Trade finance funds seek new deals

A short while ago the handful of active trade finance funds were a novelty. Fast forward five years: their numbers have reached double digits - and they are underwriting deals that banks will not or cannot, writes Erika Morphy.

Nara Capital in Geneva is among the small but growing cadre of investors that are seeking exposure to trade finance paper and transactions via a fund. A fund of funds itself, in theory Nara's approach to the market is by definition much wider that those funds that are originating loans or trading paper on the secondary market: in short its investment guidelines allow it to buy anywhere along the spectrum of trade finance transactions, from working capital to pre-export finance to structured finance to purchase order financing.