Postbank enters the factoring market. At the beginning of next year PB Factoring GmbH, a 100% subsidiary of Postbank and headquartered in Bonn is to commence operations. Initially it is to concentrate on the German market. In a second stage from 2003, the purchase of foreign receivables is also scheduled. PB Factoring will co-operate closely with other subsidiaries of the Deutsche Post World Net Group as well as making use of external partners (e.g. credit insurance companies). PB Factoring can offer the customers and subcontractors in the Deutsche Post World Net Group financial services which supplement the logistics services. Thus PB Factoring is a further step in the realisation of cross-selling potential in the Deutsche Post World Net Group and an additional facet in the Postbank product range for its corporate clients.

Factoring is considered a first-rate growth market with increasing momentum. Since 1995 the market for factoring in Germany has grown by an average of 12% a year. In a European comparison the development potential in Germany is particularly high. Whereas some 4% of the gross domestic product is the European average for financing via factoring, the figure in Germany is only at approximately 1%.

Experts expect additional thrust through the increasing trend to outsource logistics services. This results in particular opportunities for the development of integrated financial logistics solutions where logistics together with financing are offered in one-stop shopping. Together with logistics specialists in the Deutsche Post World Net Group, PB Factoring will offer complete solutions where the customer awards the transportation contract to the logistics partners and the receivables financing, the invoicing and the debt collection to the Postbank Group. In this way the customer can concentrate on his core business and avoid liquidity bottlenecks resulting from the temporal difference between the delivery and payment of goods.

Factoring is a special form of the credit business. Here the company which renders the performance (e.g. a supplier in the automotive industry) sells the money claim against the recipient of the performance (e.g. the automobile manufacturer) to a factor. The factor directly pays the company which renders the performance the majority of this claim and settles with the recipient of the performance. The company which renders the performance is thus immediately liquid, does not need to handle the recovery of the claim and has no default risk. For this service the factor receives a part of the invoiced amount, which generally is in the range granted for an early settlement discount.