disproportionately high growth in turnover of nearly 19% last year, the high total volume of outstanding balances bought by the factoring companies of more than 157 billion Euro was stabilised in 2012. Therefore, 2012 turned out as another successful year for the German factoring industry. “Last year’s high level of turnover was defended successfully in an increasingly difficult macroeconomic environment”, concludes Joachim Secker, spokesman of the German Factoring Association's executive board.
From the factoring clients’ point of view, factoring is still very much in demand. This is illustrated by the number of factoring clients, which rose to approximately 17,100, a new maximum and notable increase by 17.12% in comparison to 2011. Factoring has therefore established and embedded itself as an instrument to finance means of production and to collateralise and safeguard against risks, especially in the SME sector.
Although the German economy had a vigorous start in 2012, it lost some momentum during the course of the year so that the German economy’s total growth only amounted to 0.7%. The figures of the German Factoring Association reflect this: After an increase in factoring turnover by 2.69% during the first half, a minus of 2.35% could be noted during the second half of 2012. Moreover, some factoring companies associated in the German Factoring Association underwent changes which were connected with the orientation of their company groups. These changes also contributed to not as much new business being made as in previous years.