According to www.gtreview.com, Orbian — a supply chain finance (SCF) provider formed from a joint venture between Citibank and SAP — is accelerating supplier onboarding to two days and securing cross-auditor recognition for its Flex Pay solution under IFRS accounting standards.
Resilience Over Optimization
Orbian’s strategic pivot reflects a broader industry shift: corporates are no longer prioritizing working capital optimization alone but urgently require resilience and flexibility amid escalating geopolitical uncertainty, supply chain fragmentation, and persistent liquidity pressure. As Simon Allen, director of origination for the EMEA region at Orbian, explained, ‘The focus has always been on optimisation of working capital, but today it’s evolving around resilience and flexibility.’ This recalibration is driving demand not just for traditional SCF, but for structures that can onboard suppliers in days rather than weeks — especially critical when tariffs or trade corridor shifts occur every two weeks.
Speed, Structure, and Accounting Certainty
Orbian’s Express-SCF product enables supplier onboarding within two days, irrespective of jurisdiction — a stark contrast to conventional single-bank-led programmes that can take up to one month. This speed stems from Orbian’s proprietary capability, first developed in 2018, which eliminates the need for suppliers to sign agreements with Orbian or assign receivables. Complementing this is Flex Pay, a deferred or post-maturity payment solution that allows corporates to access liquidity through their own balance sheet without increasing financial debt. Crucially, Flex Pay has received consistent accounting treatment as ‘other payables‘ — not net financial debt — under IFRS, a classification formally approved by all four major global auditors.
Bank-Agnostic Funding and Geographic Expansion
Funding architecture is central to Orbian’s resilience proposition. Its solution is 100% bank-agnostic, enabled by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) structure that allows multiple banks to finance early payments to suppliers on the same day. This mitigates risks inherent in single-source funding — a vulnerability exposed when banks have withdrawn support from specific buyers or jurisdictions. Geographically, Orbian is scaling operations: it recently acquired Roger, a payment institution headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic, and is opening a new office in Prague. These moves align with increased regionalisation of supply chains across Europe and heightened demand for localised financial infrastructure.
Regulatory Momentum and Supplier Inclusion
Increased regulatory scrutiny — particularly around disclosure requirements under IFRS and US GAAP — is acting as a catalyst for SCF adoption. According to Allen, peers are now benchmarking performance, fostering competition and prompting previously uninitiated corporates to launch SCF programmes. Flex Pay further expands inclusion: it enables engagement with suppliers who would otherwise reject participation in traditional SCF due to reluctance to extend payment terms. While SCF functions as a ‘marathon’, Flex Pay operates as a ‘sprint’ — delivering liquidity faster because it is fully treasury-led. This agility is essential in volatile conditions where conflicts erupt and trade policies shift rapidly.
Industry Context and Practitioner Implications
Orbian’s acceleration mirrors broader market trends. A 2025 GTR Global SCF Survey found that 73% of multinational corporates now operate multi-bank SCF programmes, up from 58% in 2022 — reflecting growing awareness of single-point-of-failure risk. Similarly, Orbian’s acquisition of Roger follows comparable moves by PrimeRevenue (acquiring Cashlink in Germany, 2024) and Tradeshift (integrating Supply Chain Finance Solutions GmbH in Austria). For supply chain professionals, this means evaluating SCF providers not only on cost but on onboarding velocity, funding redundancy, and audit-ready accounting outcomes — especially as treasury teams face mounting pressure to report liquidity access transparently under evolving standards.
Source: gtreview.com
Compiled from international media by the SCI.AI editorial team.
