Kriya audits portfolio in light of persistent economic ‘uncertainty’
Kriya, formerly known as MarketFinance, has conducted a full audit of its lending portfolio to ensure it is still able to lend prudently in a persistently uncertain economic environment.
In a blog, the alternative lender’s chief risk officer Michael Hoare revealed the firm had taken several actions to shore up its risk profile, including a full audit of the portfolio to identify very recent risk trends and enhanced monitoring of small businesses’ cash balances through open banking.
He said “uncertainty is word of the year” and the persistent instability was a challenge for both businesses and consumers.
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“We’re diligent in management of facility limits, adjustments to our pricing and consideration of exposure to industries and sectors, which might be more susceptible to a downturn in the economy,” he added.
He said the recent news of bank failures in the US and Europe is likely to accelerate the need for alternative finance among small- and medium-sized businesses, arguing that Kriya is “well positioned to continue to support strong businesses whilst delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors”.
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He added that Kriya had been able to help small businesses via its invoice finance product, lending more than £3bn in the last decade.
“Where businesses hit rocky times, our record on recovering balances has also been excellent, due to the security inherent in the product (the underlying invoices) and well-time recovery actions,” he said.
“We’ve seen recovery rates in excess of 75 per cent of defaulted balances throughout this period.”