Specialized financing activities, whether with companies or individuals, progressed last year in France, despite a slowdown observed at the end of the year and an increase in unpaid debts, the French Association of Companies announced on Wednesday. finance (ASF).
The activity was quite dynamic in the first half, noted Franoise Palle-Guillabert, Director General of the ASF, during a press conference.
But it weakened in the fall for certain financing, prompting us to be cautious for the year 2023, underlined Frdric Jacob-Peron, president of the association.
Factoring, which consists of the recovery of business receivables by a financial institution, experienced the strongest increase, with +15.5% compared to 2021.
Loans to businesses and professionals increased by 4% (+7.6% for conventional loans and +3.6% for equipment rental), while consumer loans for individuals grew by 7.6% %.
Real estate leasing, for its part, increased by 5.7%, after a jump of 34.8% in 2021.
Having started the year under the best auspices (+29.8% in the first half), activity was seen to weaken in the second (-9.1%), noted the ASF in its press release.
The association also returned to its observatory of weak signals, the last report of which was published in January.
This confirms that the quality of demand is crumbling, in an environment that is still very unstable with the war in Ukraine, persistent inflationary pressures, rising interest rates, energy prices, etc., according to the words of Mrs. Palle-Guillabert.
If the cost of risk remains under control in consumer credit, according to the press release, there is an increase in repayment deferrals and first arrears which do not yet result in registration in the National File of Reimbursement Incidents, established by the Bank of France.
On the business side, the association observes an acceleration of unpaid bills and an increase in amicable and contentious procedures.