A year on from Covid-19’s arrival, supply chains have moved from “just-in-time” to just-in-case”. But, as Falcon Group’s Americas CEO and Vice Chair John Ahearn observes, other factors are at play here, such as Brexit and trade wars. In addition the move away from just-in-time is not a sudden sea-change. “Over the past 10−15 years, many companies have been streamlining their supply chains; you have to carry more inventory and supply chains need to be close to production. We are just seeing a whole new rethink,” he explains.
Deutsche Bank’s Global Head of Trade Finance and Lending Daniel Schmand adds, “The near shoring will have an impact on the physical supply chain and in particular, driven by Germany, we have seen the effect of supply chain regulation focussing heavily on the ESG issue – so you need to ask how compliant is your supply chain?”
These two leaders in trade also take a closer look at the re-set underway in how companies use assets – ownership making way for leasing and hiring – with assets moving away from user balance sheets.
Do join us to hear more.
Participants
- John Ahearn, Group Vice Chair and CEO Americas, Falcon Group
- Daniel Schmand, Global Head of Trade Finance and Lending, Deutsche Bank
Presenter
- Clarissa Dann, Editorial Director, Deutsche Bank
What Falcon and other venturesome trade financiers (with whom I’m working) are now developing in terms of inventory monetization will be a key technique going forward.
We will see providers who think like a trader but act like a lender. The result will be the removal of idle inventory (that sucks up scarce capital) from buyer balance sheets, while simultaneously providing suppliers with cash and early recognition of a sale.
These venturesome inventory lenders will likely not be banks (since they’re restricted regulatorily) but banks will certainly want to partner with entities that can take inventory onto their balance sheet at scale.
Accounting compliance will be as critical as due diligence in order to prevent fraud (for which inventory is somewhat notorious).