UK-based Bibby Financial Services (BFS) has secured €150mn in funding from HSBC that will be used to provide support for SMEs across Europe.

The three-year funding facility will take BFS’ total funding capability across Europe to €1.1bn.

Part of the over 200-year-old family business Bibby Line Group, BFS has 2,000 European SME clients outside the UK. The agreement with HSBC will be used to help both new and existing clients connect to trading opportunities at home and abroad.

“The funding is pan-European and will be used across all the countries that we cover in Europe,” BFS international CEO Steve Box tells GTR.

Commenting on the Brexit decision taken by UK nationals earlier this month, Box said that it has been ‘business as usual’ and that the company has not seen client enquiries drop pre or post-Brexit.

He added that he expected asset finance companies and financiers to be better placed to support SMEs in the UK and Europe following Brexit, as clients will want more certainty and invoice financing will offer a better way to mitigate risk.

“We will be targeting growth in areas like Germany, Ireland and Poland over the coming years. They are our priority countries,” he says.

BFS specialises in invoice and factoring finance by supporting working capital requirements for SMEs trading in a business-to-business capacity with a turnover of up to £10mn.

“Businesses across the world are becoming more aware of the range of financing options available to them,” says Box.

“We have seen client numbers increase by about 12% y-o-y and the reason we went for larger funding and longer term liquidity was to be well capitalised because we are seeing business turnover grow by about 28% as well.”