Alfa-Bank launches factoring programme

Russia’s Alfa-Bank has launched a factoring financing programme for its corporate clients.

The product will be offered against the assignment of a monetary claim, and the cost of factoring is comparable with the cost of short-term lending, according to the bank.

The bank will also not make it a mandatory demand that the client transfer all of its debtors to factoring. The client may start with one debtor in order to assess the service, and then all subsequent debtors will be added under a general agreement signed with the client. Factoring financing is available to clients in all the regions covered by the bank.

“Factoring is a banking product that is becoming more and more in demand,” explains Evgeny Kaluzhin, head of Alfa-Bank’s factoring department.
“We are already considering applications from Tatarstan, as well as the Saratov, Yaroslavl, Kurgan and Voronezh regions, and we are planning to considerably expand our factoring business. Currently, limits of over R500mn have been set for new clients. By the end of the year, Alfa-Bank’s factoring financing portfolio should reach US$150mn.”

Agama Trade, a frozen food distributor, was the bank’s first client to use its factoring services.