Demand For Accounts Receivable Financing Climbs As Credit Crunch Continues

Chicago, IL  — Bibby Financial Services (www.bibbyusa.com) said today that in the first half of 2009 it has experienced growing interest in factoring services from small and large corporations across the U.S that have been rejected by their bank’s restrictive lending practices or left hanging by financial services institutions that are failing.

"We are seeing the opportunity to assist businesses of all sizes and provide them with the immediate cash they need to continue to operate as numerous lending institutions – large and small -crumble," Bibby Financial Services CEO Stewart Chesters said. "The result is that large companies with excellent credit histories and small companies with no credit histories are turning to accounts receivable financing and to us to help keep their companies running with the working capital they need."

During the first half of 2009, Bibby Financial Services said that the number of deals it funded was slightly ahead of the year-ago level, while deal amounts have been increasing. In North America 150 clients were funded during the first six months of the year with $51 million in new client facilities.

Financing trends that have emerged during the first half of 2009 have included larger deals with facilities approaching $8 million, consolidation amongst smaller companies as they seek to reduce capacity in their industries, export finance opportunities as companies look to new markets overseas, and start-up companies as individuals who have lost their jobs are tapping their entrepreneurial spirit and hoping to build their own companies and their own success stories.

"Our clients want to know that as their lender we will be there to help them survive this economic downturn and then to help them grow and thrive, "Chesters Said. "With more than 200 years of history behind us – including surviving recessions and depressions around the world — Bibby Financial Services has the stability, flexibility, responsiveness and the speed to help our clients get the cash flow they need and to commit that we will be there for them in the future. In 2009 Bibby Financial Services will fund over $9 billion of receivables around the globe supporting small to medium-sized enterprises with their cash gaps. "

Bibby Financial Services (www.bibbyusa.com) is a worldwide market leading specialist of business cash flow solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises. Its product portfolio includes receivable finance, factoring, export finance, purchase order finance and specialist solutions for staffing and trucking sectors. Its North American offices are located in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Nashville, Phoenix, Sacramento, Toronto, and West Palm Beach, as well as 27 other countries around the world. Bibby Financial Services is a subsidiary of The Bibby Line Group, a 200 year-old privately held company based in the United Kingdom, that provides business-to business services to a variety of industries including shipping, distribution, offshore oil field services, financial services, retail and employment law.

For more information on Bibby Financial Services, visit please contact Lisabeth Weiner at 312.252.7360