Should you be concerned?
- A customer’s cheque is returned from their bank.
- Place of business is locked and there are moving trucks out the back.
- Customer won’t return your calls.
- A client wants a large and unexpected increase to their credit line.
- Your competitors are calling you – asking if you are having any problems with your mutual customer.
- War breaks out
- Peace breaks out (depnds on your client’s business)
The list of red flags goes on, issues that will have an effect on your client or their client, which ultimately may determine if you are going to be paid and if so, when.
There are red flags that were important ‘back in the day’ and are still relevant, but there are also new ones too. Like the paragrah title implies – things change. This became evident when I recently had a discussion with Simon Marshall, the CEO of Co-Pilot.
Simon tells me that at an Association of International Credit Directors and Professionals (AICDP) webinar in October 2022, Dr Rebecca Harding identified the four key challenges facing Credit Risk Management
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- Inflation and recession
- Conflict/Geopolitics
- Supply chain and resources
- ESG
She said that “These risks are not going away”.
So how do credit professionals stay on top of things?
According to Simon, helping clients resolve these issues is Co-pilot’s daily work. They certainly seem to enjoy doing it.
Non-Financial
The sheer complexity and variety of information coming at you means that you may benefit from automation of your credit risk management processes. This can help you can keep on top of everything, not miss something, and prioritise the truly important things requiring the attention of your credit professionals
Sort Flags by Priority
All red flags are not created equal. You need to implement the “Red Flags” that are essential to give you early warning. These need to be understood and prioritised (you can’t do everything) and they should be regularly reviewed for learning and improvement
Automate what you can – Personally manage what you must:
The sheer complexity and variety of information coming at you means that you may benefit from automation of your credit risk management processes. This can help you can keep on top of everything, not miss something, and prioritise the truly important things requiring the attention of your credit professionals
Simon is the CEO of Co-Pilot who are experts in helping firms develop the right questions they need to ask and resolve to make their credit management process effective. He has worked for many years in the international credit field.
Red Flag #1 – Valued References
This one never gets old. How do we know this customer will keep their promise?
