European Parliament confirms the importance of tackling Late Payments

Intrum warmly welcomes the European Parliament report on Late Payments which was adopted recently. The report, drafted by Member of the European Parliament Lara Comi, is based on statistics from Intrum’s European Payment Report 2018, and takes into account important findings of the yearly study.

Intrum supports MP Lara Comi’s approach, namely to improve sound B2B payment behaviours in the EU through a combination of legal and voluntary measures. In particular, as expressed in the Parliament’s report, Intrum believes it is important:

• That the existing Directive is properly enforced;
• That transparency of payment practices is encouraged;
• That good business behaviour is rewarded – e.g. through “Name and fame” schemes – since paying on time is a smart business strategy;
• That more efforts are directed towards Financial education and that EU Member States give more information and training to entrepreneurs about credit and invoice management;
• That countries keep the late payment issues at the centre of the political agenda.

The Parliament also makes a link between prompt payment and Corporate Social Responsibility, something which Intrum has advocated for years.

– Intrum has highlighted the gravity of late payments and long payment terms to EU decision makers for many years. This is a significant problem in many business sectors, which is costly, increases financial risk and affects job growth in Europe, in particular among SMEs. Our next European Payment Report is due in June and we will make sure that it is shared with those who decide on the future EU policy in this area, said Mikael Ericson, President and CEO Intrum.

About Intrum European Payment Report 2018 
The European Payment Report 2018 is based on a survey that was conducted simultaneously in 29 European countries between January 24 and March 23, 2018. In this report, Intrum gathers data from a total of 9,607 companies in Europe to gain insights into the payment behaviour and financial health of European businesses. The survey was conducted among persons that have identified themselves as either CFO, head of credits, business controller or similar.

Download Intrum European Payment Report 2018

About the European Parliament Report
Lara Comi is an Italian Member of the European Parliament from the European People’s Party and is a member of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection. She has been an MEP since 2009.

The European Parliament report is an own-initiative report on the Implementation of the Directive 2011/7/EU on combating late payment in commercial transactions. The Directive was enacted to improve payment behaviour in the EU.

For further information, please contact:

Anna Fall, Chief Brand & Communications Officer
+46 70 996 98 21 
anna.fall@intrum.com  

Intrum is the industry-leading provider of Credit Management Services with a presence in 24 markets in Europe. Intrum helps companies prosper by offering solutions designed to improve cash flows and long-term profitability and by caring for their customers. To ensure that individuals and companies get the support they need to become free from debt is one important part of the company’s mission. Intrum has more than 9,000 dedicated and empathetic professionals who serve around 80,000 companies across Europe. In 2018, revenues amounted to SEK 13.4 billion. Intrum is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and the Intrum share is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange. For further information, please visit www.intrum.com.