Train driver “shortage”. What does this tell us?

Perhaps inspired by Casey Jones (above), many boys of my age dreamt of being a train driver when they grew up. Admittedly todays electrical units are not as romantic as the steam trains of old but its still a career that surely must be appealing to many people on a variety of levels

We are all frustratingly aware that the trade is heavily unionised but that does also mean that drivers conditions are very favourable with relatively high wages and levels of leave. Yes the hours can be unsocial but the job security is copper bottomed.

So why on earth is their a shortage of drivers and worse still, why has its proved to be necessary to drop the starting age to attract new recruits?

Are we in a society where those of a certain age simply won’t consider certain roles regardless of the financial rewards? And what does that say about the economy and job market?

This reminded me of the political discourse from the extremes. I recall a far left MP compiling that the jobs and careers on offer to those on her estates in Hackney were “the wrong types of work” and of course the relentless simple minded message from the likes of Reform is that immigrants are “stealing our jobs”. Both are clearly wrong

This is certainly something of a head scratcher

Which invoice financier has the best online package and which has the worst?

One area which distinguishes certain lenders from others is the quality of their customer interface. Certain clients will view this with varying degrees of importance but in my experience, it’s never a factor to be completely dismissed.

Firstly the responsiveness of the telephone interaction is vital, given that invoice financing is an ever evolving facility and here some lenders have varying degrees of responsiveness. I will discuss that in a future post but the other interfacing factor that cleaves one lender from another is the online package.

There have been some significant developments in this area during the past 15 years (which is the extent of my time brokering) with many lenders offering systems which provide services such as automatic bank reconciliations. That is a considerable time saver for many SMEs as well as putting to bed a pretty humdrum unexciting task. Clarity of transactional record keeping and analysis as well as provision of useful reports are also factors.

Not naturally being systems orientated myself, I have been struck at how often this is a important element of my clients feedback which is noted by myself for future discussions with new clients

This being the case, you would think that all would be devoting resources to ensure that they remain ahead of the pack. Not true

So who is leading the way and who are the stragglers?

Unfortunately, i’m not going to name names. This is of course privileged information and there is also the risk of a significant backlash but its far to say that the medium sized independent lenders tend to provide the most ‘up to date’ user friendly interfaces with one lender in particular perhaps ahead of the pack at the present time. A lender with a long established reputation as well as a strong record of client retention

At the other end of the scale, a major institution which is aggressive on pricing and appetite has been using a system which looked horribly out of date when I first entered this field 15 years ago. Im not entirely sure whether they are still rolling out this museum piece to new clients or not but if so, I can imagine the horror. Its striking, because as a lender they have much to offer but why haven’t they ensured that they maximise their potential? Astute observers will possibly identify the lenders i’m referring to in both cases.

Invoice financing is possibly the most complex and therefore interesting form of business lending. Its a long term close relationship between provider and client and consequently he quality of communication and the systems provided is paramount

LCF. Auditors and the FCA seemingly cant spot a Ponzi

To make matters worse, the auditors were (once again) big four firms and the FCA was being overseen by Andrew Bailey, now the head of the Bank of England. The FCA who seemingly couldn’t question why a “investment firm” was guaranteeing 8% returns when interest rates were 0.25%

Its always 7 or 8% too. Doesn’t it occur to these people that such returns in such a market are impossible to guarantee and hasn’t it piqued their attention that its always pitched at this rate?

And why this rate? To me its simple. Its not high enough to raise enough suspicion with the gullible but certainly might enough to appear to give a very decent return

The investors deserve some sympathy but that can be tempered by the fact that (yet again) they ignored the truism that if it looks too good to be true, then it almost certainly is. However their ire should be directed at the brokers who directed them to this vehicle who themselves should have been aware of the risks.

Actually I will rephrase that. Ire directed at “brokers” who were well aware that this was a virtual Ponzi.

In my circles these schemes rear their ugly heads regularly. A few years ago I was stunned to find a fairly well respected IFA knew well promoting just such a scheme (Cayman Islands guaranteed 8%) and I have also been approached directly myself. Im not interested

This will be interesting to follow but it’s certainly not the only pending case out there, as many in my circle know too well

Border Checks. The post Brexit world now hitting home?

I would generally hesitate to link to the Guardian on any subject surrounding Brexit but this piece gives a balanced clear assessment of the current status of EU border controls for “perishable” goods

The key issue here is that the imposition of border checks into the uk are about to commence. The impact and cost to major importers is probably not significant. There will be a marginal cost to consumers but for SMEs the whole issue is going to hit a lot harder

The cost is not just in financial terms but also, of course, the tiresome business of paperwork. The justification from government ministers had been given as protection from various viruses and infections which supposedly occur within the EU. Fine but does anyone recall this as an issue during the proceeding fifty years?

There is of course an element of tit for tat and our exporters are having too live with fussy border checks (there were initially some seriously petty examples) and maybe turning the table will encourage a review of the whole process?

A process which to my mind is pointless and faintly ridiculous. If the “checks” haven’t thrown up any serious issues for decades, then why are they required now? Just to make political points (from both sides) about Brexit?

For SMEs the costs are not pretty and you wonder why the government really believe these are necessary. Perhaps they should be gearing the costing structure towards larger transactions only and aiming to support small businesses. Isn’t that what the Conservative party was once about?

There is of course the “protectionist” argument whereby uk farmers and food producers are shielded from EU “competition” but the loser in such instances is the consumer of course. From a personal point of view, I want to see as much choice as possible (especially having tasted superb French bred chickens within the last week)

There will of course be the screeching from those who scream about any positive contact with the EU and also those who are determined to prove that Brexit is one big historical mistake (one “historian” has called it the biggest “tragedy” for Britain within the last 2000 years. More so that two world wars, the plague, the black death and so on…).

We are where we are. We do not need to squabble with our neighbours and we should build a mature relationship. In fairness too Sunak and Hunt there have been significant efforts to do so (near enough impossible under their three predecessors) and under the next administration we should expect the same but whoever is responsible needs to get the heads banging together to bring an end to this administrative anti trade and business nonsense