The conclusions from the 14th International Factoring Congress
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The most important industry meeting in Poland
The 14th International Factoring Congress organized by the Polish Factors Association (PZF) was held in Warsaw, Poland on September 19. During this year's edition, experts analyzed the economic and business situation in Poland, Europe and the world, as well as discussed business development prospects. The experts summarized key market challenges, opportunities and trends in receivable financing.
The Congress was opened by the chairman of PZF, Konrad Klimek, who provided some of the most important factoring industry data, and aspects that will be of great importance in the coming year. The audience was undoubtedly pleased with the further industry growth, although not as spectacular as in 2022.
World of Open Account – market challenges
The first presentation was led by Olena Gryniuk (SME Banking Club) and Simon Peterman (Raiffeisen Bank), who discussed a timely topic of "World of Open Account - Market Challenges, Opportunities and Threats in Receivable Finance: Globally and in CEE". Their presentation touched on the topic of factoring solutions’ digitization, what should be done to speed it up, and how to convince Micro and SME customers to start using factoring.
The special guest of the event was economist and financial market analyst Marek Zuber, who spoke on the economic situation in Poland and around the world, and market prospects in the new era.
Factoring like cocoa
Comarch research conducted among companies of various sizes shows that the main problem related to access to corporate financing is the need to complete a complicated application. In the presentation "Factoring sweeter than cocoa", Bartosz Lerka showed how factors can improve the situation of entrepreneurs and thus increase profits from invoice financing by changing the approach, and because of modern solutions for factoring that can create a compact ecosystem and meet a number of necessary standards such as great UX, integration with KSeF (the National System of e-Invoices), Contractor Monitoring, or easy credit process.
Building relationships in factoring
During the panel discussion entitled "Factoring through the eyes of customers", the participants discussed building customer–factor relationships. The panelists, including representatives of companies using factoring, told their stories about how they encountered factoring, what prompted them to become factoring customers, and what they expect from factors. The panel was met with great interest. The voice of the customer is always an important issue for factors, because it is customers who use their systems, products and solutions on a daily basis.
The congress also included a psychological and motivational module, which included a presentation by psychologist Natalia de Barbaro on the imposter syndrome and paths to free yourself from it.
The Congress officially ended with a speech by Konrad Klimek, who invited participants to the future edition next year, which will also be the Year of Economic Education.