Is There a Tech Solution for Supplier Portal Proliferation?

DAVID GUSTIN, Chief Strategy Officer, The Interface Financial Group May 14, 2019  When we look at source-to-pay solutions, we tend to look at it from one side, that is, how this is going to improve the accounts payable department, reduce cost, be more efficient and improve supplier collaboration. But then I hear quotes like this […]

PPC: On Late Payment — Regulate, Shame or Just Deal with It?

DAVID GUSTIN, Chief Strategy Officer, The Interface Financial Group May 21, 2019 There was some recent shaming of some very large companies by the UK government that did not comply with the Prompt Payment Code (PPC). Seventeen large companies, including heavyweights such as Vodafone, Rolls Royce, SSE and British Sugar, were suspended pending promises to […]

Blockchain and Digital Invoice Finance — What’s Missing?

DAVID GUSTIN, Chief Strategy Officer, The Interface Financial Group July 2, 2019 What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient … highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate. — “Inception” (2010) Similar to an idea in the movie “Inception,” […]

Can Source-to-Pay Networks Go Beyond The Approved Invoice?

DAVID GUSTIN, Chief Strategy Officer, The Interface Financial Group  June 11, 2019 “The phrase ‘it’s better to be lucky than good’ must be one of the most ridiculous homilies ever uttered. In nearly any competitive endeavor, you have to be damned good before luck can be of any use to you at all.” ― Garry Kasparov, “Deep Thinking: […]

Large Companies Lack Cash to Fund Their Supply Chains

DAVID GUSTIN, Chief Strategy Officer, The Interface Financial Group August 13, 2019     The popular opinion has been that many large American companies are flush with cash. In fact, surveys from some reputable institutions support this view. The AFP’s corporate cash survey found during the second quarter of 2019, U.S. businesses continued to build their cash […]

What Happens When Machine Learning Finance Models Fail

DAVID GUSTIN, Chief Strategy Officer, The Interface Financial Group September 3, 2019 These are some strange times. Look, we have $16 trillion of negative-yielding bonds, that’s T, for trillion. I’m asked by non-financial people why anyone would want to buy negative yields (you pay to hold them, btw) and I reply, it’s not about income, […]

LIBOR Phase Out: Considerations for Supply Chain Finance

DAVID GUSTIN, Chief Strategy Officer, The Interface Financial Group September 19, 2019     LIBOR has been the default benchmark interest rate for supply chain finance since this technique was developed approximately 20 years ago. By year-end 2021, LIBOR will be phased out.   So how does this impact supply chain finance? For a market […]

Risk Management in Early Payment Solutions

PETER JACOBSTEIN, Chief Strategic Partnership Officer, The Interface Financial Group January 14, 2020 Buyer-led early payment programs are growing fast.  Fully 55% of companies surveyed in PWC’s 2018/2019 Supply Chain Finance Barometer are running some form of early payment program.  Broadly, as Buyers extend their payment terms, offering early payment is a critical part of […]

Virtual Cards and Early Payment Solutions

PETER JACOBSTEIN, Chief Strategic Partnership Officer, The Interface Financial Group February 10, 2020     B2B Virtual Card (V-Card) payments are attracting a lot of attention right now — from incumbent commercial payments providers and from fintech who want to challenge their dominance.  Accenture estimates Virtual Card B2B payments were $207 billion in 2019, or […]

A Message from IFG: Coronavirus

Access to working capital has never been more critical for corporate buyers and their suppliers. Here’s what IFG is doing to help. First and most important, we hope you are healthy and safe.   We’re living through extraordinary times.  The economic waves triggered by the coronavirus outbreak are just starting.  For virtually every company, access […]