ANZ exits SME invoice discounting

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23 June 2009

ANZ Bank has announced it is closing its discount invoicing division for SMEs in Australia.

ANZ Bank has announced it is closing its discount invoicing division. The bank provided invoice financing to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in its domestic market of Australia. The bank has stated it will notify the 1% of its commercial customers who use product and will offer them other alternatives over the next 12 months.

Invoice discounting allows the bank to lend immediate funds to firms against their invoices. The bank, or discounter, effectively buys the debt at a discount, typically between 80% - 85% of the value of...

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Poll

Has the bond market improved sufficiently to be more attractive for commodity producers than the pre-export finance market?

Yes- investment grade producers will want to dispense with high maintenance finance structures such as pre-export financings. If they can’t go unsecured they will certainly use the bond market rather go for pre-export financings.

No – bond investors aren’t ready yet for to do these types of credit. This is why we are now seeing a lot of listed metal producers in developed markets mandating for pre-export loans for the first time. The bond market is still much too volatile.

67%

Maybe – the bond market has not been tested this year for large commodity producers. It depends if any of the producers feel brave, or foolish, enough to attempt it and perhaps create a benchmark for others to follow.

33%