The article is devoted to the disclosure of certain issues concerning the understanding of the essence of the category “factoring” as an important component of financial services through the prism of today’s challenges. It is determined that the concept of factoring (financing under the assignment of the right of monetary claim) is not enshrined in civil law. It was stressed that the economic crisis has exacerbated the problem of limiting financial resources and providing quality financial services, which leads to the search and implementation of innovative types of financial services and needs to improve the transmission mechanism of monetary policy, development of credit operations of banks and financial companies standards of the European Union, improving trade conditions in Ukraine. And here, factoring comes in handy, which is an effective tool to accelerate money circulation and increase business efficiency. However, due to the rapid development of factoring in the financial services market – regulations in this area need to be updated and there is a need to introduce new scientific recommendations for its practical application. In the article the essence of factoring is covered in the plane of theory, and also, in the plane of judicial practice. It is noted that among researchers of this issue there is no generalizing concept of this category and understanding the essence of this legal phenomenon through the prism of today’s challenges. Emphasis is placed on the existence of four main concepts of factoring, namely: the assignment of the right of claim; it is a banking operation; this is a type of financial services; this is a separate independent contract type. It is proposed to consider factoring as a complex concept. Particular attention is paid to the indication of the characteristics of financial services, which allows through their prism to highlight factoring transactions.