Tide Tests Invoice Non-Payment Protection Offering

To assist small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in keeping their cash flow safe from unpaid or late payments on invoices, Tide has rolled out a new invoice protection offering with the help of Hokodo, according to a press release.

The move comes as the coronavirus crisis is having an immediate and possibly long-term impact on the economy in Britain.

“We know that overdue invoices put a real strain on [SMBs] even at the best of times,” said Tide Vice President of Credit Services Amit Kahana in the release.

According to Tide research, late payments represented a total of 50 billion pounds ($62.3 billion) for U.K. SMBs in 2019. Those businesses spent an average of 1.5 hours per day attempting to get paid.

Invoice protection will let members of Tide keep their cash flow safe from uncertainty and make the payment of invoices certain even if a client does not pay. Hokodo handles the debt collection on invoices that are late. In the event that debts can’t be collected or the customer otherwise can’t pay its bills, Hokodo “protects” 90 percent of the value of the invoice.

Members can decide on invoices to protect up to 20,000 pounds ($24,900) for a charge that usually runs from 0.3 percent to 1 percent of the value of an invoice. Members of Tide will also get the reward of insights into the financial health of their clients. They will also be able to enhance their credit risk decision making, evaluate risk and “have confidence in taking on new business in these uncertain times,” the release stated.

In separate news, Tide notched $54.3 million in a funding round, per news in October. SBI Group, based in Japan, and Augmentum, based in Europe, led the round. Tide planned to use the funds to increase its share of the business banking market in Britain and to power global growth.