Leading sportswear retailer PUMA, in association with the banking giant BNB Paribas, IFC and GT Nexus, a privately owned cloud supply chain platform, has come up with a financing programme that promises to incentivise its suppliers who abide by high environmental, social, health and safety standards. The supplier financing scheme will ideally allow suppliers of large corporates to access more attractive financing packages by benefiting from the buyer’s credit standing.
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The companies unanimously said that the new supplier financing scheme aims to provide ‘financial incentives’ to those who demonstrate a strong environmental and social performance, and explained that the rate at which the bank discounts suppliers’ invoices will depend not only on PUMA’s credit standing but also on PUMA’s supplier rating applied after the retailer has monitored a supplier’s adherence to its social and environmental standards through an auditing process.
In a statement, Lars Sørensen, PUMA’s Chief Operating Officer said, “This is the first programme in our industry, which takes into consideration a supplier’s score in PUMA’s environmental and sustainability rating as a bonus or malus on related fees. Thus, our supplier’s investments in sustainability are rewarded, which is an additional incentive for them to improve their environmental and social standards.”
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The programme is set to be offered to over 300 PUMA’s external manufacturing partners worldwide. “The programme launched with PUMA highlights the growing importance of sustainability matters across industries and demonstrates BNP Paribas’ ability to implement such innovative financing solutions. It is also a testimony of PUMA’s strong innovation capacity as a leading-mover in the industry,” said Jacques Levet, Head – Transaction Banking EMEA, BNP Paribas.
