Russia’s Association of Factoring Companies (AFC) has reported that the turnover of the Russian factoring market in H1 2014 hit R985bn, with the SME segment accounting for 20% of the figures.

According to the survey results, the turnover of the industry increased by 18% year-on-year to a figure equivalent to US$27.8bn. The growth rate slowed by 14% from 32% in the first half of 2013.

AFC members in Russia accounted for R795bn of the factoring market in H1 2014, representing 85% of the market. The factoring companies listed with the biggest shares in the total turnover in H1 2014 include VTB Factoring (23%), Promsvyazbank (18%), Alfa Bank (11%), Petrocommerce Bank (6%), and Rosbank Factoring (5%).

The proportion of factoring in turnover was as follows: factoring with recourse: 57%; factoring without recourse: 34%; without financing: 6%; and the share of international factoring: 1.6%.

SMEs

SMEs have been the largest contributor to the growth of the market and for the first six months of the year, the turnover for the SME segment in Russia accounted for R197.9bn.

The Q1 SME Russian factoring results stood at R77bn, showing that there has been a 257% increase in the amount of SME factoring turnover in Q2 2014.

AFC was informed by respondents that they expect factoring in the SME segment to continue to grow in H2 2014, with 11 of them forecasting that it will double in the period. AFC estimates that the market turnover for factoring in the SME segment for the 2014 calendar year could reach R450bn.

36 organisations participated in the AFC’s quarterly questionnaire.