TSL Feature Articles
-
The Use of Covenants in a Discretionary Factoring Facility
May 30, 2023SFNet’s Crucial Conversations webinar, “The Value and Effective Use of Covenants in a Factoring Transaction,”
focused on why covenants are needed in a discretionary factoring facility; covenant types and reporting frequency; the art of picking the right covenant(s) and more. Here, panelist Hugh Larratt-Smith provides a recap of the webinar.
-
ABLs, Bitcoin Miners and Monetizing Stranded Energy
Apr 24, 2023This article discusses the bitcoin mining industry’s role in providing demand support to energy producers by monetizing otherwise stranded energy produced from oil drilling and solar and wind facilities. Consumption of stranded energy by bitcoin miners should help secured lenders underwrite loans, because it can reduce air pollution resulting from natural gas flaring and improve life cycle economics of renewable energy sources. -
Interview with Ian Fredericks, President - Hilco Merchant Resources – The Retail And Consumer Operating Company Within Hilco Global
Ian Fredericks joined Hilco Global in 2011 after working successfully as a distressed merger and acquisition and corporate restructuring attorney. Over the course of his career, Fredericks has negotiated and closed hundreds of transactions involving tens of billions of dollars. In 2017, he was a recipient of M&A Advisor’s Emerging Leaders award and in 2022 was named to the executive committee of the Secured Finance Network board of directors. -
The Story of Foothill Capital
In this new feature series, “The Story of,” Charlie Perer sits with the key entrepreneurs and executives who have built leading commercial finance companies to talk about the origins of their respective firms. The purpose of this series is to tell the story behind many of the most famous and dynamic firms of past, present and future. The first feature is about Foothill Capital, which, of course was acquired by Norwest in 1998 and later by Wells Fargo. The core team at Foothill went on to be leaders at Wells Fargo Capital Finance and throughout the entire commercial finance industry.
-
In the Spotlight: Women-Dominated Teams in Secured Finance
Apr 3, 2023It’s no secret that, despite great progress in the last couple of decades, secured finance remains a male-dominated field. Here, we shine the spotlight on three unique SFNet members whose teams are made up of more women than men. -
It’s All About the People
There are few individuals more genuinely positive and upbeat than SFNet’s own Michele Ocejo. On her 30th anniversary of joining SFNet, I took the opportunity to sit down with our heralded but unassuming director of communications and discussed the importance of relationships, making an impact, and the joy she gets from sharing people’s stories. -
Taking a More Proactive Approach to Retention
Secured finance, much like the rest of financial services, is often a high-pressure industry, requiring long hours to resolve client concerns, handle due diligence, and scout for new prospects. Professionals in the field are commonly answering emails in the wee hours of the morning and late into the night. But the greying of the industry and attrition are causing secured finance executives to take a long, hard look at employee concerns, as well as DEI, recruitment, and retention initiatives. -
Interview with Gordon Brothers’ New CEO Norma Kuntz
Mar 20, 2023In December, Gordon Brothers announced that Norma Kuntz would be appointed CEO of the company, effective February 13, 2023. Ken Frieze and Michael Frieze will continue to serve the company as chairman and chairman emeritus, respectively.
Kuntz joined Gordon Brothers as its president and chief operating officer in June 2022 and quickly demonstrated her readiness to lead the firm. Prior to Gordon Brothers, she served as the chief operating officer and chief financial officer of global private equity at The Carlyle Group. Her nearly 25 years of financial services industry experience includes global roles within private equity, asset management, alternative investments and valuations, positioning her well to lead a multi-disciplinary global firm poised for growth.
-
Crypto-Based Lending and the 2022 UCC Amendments
Feb 6, 2023In this article, the author revisits cryptocurrency-based lending and how the 2022 UCC amendments provide welcome clarity to lending transactions involving digital assets. -
Factors: Prepared for Uncertainty Ahead
Jan 30, 2023Factors discuss what surprised them in 2022, California’s disclosure laws, rising interest rates, the move from ABL to factoring and what they expect 2023 will bring.
-
Three Keys to a Successful Workout
Given the relatively low levels of outstanding loan balances and the macro-economic environment over the past couple of years, the number of borrowers/loans that have ended up going into ‘workout’ have been few and far between. PKF Clear Thinking executives provide details on what is needed for a workout to succeed for both lender and borrower -
Interview with Bank of America’s Seth Benefield
In this installment of our series of executive interviews, Charlie Perer sits with Seth Benefield, head of Bank of America Business Capital and Asset-Based Financing, to hear his perspective on the state of the ABL market, challenges of running one of the biggest ABL groups, ABL as a product or business, leadership and competition, among other things. -
Trade Credit Insurance – More than Insurance
Dec 1, 2022The global trade credit market continues to grow with increased international business opportunities and carriers making trade credit more accessible to the market. You may be asking – what is trade credit insurance? Trade credit insurance (TCI) insures your accounts receivables against losses due to bankruptcy, unforeseen insolvency, or protracted default. But, trade credit insurance is more than just insurance. Once your A/R is insured, it is a secured asset, and can be used to leverage many ROIs.
