Portugal’s ALF joins EUFactoring Association as founding member and vice-president

The Portuguese Association of Leasing, Factoring and Renting (ALF) has become a founding member and vice-president of the newly established EUFactoring Association, strengthening Portugal’s representation in European factoring and commercial finance policy.

Based in Brussels, EUFactoring brings together eight national associations from Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, collectively representing around 80% of the European Union’s factoring market, based on year-end 2025 figures.

The association aims to strengthen the industry’s voice with EU institutions and promote a proportionate regulatory framework that recognises the specific characteristics of factoring, receivables finance and other commercial finance solutions.

Its priorities include addressing restrictions on the assignment of receivables, capital requirements, and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations.

Factoring volumes exceed €867bn in first half of 2026

The 151 factoring institutions represented by EUFactoring’s eight founding associations purchased more than €867bn of receivables in the first half of 2026, equivalent to approximately 10% of EU GDP over the same period.

Factoring continues to play an important role in supporting business liquidity, particularly for SMEs, by enabling companies to convert outstanding invoices into working capital.

In Germany, Italy and the Netherlands alone, more than 150,000 businesses use factoring services.

“The creation of the EUFactoring Association is an important step towards giving the sector a more coordinated European voice, closer to the EU institutions.

“For ALF, becoming a founding member and Vice-President of this new association from the outset is both recognition and a responsibility: it means actively contributing to defining the sector’s priorities at European level and bringing the Portuguese market’s perspective to the debate.”

Graça highlighted the importance of ensuring European regulation reflects factoring’s contribution to business finance and economic growth.

He added: “Portuguese factoring accounted for €28.8 billion in purchased receivables in the first half of 2026, of which almost €3 billion related to Portuguese exports. This demonstrates the central role factoring plays in Portugal among the financing solutions available to businesses and the economy, making the implications of the European regulatory framework particularly significant.”

The new association intends to expand its membership to include additional national associations and international partners, creating a broader European platform for the factoring and commercial finance industry.

EUFactoring partially succeeds the activities of the former EU Federation for the Factoring and Commercial Finance Industry (EUF), which was dissolved in June 2026.