invoice finance awards

Yet more invoice finance awards rubbish

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The following email has just been received from Acquisition International in connection with their prestigious awards:-

Dear Paul

As you may be aware we have been accepting votes for the 2013 M&A Awards, the winners of which are to be published in July. I am very pleased to inform you that we have received at least one vote for JPB Cashflow Services hence we would like to put JPB Cashflow Services forward as a possible winner.

First of all, congratulations to have reached this far, it is a big achievement to be identified by your peers and the market as a possible winner but with all nominees we do require permission from you. So if you’re happy to be considered, please do let me know by return email – just a simple ‘agreed to be considered’ will suffice.

Paul and JPB Cashflow Services do not exist as they are names that I made up a few years ago for anti spam purposes and the names plus associated email address must have been scraped off an obscure website yet the company has allegedly received at least one vote.

Regular readers will be aware that I consider the vast majority of these annual awards to be a complete farce with the winners generally being the company whether factoring company or broker with the largest number of staff available to vote for themselves. Whilst some may laugh it off as a harmless bit of fun I feel that it can give undeserved credibility with the general public not knowing any better.

The latest invoice finance awards winners, you couldn’t make it up

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That was the tweet from a friend and fellow factoring broker that alerted me to the fact that silly season was well and truly upon us in the form of the Business Moneyfacts awards following hard on the heels of yesterday’s offering.

The category that interested me most was the “Asset Based Finance Broker of the Year” award, as if one thinks about it logically who would vote in that category.

1) No factoring broker would vote for a competitor.

2) The companies that passed through the broker’s hands wouldn’t normally vote as they wouldn’t be likely subscribers to Business Moneyfacts.

3) The factoring companies would have a rough idea of who should perhaps be a suitable “Asset Based Finance Broker of the Year” but there is probably only a dozen factoring companies who would bother to vote anyway.

Who does that leave to vote – well I’m sure you can work that one out ?

I’m equally sure that it’s completely co-incidental that two of the three listed asset finance brokers are associated with insolvency practitioners who are themselves “finalists” in the insolvency section. 🙂

The industry insiders are well aware of what a farce these awards ceremonies are but the problem is that the winners then stick a logo on their websites and other marketing material stating that they are “Winners of ABC Awards 2013” which will give them implied credibility in the eyes of the general public which in many cases is not warranted.

As an experiment I think that I will register Lovely Jubbly Invoice Finance and ask all of my contacts to vote for it next year

It’s silly season otherwise known as annual awards time

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Silly season is back again with annual awards being dished out to all and sundry. It seems that the same small handful of companies share the awards around each year with the exception of the NACFB award for factoring and invoice discounting which seems to be won by Bibby every year.

I’m sure this has nothing to do with the fact that they have a Bibby representative on the NACFB board. 🙂

The latest shortlist to be published is probably the daftest one yet as the Institute of Credit Management (ICM) in their infinite wisdom have accepted nominations from the following three companies for their Commercial Finance Provider of the Year award.

Market Invoice
Bank of Valletta
Touch Financial

Touch Financial is of course not a commercial finance provider at all but is a broking outfit with a hardworking self promotions department whilst the other two I guess were nominated by someone with a sense of humour.

The blurb accompanying the press release contained the following masterpiece

“The outstanding quality of entries received for these brand new awards was extremely high and a reflection of the great achievements made in the industry.

The glittering award ceremony will be held at the prestigious Hilton Park Lane Hotel in London, and will provide the winners of the first ever ICM British Credit Awards with exceptional recognition before some of the industry’s most influential people.”