Why do companies acquire a trade credit insurance policy? Trade credit can help build a healthy pipeline of new revenue, increase access to capital, prevent a catastrophic loss, and strengthen an organization’s balance sheet. Here are the top four motivating factors for trade credit Insurance.
-
Workout Workshop: A Guide to Navigating Problem Loans
Nov 28, 2022
Many ABL professionals have little to no workout or bankruptcy experience thanks to the past ten years of relative calm. This article details the anatomy of an ABL workout and serves as a primer for many readers and a refresher course for more experienced lenders.
-
The Single Group Facility: Simplifying Cross-Border Receivables Finance
Nov 21, 2022In November of 2021, SFNet announced its first Cross-Border Finance Essay Contest, sponsored by Goldberg Kohn Ltd. Members of SFNet’s International Finance and Development Committee judged the essay submissions on content, originality, clarity, structure and overall contribution to furthering and expanding understanding and discourse within the field of cross-border finance. This essay is the first-place essay.
The authors of the winning essays have been invited to participate on a panel at SFNet’s 78th Annual Convention in Austin, TX, Nov. 9-11. The third place essays were published in the September issue of TSL and the second place winner was published in the October issue. -
Nonbank Regional Asset-Based Lenders Provide an Overview of their Market
TSL’s editor-in-chief gathered the heads of several nonbank regional asset-based lenders to discuss the industry from their point of view, including the challenges and opportunities, effects of COVID and their predictions for the upcoming year.
The executives interviewed are Tom Cleveland, managing partner, Access Business Finance; Michael Fussell, president, Aegis Business Credit; J. Brad Leach, president & CEO, Lighthouse Financial Corp.; Rhett Rowe, CEO, Great Lakes Business Credit; and Patrick Trammell, founding member and president, Southeastern Commercial Finance. -
SFNet's 2022 Hall of Fame Profiles
Nov 10, 2022On the following pages, we honor the industry icons who have been inducted into the 2022 SFNet Hall of Fame. We all owe a debt of gratitude to these leaders. Although they represent the industry during various periods of time, they have all made critical contributions to secured finance and deserve our appreciation for making the industry and our association what it is today.
-
Interview with Michael Scolaro, BMO Commercial Bank ABL
Nov 3, 2022As part of our series of executive interviews, Charlie Perer sits with Michael Scolaro, managing director and asset based group head for BMO Commercial Bank ABL, to hear his perspective on the state of the BL market, bank vs. non-bank competition, the future of ABL, executive development and competition, among other things. -
Talk of Wave of Borrower Defaults Overblown
Nov 1, 2022Will the long-predicted wave of defaults come to fruition? Key players in the industry provide their perspectives.
-
Factoring 101
Factoring is an age-old form of financing providing companies with much-needed cash.
It takes money to make money, as any business owner knows. But many small businesses also know what it’s like to be turned down by a bank for a loan or line of credit, not get as much as they need, or simply not get the cash quickly enough to take advantage of an opportunity.
-
The UK Government Moves Closer to Potentially Damaging Legislation Impacting the UK ABL Industry and Its Clients
The UK Government announced 11th July 2019, through the publication of the Draft Finance Bill, that it is going ahead with the reinstatement of Crown Preference in respect of VAT and PAYE.
-
PNC Bank Provides Financing to Receipt & Labeling Solutions Provider
May 30, 2019
PNC Bank, National Association, announced the closing of a $90 million senior secured credit facility for Iconex LLC (Iconex), a portfolio company of Greenwich, CT-based Atlas Holdings. PNC’s facility was provided in conjunction with a $67.5 million term loan and a $30 million delayed draw term loan provided by Cerberus Business Finance.
Click on the link below to meet some of the “difference makers” in the secured finance community. This issue of The Secured Lender celebrates those who are having a profound impact on both their communities and their organizations.
Previous TSL Articles
-
SFNet 2023 Market Sizing Study Documents a Mammoth-Sized $4.866-Trillion U.S. Secured Finance Market
Jun 6, 2023The Secured Finance Network’s (SFNet) new Secured Finance Market Sizing and Impact Study reports that the total secured financing volume of transaction flows to U.S. commercial businesses in 2022 was nearly $4.9 trillion. In other words, the scope of this market, which comprises seven major financing categories, “underpins, either directly or indirectly, over one-fifth of…the transaction volumes that make up the $23 trillion in U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” according to the study.
