- Invoice finance helps businesses unlock cash tied up in unpaid customer invoices
- Funds advanced fell by 1.4% year on year to over €1.3 billion in Q1 2026, while total funds available rose by 1.9% to over €3 billion in the same period.
- Average funds advanced per client business reached almost €1 million at end-March 2026
More than €1.3 billion was advanced to businesses in Ireland through invoice finance at the end of Q1 2026, down 1.4% year on year, according to the latest figures from Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), while the total funds available rose by 1.9% to over €3 billion over the same period. Invoice finance is a working capital or revolving credit facility, used by both SMEs and larger businesses, to release cash tied up in outstanding customer invoices.
The following are the key figures from the report:
Funds advanced
- More than €1.3 billion was advanced by participating lenders to client businesses at the end of Q1 2026, a decrease of 1.4% year on year.
Funds available
- The total funds available to businesses rose by 1.9% year-on-year, reaching over €3.0 billion at Q1 2026.
Average funds advanced per client business
- Average funds advanced per client business remained stable between the end of March 2025 and the end of March 2026 at almost €1.0 million.
Clients’ sales
- Total quarterly client sales were over €9.5 billion in Q1 2026, virtually unchanged from the same period in 2025.
Average number of debtor days
- The average number of debtor days outstanding fell from 45 in Q1 2025 to 43 days in Q1 2026.
Commenting on today’s figures, Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI said:
“The latest figures show that invoice finance continues to provide important working capital support to Irish businesses across a wide range of sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, transport and logistics, services and recruitment. Participating lenders advanced more than €1.3 billion to client firms in Q1 2026, down 1.4% on the same period last year, while the overall funding available through these facilities increased by 1.9% to more than €3 billion.”
Mr Hayes added: “At the end of March 2026, average funds advanced per client business stood at almost €1 million, unchanged from the same period in 2025, while total quarterly client sales also remained stable at more than €9.5 billion in Q1 2026. As the sales ledger is used to secure access to funds, growth in client sales can help support greater availability of finance. Meanwhile, debtor days fell from an average of 45 to 43 days year on year, indicating that client customers were, on average, paying their invoices more quickly.”
He concluded: “These figures underline the practical role invoice finance can play for businesses managing the timing gap between issuing invoices and receiving payment. For firms with strong sales that want to expand or enhance their working capital , it can provide flexible funding that moves in line with their customer invoices.”
