According to Forbes, trade credit insurer Euler Hermes has notified vendors to Galeria Kaufhof of Germany that factoring merchandise would be reduced by 80%. This essentially means that it has lost confidence in the company and that many vendors will ship only after receiving advance payment. Although parent company HBC has a global credit of around $2.3 billion, this comes at a bad time for Kaufhof which is currently confirming orders for autumn and winter season and needs full cooperation from vendors. Apparently Kaufhof, with 97 department stores in Germany and 16 Inno stores in Belgium, has been losing market share to its competitor Karstadt, owned by Signa Holding. Some commentators are speculating that the latter might be interested in taking over Kaufhof to create the "German department store".