The supply chain finance problem nobody talks about
It is not access to finance. It is knowing where you actually stand, across facilities, currencies and counterparties, before someone asks. finPhlo is the financial control layer that sits on top of your trading operations and your lending relationships.
The real challenge is not getting a facility
If you are a commodity trader running serious annual throughput, you probably have access to trade finance: revolving credit with two or three banks, a receivables programme, perhaps inventory financing against warehouse stock. The problem is everything that happens after the facility is in place.
The CFO runs the cashflow forecast in a spreadsheet that references three other spreadsheets. Treasury reconciles bank balances by hand every morning. FX exposure is a best guess until someone pulls the numbers together at month-end. When the bank asks for a utilisation report, someone spends two days assembling it from email threads and trade confirmations. And when you evaluate whether you have the headroom for the next trade, you are making a capital allocation decision on a number that was accurate three days ago.
The cost of this is real
Traders discover at month-end that they have been running near the top of their facility for two weeks, technically in breach, without knowing it. Others miss preferential duty savings because nobody connected the trade's origin with the rate schedule. The finance function ends up spending most of its time compiling reports and only a fraction analysing them. Those ratios should be inverted.
What a CFO actually needs to see in real time
finPhlo was built by the people who build the ERP and CTRM systems commodity houses run on, not by consultants. CFOs do not need another lending platform. They need four things, live, on top of their operations and their lending relationships.
Where the cash is
Not where it was when someone last updated the spreadsheet, but right now, aggregated across every bank account, every currency and every open trade.
What the FX exposure looks like
Net position by currency and maturity, with hedges matched against underlying trades. Before the rate moves, not after. See FX & hedging.
How much facility headroom exists
Across all lending relationships, accounting for pending drawdowns, upcoming repayments and covenant thresholds. See working capital & facilities.
Whether the next trade is fundable
A pre-trade feasibility calculation that models cost of supply, financing cost, logistics and margin before anyone commits capital.
Every financing type a trade actually needs
A single trade might involve pre-shipment finance to the supplier, inventory financing while goods sit in a warehouse, and receivables financing once the buyer has the invoice. Different facilities, different drawdown mechanics, different schedules, often different currencies. finPhlo handles them as utilisation types within one framework.
Pre-shipment finance
Fund production and sourcing before goods ship. Link drawdowns to purchase orders and see the repayment timeline aligned to shipment and settlement dates. When goods ship, the utilisation transitions to post-shipment automatically.
Post-shipment finance
Bridge the gap between shipment and buyer payment, where timing mismatches hit hardest. Each drawdown is tracked against its sales order, and any payment slipping past terms is flagged.
Receivables financing
Finance against outstanding invoices with aging analysis, each receivable mapped to its facility drawdown, discount rate and recourse terms. When a receivable settles, the repayment is matched automatically.
Inventory and warehouse stock
Fund goods in warehouses, bonded stores, tank farms or in transit. Warehouse receipts link to drawdowns, with mark-to-market valuation on live commodity prices so you and your lender see current collateral value.
Gap funding
Short-term working capital for timing mismatches that do not fit the other categories: a deposit due on a new contract before the last receivable has settled. Model the gap, draw short, repay against the expected inflow.
One facility framework
All of the above live inside one facility management view, so utilisation, headroom and covenant compliance are always the aggregate truth across banks and currencies.
The feasibility question, answered before capital is committed
Before committing capital to a trade, a CFO needs to answer a simple question: does this trade work financially? That means modelling the cost of supply (procurement, logistics, insurance, duties), the financing cost (facility rate, drawdown period, hedge cost) and the expected margin, all before the trader commits. In most companies that analysis lives in a spreadsheet someone built years ago that nobody fully understands.
finPhlo's feasibility engine, which we call pre-calc, structures this. It pulls live data (commodity prices, exchange rates, freight rates) and models the full cost of supply against expected revenue. If the trade is feasible it can be linked straight to a facility drawdown request. If it is not, you find out before you have committed capital. See trade feasibility for how the engine works.
What this means for your bank relationship
Lenders care about visibility and control. The easier you make it for your bank to see what you are doing with their facility, the more likely they are to increase limits and offer better terms. finPhlo generates the reports they need, facility utilisation, drawdown history, collateral valuation, covenant compliance, directly from the system of record. No manual assembly, no transcription errors, no three-day turnaround.
Covenant monitoring that works
finPhlo tracks covenant thresholds against live facility data and alerts you before a breach, not after. As utilisation approaches the cap, you know with enough time to manage the position rather than explain it to your bank after the fact.
No re-keying, on both sides of the table
finPhlo does not ask you to re-enter your trades. If you run opsPhlo for trading operations, purchase orders, sales orders and counterparty data flow in automatically. On another ERP, we integrate by API. Bank connectivity gives an aggregated cash position across accounts, updated through the day, and mark-to-market valuations use live commodity prices, so collateral value moves with the market.
finPhlo is built primarily for the borrower's CFO, but it serves the other side too. Trade finance funds and alternative lenders use finPhlo to manage portfolios: fund valuation, share-class management, investor onboarding with full compliance screening, subscription agreements and contract notes. If you are both a trader and a financier, as many commodity houses are, finPhlo covers both roles. See for financiers.
From compiling reports to acting on them
Before finPhlo
- Cashflow forecast assembled weekly in spreadsheets.
- FX exposure calculated at month-end.
- Facility utilisation tracked manually per bank.
- Covenant compliance checked quarterly.
- Bank reports take days to produce.
- Trade feasibility in a legacy spreadsheet model.
After finPhlo
- Live cashflow dashboard across all bank accounts.
- Real-time FX position by currency and maturity.
- Aggregated facility view with headroom alerts.
- Continuous covenant monitoring with early warnings.
- Board-ready reports generated in minutes.
- Structured pre-calc with live market data.
See what your financial position actually looks like
We will run a walkthrough using your own facility structure and trade data. No generic demo: your numbers, in finPhlo.