Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Shop and Display Equipment Association (SDEA) has announced a new partnership with global payments network URICA.
Half funded by the government, the network provides early payments between businesses and their suppliers.
In doing so, URICA takes the entire risk of non- or late-payment of any given invoice away from suppliers, SDEA said. The network, while handling the responsibility and risk of late payments, does not disrupt the lines of communication between suppliers and their clients, and offers clients the option to challenge the work or invoice, like any usual transaction.
Different to banks in its approach to financing, URICA takes on all of the cash flow risk in each transaction without the supplier having to put up any assets as collateral, or go into debt. For this service, the network charges a fee that is, in all cases, half the world norm for similar services, and in most cases, between 1 and 2% of the invoice value.
URICA is underpinned by credit insurance firm Euler Hermes, with the credit worthiness of clients confirmed in order to bring them onto the platform.
SDEA director Lawrence Cutler said: “I’ve been on a mission to help members with late payment since our research revealed late last year that members’ clients were getting slower to pay and this was adversely affecting their cash flow.
“I approached URICA who estimates that approximately £135 million is currently owed to SDEA members in outstanding invoice payments. If the network can advance just 50% of these payments, it could inject £67 million into members’ supply chains overnight.”
SDEA members can use the platform not only to invoice clients, but also with help paying their own subcontractors in a timely way. On initial review, URICA estimates it could potentially provide £11 million of credit to selected SDEA members, making them able to pay invoices sooner without any sacrifices or disruptions to cash flow.
“I’m impressed with how straightforward URICA’s web-based system is” said Lawrence Cutler. “I can’t imagine why nobody thought of doing this before.”
