Credit Manager Magazine 9/2021

45 CREDIT MANAGER MAGAZINE WRZESIEŃ / SEPTEMBER 2021 German companies benefit from half of the French amount of cash surpluses stemming from public support policies back in 2020 (EUR 93 bn against EUR 197 bn in France). The positive point is that the first five months of 2021 show a further rise in cash gener- ation of EUR 18 bn, which will fully cover the additional WCR expected in 2021. This stems from either additional public support programs or German companies’ profitability generating positive cash flows again since the be ginning of the year alongside recovering export flows. While reassuring, it is impor- tant to bear in mind that these excess net cash positions are also needed for the repayment of all other debts. Therefore, this cash cushion might evaporate much quicker than expected, notably if the grace periods on state-guaran- teed loans are not prolonged beyond the end of 2021 and companies need to start reim- bursing their debt. Looking at the share of total coverage of the stock of loans & debt se- curities by total non-financial corporates’ de- posits, France and Belgium appear to be most vulnerable despite the high levels of available cash. Indeed, total deposits cover 23% of total stock of total debt against around 30% in Ger- many and Italy (see Figure 2). Figure 2: Share of coverage of total stock of loans & debt securities by total non-financial corporates’ deposits Sources: ECB, Eurostat, Euler Hermes, Allianz Research The AFDCC (L’Association Fracaise des Credit Managers) was created in 1970, and shows as of today a total of approximately 1000 members. Mem- bers are coming from all fields of ac- tivity and fromall geographical French areas. In order to maximize exchanges under good credit practises and under business experiences, the AFDCC is organising a lot of meetings, seminars and task forces. This helps also to im- prove again and again our technical skills. The AFDCC is the only one institute specialized in credit man- agement, and trains around 700 credit managers per year. The AFDCC is also the only one organization to promote the function vs. the institutional or- ganizations. In this frame, AFDCC is invited to express opinions on the legislation in France, and under for example the payment terms and Basel II. The AFDCC is a centre of exper- tise, and works under some surveys in France and also in Europe, to provide some international information on the goods credit practises. In this interna- tional scope, the AFDCC is also proud to be member of the FECMA. WCR level in 2020 and changes of its three subcomponents (DSO, DPO and DIO) vs. 2019 Sources: Bloomberg, Euler Hermes, Allianz Research FECMA