In our latest episode, we present the January Business Risk Index results and analysis. CreditorWatch CEO Patrick Coghlan and index creator James O'Donnell from Open Analytics discuss the key insights.

There was a small increase in trade activity for February - an encouraging sign but it is too early to tell if it is the beginning of a sustainable pick up in trade activity. The impact of the east coast floods is yet to be seen in CreditorWatch’s data, but it will undoubtedly drag down trade activity.

Credit enquiries were at 211,357 for February – the highest monthly number since November 2021 and second highest since July.

Court actions have seen a significant increase in the last quarter when compared to the corresponding period last year. We are seeing early signs of enforcements and collections activities returning to normal.

External administrations increased 29 per cent from January to February.

Trade payment defaults jumped 35 per cent from January to February.

The net result of the CreditorWatch Business Risk Index and our broader credit indicators is that trade activity remains subdued with the impending economic impacts of the east-coast floods expected to exacerbate this.

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