Fintechs surpass banks in the SCF industry, Strategic Treasurer survey finds

This second iteration of our SCF Survey, developed in partnership with Kyriba, sought to pinpoint the perspectives and strategies of organisations in the space, both from a provider and user standpoint, Strategic Treasurer representatives said.

Among the top findings of the 2019 Supply Chain Finance Survey is that fact that nearly half of banks are now using third-party SCF platforms to service clients and partnering with fintechs has been labeled as the top focus for banks regarding annual spend in SCF. At the same time, maintaining a competitive edge against fintechs was a top challenge for 50% of banks and data shows fintechs now only slightly lag banks in terms of SCF market share (34% of corporates used a bank SCF solution, 29% used a Fintech solution).

KYC was listed as the top challenge for banks concerning their SCF line of business (77%). Suppliers registered KYC delays as the top challenge they anticipate during SCF onboarding (56%), and data shows that onboarding suppliers to a bank-led SCF solution takes longer than via a fintech platform.

52% of corporates find themselves often or always in an excess cash position, and 32% indicate their position fluctuates between cash excess and cash deficit. This means that in times where corporates have excess cash, the ability to leverage dynamic discounting or other “self-funded” SCF options is a major advantage. With over half of corporate buyers (52%) and nearly half of suppliers (45%) willing to alter their SCF strategies as positions shift, vendors offering multiple finance options draw market appeal.

The 2019 Supply Chain Finance Survey, sponsored by Kyriba and conducted by Strategic Treasurer, ran for nearly eight weeks and captured the responses of approximately 150 treasury and finance practitioners.