· Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia and China are the most complex countries for debt collection
· The US and Australia are the most complex developed economies
· Most of the easiest countries to collect debt in are in Western Europe
· Insolvency proceedings cause half of complexity
· Court-related issues are the source of 31% of overall complexity; Local payment practices explain the remainder
Globally, collection complexity stands at 51 on our 0-100 scale. From the lowest level of complexity in Sweden to the highest in Saudi Arabia,
Chart 1 presents our updated ranking of the best and worst places to collect a debt.
Complexity proves to be ‘Notable’ in less than 3 out of 10 countries. Most of them are located in Western Europe, the only exception being New Zealand. Sweden and Germany are the best in class, just ahead of Ireland and Finland.
Nine countries register a ‘High’ level of collection complexity, notably in Asia (Japan, Hong-Kong and Singapore), but also in Europe (Poland and Romania for the Eastern side, Italy and Greece for the Western side).
A ‘Very High’ level of collection complexity appears to be the standard in most regions. In Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe and even North America the share of countries rated 'High Level' exceeds 50%.
Latin America has 3 out of 5 countries with very high collection complexity: Chile, Colombia and Argentina.
Chart 1 Collection Complexity Score and Ratings from least complex to most complex
