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Today, The Institute of Credit Management (ICM) is a nationally and even
internationally recognised body, championing and supporting the cause of its
Members working within the credit profession.
Some might be surprised to learn,
however, that this very British Institution in fact owes its existence to the
activities of a group of men 3,000 miles away in the United States.
It was in June 1934 that a man called Cuthbert Greig, the chief executive of
what was to become UAPT-Infolink plc – received a visit in London from William S
Swingle, a manager at the Foreign Credit Interchange Bureau (FCIB) of the
National Association of Creditmen.
The meeting prompted Greig to visit the US to
see in person the work that the association was doing and how it was supporting
credit managers and credit management in the US.
At the time, Greig was a member of the Council of the National Association of
Trade Protection Societies (NATPS) which was then in its heyday, and he began
canvassing the views of fellow members as to the advantages of a separate credit
management body.
He received particular support from John Harrison of Harrison
Seeds, and between the two of them they presented their ideas to NATPS in a
joint memorandum with detailed proposals for the formation of an Association of
Creditmen.
The council agreed in principal to the new association, and voted the princely
sum of £100 be set aside to cover any expenses incurred in bringing the new
sub-committee to life.
Greig and Harrison were appointed members, along with
J.P.Burd of the Manchester Guardian Society and Charles Worters in the role of
secretary.
Progress was surprisingly fast, and a debate started in earnest as regards what
the new sub-committee should be called and where it should be based.
On 23rd
November 1938, it was agreed that the committee would be known as The National
Institute of Creditmen (Institute being preferred to association) and that it
should be based in London but with regional branches.
Every member would receive
an official ‘journal’.
Membership fees were set at £1 1s per annum for full
members, and 10s 6d for associates. A student membership level was also agreed
at 5s per annum.
In the event, all of these figures were in fact doubled.
At a general meeting of NATPS on 25 January 1939, the articles of association
were drawn up for the new NIC.
The emphasis then, as indeed it is today, was
very much on the betterment of the men in the profession, Cuthbert Greig being
quoted as saying that there was “a great need to train creditmen in the
commercial community…” and a similar desire “…for credit managers and executives
to keep themselves up to date.”
Three months later, and the Institute of Creditmen (the word ‘national’ had been
dropped for obtuse legal reasons) was officially registered, and in July
Cuthbert Greig delivered a report to the NATPS council on progress which
included the election of a temporary council:
► B.A.Diekmann, a credit manager with Jantzen Knitting Mills
► C.Greig, Secretary for the International Association for the Promotion and
Protection of Trade
► H.A.Pomfrett, Director of the Educational Supply Association
► R.J.Simpson, Director of the International Refrigerator Company
► R.G.Townsend, Secretary of Catesbys Limited
► C.C.Worters, Secretary NATPS.
With the first council in place, the group set about holding its first formal
meeting on 21st July 1939, and elected Cuthbert Greig as Chairman, and the
remaining members of the council as Fellows.
With that business out of the way,
they turned to the issue of education, and discussed at length the publication
of credit management text books, and the opportunities presented by
correspondence courses for members.
Greig himself proposed a series of evening
lectures, an idea that was heartily approved.
Unfortunately it was to be another
seven years before Cuthbert Greig would see his true ambitions for the Institute
realised, the small matter of the German’s invasion of Poland bringing a
temporary end to the Institute’s activities, at least ‘for the duration.’
Timeline 1934 - 1939
June 1934 Cuthbert Greig first learns of work in US by National Association of
Creditmen
October 1938 Greig and Harrison present proposals for UK version of an
Association of Creditmen
November 1938 The National Institute of Creditmen established in principal
January 1939 Articles of association published.
April 1939 Institute of Creditmen registered.
July 1939 First council meeting held; Greig elected first Chairman
September 1939 War is declared; Institute temporarily disbanded.
The war may indeed have caused a temporary halt to the progress of the new
Institute, but good ideas can rarely be held back for long.
Post war revival
An ‘unofficial’
meeting held on 19th July 1946 saw the Institute revived, and a date set in
September (but actually held in November) for a formal AGM.
It was also agreed
that papers were generated to ensure that those ‘creditmen’ who had been away to
war would not be disadvantaged by their lack of knowledge regarding ‘existing
conditions!’
The biggest challenge facing the Institute at that time was how to increase
membership.
By this time, Greig had resigned as Chairman (and immediately
co-opted as President) to be replaced by Mr Hiom, and J.C.McNeil Greig stepped
in as Secretary.
