In the first quarter of 2025, the factoring market portfolio amounted to 2.4 trillion rubles.
The growth of the portfolio of factoring companies according to the results of the first quarter of 2025 amounted to 14%, this is lower than in previous years. Nevertheless, market participants are expected to maintain two -digit growth rates this year, since in current conditions short -term borrowed financing on the security of debt is very in demand, including among small business companies.
In the first quarter of 2025, the factoring market portfolio amounted to 2.4 trillion rubles, exceeding the last year by 14%, it follows from the data of the Association of Factoring Companies (AFC). These pace have turned out to be the lowest over the past six years (with the exception of the crisis of 2022, when the market showed an increase of 35–57%).
Factoring – Operational short -term financing of companies under the assignment of their receivables. It allows, for example, to the seller of goods under agreements with a deferred payment to receive money immediately, but not from the buyer, but from the factoring company. The factoring company receives money from the buyer of goods.
Experts consider the slight growth of this year as the normalization of the seasonality of demand for factoring. According to the executive director of the AFC Dmitry Shevchenko, the first quarters from 2010 to 2019 have never been record for the market, and for the first time exceeded 30–40% only starting in 2020, when the delay in major transactions for large factors began to exceed 120 days. “As a result, the assets accepted on balance with factors in November -December remained on them until April – of the next year,” he notes. However, the situation at the end of 2024 – early 2025 amid the growth of the key rate to 21% has changed significantly. According to the managing director of factoring in Alfa-Bank Pavel Shishov, « not only the key rate has increased, but also the spread to the key rate, for small businesses, the level of bets can be 30% per annum and higher. » In such conditions, “customers are not ready to overpay for the additional days of delay,” explains Mr. Shevchenko.
At the same time, according to the AFC, the growth rate of the number of active companies in the factoring market has been preserved at the level of previous years, amounting to 20%, their total number reached 14.3 thousand. The market participants explain this to maintain interest in this method of financing from small businesses. The general director of VTB Factoring Igor Vnukov connects this growth with the activation of factoring companies working with the lower segment of medium -sized businesses. “The dynamics of the market portfolio still depends on large checks, so the increase in the client base in the first quarter did not have a proportional effect on the volumes of assigned debt,” he says. The Director General of the RSHB Factoring Mikhail Yatsenko noted that the number of MSB clients increased more than one and a half times relative to the first quarter of 2024. “Factoring allows you to solve the issues of small and medium -sized businesses, as well as relevant for some market players, which actively develops relations with marketplaces suppliers,” says Kirill Pokrovsky, director of the ICR Factoring Department.
At the same time, market participants are not waiting for a noticeable improvement in the situation this year.
Dmitry Shevchenko drew attention to the fact that the Central Bank’s signal “On the long -term period of the high key rate” reached the business, so the factoring cost will only decrease in client segments with low risk and will not change in all the others, especially in the SMEB. “Most likely, not only the key rate and regulatory policy of the Central Bank in relation to allowances and reservation, but also the risks of trade operations in the conditions of high credit load participants of the supply chains will be affected in 2025,” he believes.
As a result, experts expect a more modest market growth than in previous years. According to the ICD, it is estimated at 15–20%, in the « RSHB Factoring » – in 20%. However, such pace can be much higher than on other financial products. Mikhail Yatsenko draws attention to the fact that in the current conditions when the rates for attracting borrowed financing are quite high, factoring remains one of the most affordable financial instruments for business. Denis Maksimenko, General Director of Sberfactoring, notes that during the period of high interest rates, « no one wants to be fixed for a long time, and factoring is short money. »
