The return of Tory sleaze
What’s happened?
reensill Capital was in the “supply-chain finance” business – a modern spin on a well-established payment system known as reverse factoring. It involves intermediary lenders (such as Greensill) earning a small fee on loans that allow purchasing companies to smooth out their spending and suppliers to get paid more quickly if they accept a fractionally lower payment. It’s a legitimate business, but opaque and unloved by regulators since it can be used to disguise spiralling borrowing. Greensill was one of a handful of firms that made the basic concept more risky by selling off loans
