SME invoice finance up 60%

The amount of finance advanced to the UK’s smallest businesses through invoice finance jumped by over 60% in the last year to £711 million, according to the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA), the body representing the invoice finance and asset based lending industry in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

The amount of finance advanced to the UK’s smaller businesses recorded the highest year-on-year boost since the recession, as businesses increasingly shift away from more traditional types of finance. SMEs received an average of £52,000 in invoice finance in Q1 of 2016, up from an average of £32,000 in the same period the previous year. Currently around 80% of asset based finance is invoice finance, while the other 20% represents other asset based lending, according to ABFA figures.