Easy Working Capital Management: How to Find the Perfect Partner

Increasing the efficiency of working capital has been in the spotlight since the pandemic at the latest, and working capital management will remain a priority in treasury in the coming years. RBI experts Sebastian Kupka, Dirk Fehring and Simon Peterman Poljansek know what specific contribution a flexible and reliable supply chain finance solution makes, how it is individually designed and what companies should look out for when choosing a long-term  partner.

“Setting up a supply chain financing solution requires time and effort from all parties involved and should therefore always be considered in the long term. Changing a structure once it has been implemented ties up internal resources again and costs time. Choosing the right partner is therefore crucial,” says Sebastian Kupka, Director Supply Chain Finance at RBI. “Always consider aspects such as global or regional reach, financial goals and specific needs. It is important to find a reliable partner with the right knowledge.”

This partnership aspect should be the focus - the keyword here is: “individual advice instead of pure sales”. Complex circumstances require tailor-made solutions, and ideally a banking partner will work with the customer to find the best solutions. “We do not pursue a one-size-fits-all approach with standard solutions. Our concepts are tailored to the needs of our customers,” explains Dirk Fehring, Senior Director Supply Chain Finance at RBI. 

“When it comes to receivables financing, our customers rely on a wide range of customized alternative structures that are individually tailored to their goals,” says the expert. “Especially when the company's receivables portfolio is very diverse, we deliver a holistic and operationally efficient solution.”

The multinational receivables financing solutions from Vienna and the local solutions of the Raiffeisen network banks ensure that the needs of companies are optimally met. 

“For example, we make it possible to combine several of our customers' subsidiaries from different European countries as well as America and Asia in a single transaction, whereby the debtors can be based anywhere in the world. Different jurisdictions can also be combined,” Dirk Fehring goes into more detail. The purchase of receivables from individual debtors is also possible. “As RBI, we can implement larger tickets in receivables financing than small, local factor banks.”

“With our factoring units in 12 countries in the CEE region, we can look back on more than 20 years of history in the industry,” says Simon Peterman Poljansek, Senior Expert Supply Chain Finance at RBI. “The biggest breakthrough in recent years has been in Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo,” he reports. “With the Factoring E-web platform and mobile app, customers can quickly and conveniently process many invoices and manage receivables.”

Raiffeisen Bank Romania also offers a wide range of factoring services that customers can easily use via the digital factoring platform FlexiBILL Factoring. “This allows SMEs and large companies to load invoices via a single portal, sell receivables in real time and mitigate the credit risk of unpaid invoices,” explains the expert.

Raiffeisen Bank Serbia offers something similar with its digital platform Raiffeisen Online Factoring. “This platform offers the full range of RBI factoring services via a digital platform, from communication with the bank and partners, insight into available limits, invoice upload and verification process, submission of financing requests, management of new suppliers in the SCF and reports and notifications about each financing.”

To support the transition to electronic invoices, Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine has developed E-Doc Flow for customers using Raiffeisen Business Online. “With this solution, customers can take advantage of the convenience and efficiency of online electronic document flow and effortlessly import invoices, track their processing in real time and shorten time-to-cash,” summarizes Simon Peterman Poljansek.

“With our structured asset-based finance solutions, we rely on structural elements from classic asset-backed securities transactions, but do not securitize the receivables. As RBI, we take the trade receivables onto our own balance sheet,” explains Dirk Fehring. “In contrast to traditional factoring, where the quality of the individual debtors is typically relevant for the pricing, our customers benefit from very competitive prices with the inclusion of a special insurance policy for losses incurred (credit enhancement).”  

On the payables side, RBI offers various solutions that are geared to the specific needs of our customers. “As RBI, we have deliberately decided against developing our own platform,” explains Dirk Fehring. This allows the bank to play to its traditional strengths as a lender and leave the technology-supported processing to the FinTech. “By cooperating with various FinTechs, we are taking account of the dynamic and rapidly evolving technological environment. Our customers benefit from this flexibility, as we continuously monitor the market and add innovative solutions to our portfolio,” explains the expert. 

“At the same time, we also offer our customers the participation of RBI in existing programs with other financial institutions,” adds Sebastian Kupka. Multinational companies in particular often opt for one solution for all suppliers. “We take the operational challenge into account by coming in as an additional lender. However, we also offer supplementary solutions to improve the operational cash flow if the effort for the individual supplier is too high.” 

“On the technical side, digital tools and online platforms need to be developed for fully automated processing and the integration of financial and non-financial solutions - also to further reduce the risk of fraud and errors in financing when paying on open account,” says Sebastian Kupka. Banks like RBI are partnering with FinTechs to improve the customer experience and develop innovative products that meet the needs of the market and our customers.

“In receivables financing, for example, we work with highly automated software for the execution of each purchase and for detailed reports,” he explains. No ERP system integration with RBI is required for the customer, only the exchange of files. This reduces the complexity of implementation, as there is no need for time-consuming checks for cyber security, for example,” he adds.

In summary, it can be said that the decision for a partner in the area of working capital management must always be made on an individual basis. Our experts recommend paying attention to these five criteria:

1. tailor-made solutions and customer-oriented advice
   
2. a global network for internationally active companies
3. competitive prices
4. diverse offerings on both sides 
5. seamless technical integration and innovative spirit