assessment and constantly evolving with each new experience.

RiskFactor wins for two reasons. One is the clarity with which it enables you to focus on the 5% of cases that are going to cause you 95% of your headaches. The second is the result of a feature so rare in business software: it was written by someone who has actually done the job.”

Peter Ewen, Managing Director at Venture Finance Group in the UK says:

“Operating with RiskFactor has enabled us to identify client risk situations in a more efficient and automatic way, significantly improving our ability to monitor and react to risk situations effectively.”

Worldwide customers

Jim Perry, CEO at Advance Financial Corporation says:

“RiskFactor Solutions' extensive knowledge of risk management relating to receivables finance has enabled them to develop a product in RiskFactor that will significantly impact our approach to Client Management. It means we can direct our attentions and efforts more effectively and productively.”

More testimonials from worldwide customers

Tim Rose, Operations Director at ABSA Debtor Finance in South Africa says:

“In the normal course of business we need to identify abnormalities in our clients day to day transacting.

We are particularly concerned with the issuing of false invoices, the inflation of a client's ledger by non-receipt of payments, the excessive value of credit notes and/or deductions made by debtors.

RiskFactor provides us with data on a daily basis that assists us in identifying these kinds of transactions and monitoring the effects on an ongoing basis.

When used correctly the tool is invaluable to us.”

Clare Sharkey, Head of Client Services at Bank of Ireland Finance in Ireland says:

“In an environment where the risk is constantly changing, RiskFactor has proved to be a very valuable tool for us in the day to day management of risk.”

Kristina Cook, Audit Manager at Bibby Financial Services in the USA says:

“RiskFactor has become an integral part of our daily processes. Automated reports are reviewed closely and used to help pinpoint potential issues and irregularities. We are easily able to track client performance trends to use in conjunction with our own standard operating procedures to manage our challenging clients, which in today's economic environment is crucial. Having had RiskFactor in operation for nearly two years I personally could not imagine being able to perform my own role without it.”

Tracy Eden, Operations Manager at Commercial Finance Group in the USA says:

“The purpose of our implementing RiskFactor was to provide an improved global view of the performance of the collateral that we are dealing with from our clients. Most 'ABL/Factoring' platforms provide great transactional data with limited ability to see true trending data that is queryable.”

Jerry Shea, Vice President Portfolio Manager at First Capital in the USA says:

“RiskFactor is a powerful tool in monitoring risk. Its simple views of precise metrics allow us to quickly evaluate and analyse client data. We have many options for reporting and graphing the results. RiskFactor has actually helped us identify potential troubled accounts and avoid loss.”

Konrad Theil, IT Project Manager at Summit Financial Services in the USA says:

“We have found RiskFactor to be a useful tool to fill two different needs in particular.

First, in the event of portfolio rotation or a new hire, an account manager is able to quickly find outliers in an existing portfolio and get a feel for the history of each client. Faster account familiarisation leads to less risk during transitions since we have always found them to be higher risk periods.

Second, the historic trending and deterioration alarming in RiskFactor is vastly superior to our loan administration system. Cash versus sales in a graphical form over time, DSO and the Risk Movement Score would have been a dream come true for me as a former Portfolio Manager.

The "Risk Movement Score" has also become a focus of weekly portfolio meetings and monthly portfolio reviews. We have high risk clients that maintain high risk scores and always will. What is of concern to us are deteriorating trends and early warning signs inside our apparent groupings of client risk levels.

That is where RiskFactor's Risk Movement Score shines and highlights those clients where the Account Executive has perhaps become complacent about a client having always been strong and believing they will be into the future.

From an IT perspective, RiskFactor's support and implementation team has worked diligently for us at all times.

I would encourage you to ensure there is a strong existing relationship between your loan administration software provider and RiskFactor.”

Ivan Baker, CFO / Principal at United Capital Funding Corporation in the USA says:

“The trend analysis and management reporting features have materially improved our decision making process. We have been using RiskFactor for less than a year and we are already seeing a return on our investment.”