He was urged by his fellow councillors to use every means at
his disposal to drive up member numbers, and so the Institute was officially
‘reborn’.
It was in these early times that many of the policies and much of the ethos that
the ICM still follows today were established.
The Council was determined, for
example, that only those qualified would be allowed full membership, and that
qualification had to be on merit, not because an individual had simply handed
over a fee.
The solution to increasing member numbers then – as indeed echoed
today – was about publicising the work of the Institute, and making more people
aware of the support it was able to provide.
One of the presentations given at its meeting of 21st March 1947 was
particularly important.
Here it was proposed that the name of the Institute,
still then only in its infancy, should be changed to be ‘less American’ and more
representative – an enlightened view given the era.
The committee found it could
not agree to the change in the immediate period, and that the proposal – to
become The Institute of Credit Management – required further thought.
Further
debate seemed to confuse the Council further.
All agreed the name should change,
but nobody could agree on what the new name should be! Indeed it was to be
another six months before the Council finally resolved to accept the ‘new’ ICM
‘brand’, which it duly celebrated with the launch of the ICM’s own publication,
imaginatively titled: The Transactions of the Institute of Credit Management.
July 1946
First ‘unofficial’ meeting held to relaunch Institute
November 1946 First AGM. Greig steps down as Chairman and becomes President.
Major drive for new members begins under new secretary.
March 1947 Educational sub-committee established; new name for Institute
proposed.
September 1947
Council agrees the new name: The Institute of Credit Management; official
publication The Transactions of the Institute of Credit Management is launched;
first student enrolled on correspondence course.
October 1947
First lectures on ‘The extension of credit to traders, partnerships
and limited companies’ and ‘Credit to private individuals’
Developments within the ICM now accelerated at pace. The formal qualification
was launched, and the first students enrolled on the correspondence course.
Cuthbert Greig’s book, Commercial Creditors and Accounts Collection, which
had previously been adopted as the standard text book, was further revised, and
run as a series within the pages of The Furniture Record.
The first lectures were given, with two subjects comprising ‘The extension of
credit to traders, partnerships and limited companies’ and ‘Credit to private
individuals’ (Oh to have a record of those presentations today!).
The ICM also began to establish its ‘bite’, making its first representations in
connection with the Committee on County Court Procedures and its objection to
the proposal for scrapping the Registry of County Court Judgments.
It also teamed with colleagues from the Hire Purchase Trade Association and
Radio and TV Retailers Association to seek clarification from government as
regards its policy towards Hire Purchase business.
Although the results of such representations were disappointing, the
Institute was nonetheless establishing itself and its causes within a much wider
circle of influence. It continued with the policy in 1953 when it put together a
delegation led by Kenneth Cork (later Sir Kenneth Cork) to discuss the problem
of the banks and wages cheques with the (then) Board of Trade.
A large slice of the ICM’s history, notably the period between 1951 and 1964,
has been lost in the passage of time, and few documents remain.
A number of facts, however, are known: by February 1948, membership of the
Institute had risen to 190, and less than 10 months later had broken the 300
mark. The magic 500 was reached by early 1952.
Fancy that…
► The idea of a credit management ‘convention’ is in fact not new, the first
such ‘convention’ being held on 31st May 1948 with the objective of
allowing
members and their friends to discuss mutual problems and to become better
acquainted’.
► The first annual dinner was held at Williamson’s Tavern in the City on 20th
October 1950. Tickets were priced as 25s. There were 70 guests.
► In referring to creditors’ attitudes to a bad debt in a 1949 article in
Transactions, Council Member Mr Shaw said: “I am amazed at the complete apathy
of creditors when they go along to a [creditors’] meeting. Not only do they not
care, they have no real knowledge which will enable them to care.”
► The President’s Jewel (chain of office) was not instigated until 1968, to
perpetuate the memory of Cuthbert Greig CBE, the founder of the Institute.
► In an early issue of the relaunched ‘Credit Management’ magazine (March 1969),
Mr A.B.Breeze of the Cement Marketing Company wrote extensively about the use of
computers in credit control. He concluded: “Computers offer maximum assistance
[for] the check on credit limits, the production of reminder letters, [and] the
provision of aged analysed balances each month together with discount passed. To
call on the computer for any additional information could result in the
provision of so much data that there might be the possibility of a credit
department losing sight of the wood for the trees.”
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