-
SFNet Partners with NYU Stern to Offer new Course - Impactful Leadership for High Potentials, Bringing a Multi-faceted Learning Experience
May 11, 2023The Secured Finance Foundation has joined forces with NYU Stern Executive Education to bring a multi-faceted learning experience taught by NYU Professor, Nathan Pettit (pictured) coupled with real-world secured finance applications.
This two-day course, held in person at NYU Stern June 20-21, will introduce attendees to a variety of analytical frameworks while simultaneously modelling tactical approaches – all with the focus on developing leadership skills.
-
SFNet Member Spotlight: Sound Point Capital Management, LP
May 8, 2023Sound Point Capital Management, LP
375 Park Avenue, 33rd Floor
New York, NY 10152
www.soundpointcap.com
Sound Point Capital Management, LP is an asset management firm founded in 2008 with particular expertise in credit strategies. -
Nonbank Lenders Take Note of Venture Lending Opportunities
May 4, 2023As VC markets cool, more cash-starved companies are turning to venture lending to tide them over until a new equity round is possible. Lenders are taking note—but it may not be the lenders one would expect.
In this Q&A with Jennifer Post, managing partner of Thompson Coburn LLP’s Los Angeles office, she discusses if recession fears are slowing down equity markets, if start-ups are depending more on risky “uncommon players” for venture capital and other critical challenges startups face.
-
SFNet Member Spotlight: Infinity ABL Services, LLC
Infinity ABL Services, LLC
1121 Mason Ave.
Drexel Hill, PA 19026-2509
https://www.infinityabl.comInfinity ABL provides field exam services for banks and other commercial finance institutions. Infinity ABL, created in February 2021, has three partners with extensive ABL knowledge.
-
Hitting Their Stride: Secured Finance Professionals Discuss Keys to Developing Confidence
What is it about some women that makes them seem fearless and unflappable? Here, we interview three women, Phyllis Young, partner, McGuireWoods LLP; Jan Bellah chief operating officer, Pay4Freight LLC; Jennifer Cann, senior vice president and head of the Retail Finance Group Portfolio, Bank of America, N.A. with very different careers in the financial industry who seem to have figured out the key to feeling and appearing confident and effective in the workplace. -
Interview with Melissa Mok, Director of Asset-Based Lending Originations, Truist Securities
The Women in Secured Finance e-newsletter's feature interview for this issue is with Melissa Mok, director of asset-based lending for Truist Securities. Mok joined Truist Securities in 2014. Located in Texas, she is responsible for ABL originations of mid- and large-cap companies and is currently focused on the Financial Services, Energy and Industrial Services. TMT and TME industry verticals.
-
SFNet’s Emerging Leaders Summit, Mid-Year Roundtables to Offer More Networking Opportunities
May 1, 2023SFNet’s Emerging Leaders Summit (formerly YoPro Leadership Summit) will be held in Florida for the first time since its inception in 2018. This year, SFNet is adding Mid-Year Member Roundtables, a CEO Roundtable (invitation only), and a Chapter Presidents meeting held in conjunction with the Summit, May 22-23, 2023 at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, FL.
“Our younger members have told us they want to build relationships with cohorts at all levels of experience and influence as well as with their peers,” said Rich Gumbrecht, CEO, SFNet. “So, we tried something new this year by coupling our Mid-Year Member Roundtables and Chapter Presidents meeting with the Emerging Leader Summit. We programmed lots of interconnectivity through social events and shared programming to create a contact-rich environment.” -
SFNet's International Lending Conference to Address Restructuring, Insolvency, M&A Market Review, Private Debt, and More in London
Apr 17, 2023SFNet's International Lending Conference (ILC) brings together some of the most interesting players on the international lending scene for discussions and insights into what lies ahead. This year’s Conference will be held at DLA Piper Offices, May 9-11, 2023.
“War, energy crisis, high inflation, synchronized interest rate hikes and stagnation in China, should have pushed the European economy in a deep recession,” said economist and journalist, Dr. Mathijs Bouman, who will kick off the Conference. “But, the old continent is more resilient than many feared and the downturn could turn out to be shallow and short-lived. But new challenges lay ahead for European industries: the structurally tight labor market, trade and investment wars and fragmentation of the world economy and the rising costs of climate policy.”
-
What’s in Fashion for Factoring, 2023
Apr 10, 2023Last year was not the type of “cascade” we thought it would be – at all – as 2022 turned out to be more characterized by a surge of rising rate hikes and new concerns, versus a wave of new deals. Undeterred, we’re back this year to so see what could be infashion for factoring in 2023.
First on our list, the hot new color for this year – Viva Magenta!
In This Section
The Secured Lender

SFNet's 40 Under 40 Issue