Kreditnytt 01 2025 004 - Flipbook - Page 23
”FECMA är en plattform för
nätverkande, kunskapsutbyte och
erfarenhetsdelning – vi arbetar
för att stärka kreditmanagement
som en nyckelfunktion i
europeiska företag.”
– Robert Dyrcz
buting to establishing credit
management across Europe as a key function in the
customer relation and in the
financial health of organisations. Existing almost 40 years (next year we
will celebrate the anniversary!), FECMA aims
to be a networking, knowledge and experience exchange platform. Our goals include share
and promote research and pool the knowledge
gained with each association’s own members,
represent the credit management profession at
a European level, provide support and guidance for members of all associations, support and
collaborate with existing associations as appropriate and encourage the creation of credit
management associations where none exist.
FECMA also organises Europe-wide congress
every two years. The upcoming one will be
held in UK next year.
What topics are currently of importance to
FECMA?
– In the last months we discussed very widely about regulation proposed by the European Commission regarding the late payments.
The world of credit management knows the
late payment directive, entered into force on
15th March 2011. The regulation is supposed
to be a step forward in protecting businesses
from late payments. It turned out that many
disagrees that this is a way in a good direction.
FECMA welcomes all initiatives to combat
late payments – which is in fact in line with
our vision and mission. In that context it also
became clear that a unified approach may be
very attractive, but considering the diversity of
businesses which shape the specific payment
patterns a ‘one size fits all’ approach may not
always be the best solution over all industries
and countries. In June last year we published
more detailed FECMA position regarding that
subject. We highlight that the most important
thing is to enforce the agreed payment deadlines and thus make the cash flow predictable
for the businesses. We emphasize the role of
the quality of information on payment backlogs. That’s why FECMA is keen on very desired by every credit manager project, called
“EU Payment Observatory”. The Observatory
aims to monitor trends and developments on
payment performance and behaviour in commercial transactions in the EU.
What challenges are most urgent to European credit managers?
– I think the times we are living in are not
easy for every business. The international business and political tensions do not create the
environment for growth. We are entering in
completely new era and understanding that is
the key. The natural reaction seems to be fear.
But a credit manager should focus on a wellthought-out strategy. Strategy which aligns
with overall business strategy. Let’s remember
that credit management follows the business,
advices on current and new sales opportunities. If credit managers are well prepared, it is
an incredible opportunity to increase the importance and added value of credit risk management. If we look from a wider perspective, I
believe we witness a shift in geopolitical order
we were living in for the last 80 years. Credit
managers must review more deeply their portfolios, discuss and cooperate more closely with
sales, observe the recent trends in the economy
and be aware where we are in terms of business
cycle. They must have eyes wide open!
What regulatory changes do you think are
of most importance for the future of European credit management?
– The topic of late payment regulation is
still important, but there is something more
vital in terms of regulatory changes – the increasing protectionism around the world. Free
trade was an engine for increase of wealth in
the last decades. This is changing now into
the world economy with dramatically increasing number of trade barriers. Credit managers need to embrace that change, analysed
that and make conclusions for their respective
customers’ portfolios.
What impact does FECMA hope to have on
the European credit management profession
in the future?
– FECMA, together with its members, i.e.
credit management associations around Europe, is working hard to help credit managers be
the best in their daily duties. We want to provide the best-in-class education and networking opportunities to continuously increase
the professionalism and help credit managers
bring the added value to the organizations they
are working for. As FECMA itself, I think the
federation should provide more European-wide analysis and advises. In turbulent world as
we experience now, it’s important more than
ever.
23 KREDITNYTT
