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Amongst the reasons given for not changing financial provider include being unsure of their options, fear of being penalised by their current provider and a lack of time to review their financial strategy.

The findings come from the Close Brothers Business Barometer which is a quarterly survey that canvasses the opinion of SME owners and senior management across the UK and Ireland.

Head of Sales of Close Brothers Commercial Finance (invoice finance), Paul Stephens said: “It's alarming that so many firms don’t appear to be regularly appraising their business finance, which could be seen as being a little complacent.

“We know that cash flow is the life blood of any healthy business and so it stands to reason that financial strategy has to be reviewed regularly throughout the lifecycle of the business to ensure that the funding in place is suitable.

“Without taking the time to properly assess their situation and understand the full range of financial options available to them, company owners could miss out on opportunities for growth as the funding they have in place may not be fit for purpose.”

Of the SMEs that have switched providers in the last 10 years, many have moved from a high street bank to an alternative lender. Reasons for doing this include better flexibility and in many instances, being less expensive than traditional lending.

Mr Stephens continued: Invoice finance is one such type of alternative finance and according to recent findings by the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA)*, its use amongst businesses is at an all-time high. However our research shows that there continues to be a lack of awareness amongst small and medium-sized businesses in Ireland, with over a third of those we talked to admitting they don’t understand how invoice finance works.

“We are working with businesses throughout Ireland and NI to raise awareness of the benefits of this form of funding, in addition to ABL (asset based lending). Our team has extensive experience of working with a wide range of industries, enabling them to tailor appropriate packages to suit individual business needs.”

*http://www.abfa.org.uk/news/2014/December/News011214.asp

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