Many “only” know the Commerzbank-Arena because of the home matches of the football club Eintracht Frankfurt, either attending the game in the stadium or watching it on the TV. For the 17th efcom symposium, we invited our guests and contributors to the event rooms of the arena, which meant a great view on the interior of the stadium as well as on the business and box areas. In addition to the special venue, the contents of the speeches were equally as fascinating and inspiring as several contributors gave an insight into the factoring world from different perspectives.
FCI – leading force for 50 years
The FCI is well known to most of those involved in the factoring business. As a worldwide representative body, the FCI offers a unique network for factoring and the financing of open accounts receivable. Almost 400 member companies in 90 different countries – these figures speak for themselves. Peter Mulroy, Secretary General of the FCI, gave an in-depth insight into the organisation, areas of activities and the development of the association. He presented interesting statistical information on the growth of global factoring and pointed out its positive future prospects, especially on the Asian market. Last but not least, the audience learned interesting facts about the FCI’s own reverse factoring solution (FCIreverse) and about the stronger integration of factoring in compliance with Islam.
Blockchain, Bitcoin & Co.: Where does this road take us?
With Prof. Dr. Philipp Sandner we were able to gain a recognised expert in the field of blockchain technology as a speaker. He is Head of the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (FSBC) which was founded in 2017. His talk built a bridge between fundamental facts and progressive ideas: Where does Germany stand when it comes to the topic blockchain? Which effects on the financial sector are to be expected? What is the so-called tokenization all about? Prof. Dr. Sandner had convincing and insightful answers to all of these questions. Furthermore, he emphasised the enormous potential of blockchain to change our world in a significant way. Until then, however, a great deal of patience, money and trust will still be needed.
Intensive workshops and presentations
Following these interesting talks, half-hour presentations in workshop style took place. Part of that item on the agenda was, among others, our efOnline team presenting to the interested attendees the highlights of efcom’s web-based factoring platform. At the same time, the lawyer Christian Faber from the law office Bette Westenberger Brink talked about the latest development in reverse factoring. His presentation dealt with the beginning of reverse factoring to current trends and impulses up to future challenges and specific practical examples. Another presentation was held by Federico Avellán Borgmeyer from Tech4Fin Deutschland illustrating what changes mean for us and how (to be able) to handle them. In this field, Tech4Fin provides a great deal of expertise as a competent partner for technical-organisational transformations.
A new era for the financial sector
The final contributor of the day was Michael Bickers, Managing Director of BCR Publishing. He presented a holistic view on the future of the factoring industry, not only looking at the current economic development – including a warning of recession – but also taking into account the human factor and the topic of innovation. In short: In his opinion, there are several signs which point to some interesting and dynamic developments in the factoring sector in the following years. Michael Bickers has been engaging himself in the factoring industry intensively for many years and he is the Managing Director of one of the leading international platforms in this field.
We would like to thank all attendees for being part of the symposium, exchanging ideas and collectively thinking ahead! We are already looking forward to the efcom symposium in the following jubilee year – it will mark our 20th anniversary. Until then, stay tuned…
