Insights
Unlocking financial trust with bank references
6 Jun 2024 - 3 minutes read
27% of companies lose more than $1M in revenue each year due to the inability to obtain sufficient customer information, according to a National Association of Credit Management (NACM) eNews poll.
Bank references remain a crucial tool in assessing creditworthiness in B2B trade, providing unique insights into a customer’s financial history, working capital, and cash flow that are not available from other sources.
Despite the evolution of credit investigation techniques, bank references continue to be indispensable, especially for high-risk customers or large transactions. They help credit managers make informed decisions by offering detailed information on a customer's credit history and payment patterns.
Challenges such as obtaining timely paper bank references, handling fees, and navigating liability issues have led to the adoption of Thomson Reuters® Confirmation, which enhances the speed and reliability of obtaining bank references. This shift not only facilitates faster credit decisions but also aids in fraud prevention and setting accurate credit limits.
Learn more in our recent white paper, sponsored by NACM.
Dive deeper with our recent NACM Extra Credit podcast episodes, featuring:
Trevor Hunt, Manager, Product, Confirmation
Annacaroline Carusa, Editor in Chief, NACM
Credit Managers: The Financial Detectives
The art of decision-making rests on the foundation of informed choices. Just like detectives, credit managers meticulously gather data from various sources, such as credit reports, financial statements and bank references, piecing together a financial puzzle. The hunt for credit information has changed and how to perfect your strategy.
Prevent fraud with bank references
Fraud was the cause of 19% of credit losses over the past 3 years. Some of this is due to rising interest rates and inflation, which have made businesses more desperate to access credit. Confirmation helps credit managers gain a clearer understanding of a business' financial health, reducing fraud and financial loss risk.
16% of credit departments say insufficient credit investigations have been the biggest cause of credit losses over the last three years. There’s a better way. Yvonne Wisniewski, credit analyst supervisor at Outfront Media says“We try to make a credit decision within one to two days, so Confirmation has helped us receive bank references more quickly in order to make that decision on time. We rely heavily on Confirmation and bank references because sometimes credit reports are just not enough on their own and we put more credence on the bank.”
Ready for more comphrehensive insight into working capital and cash flow?