urkey, for so long that barometer of emerging market confidence, is pushing itself headlong into EU membership and international investor acceptance. However, as Soli özel, professor of international relations and political science at Istanbul Bilgi University and currently a visiting fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford University, explains, the country is beset by economic and political handicaps that still hold it to ransom.
Africa's efforts to address its own economic and social problems have converged into the recent establishment of the African Union and its New Partnership for African Development (Nepad). However, as Rupert Sayer finds out, despite the goodwill of richer nations, the continent's problems have to be tackled before investor confidence greatly increases.
WestLB ITCF Forfaiting has completed a US$50mn 720-day trade-related promissory note facility for Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior SNC, Mexico (Bancomext). The facility has been priced at floating six-month Libor plus 0.50% per annum all-inclusive and will be utilised by Mexico's government-owned development bank to finance import and export trade activities.
The Dominican Republic has banks chattering they either seem in love with the place or think it overrated. Rupert Sayer hears about the pros and cons of a stable and growing Caribbean market.
Julio Morejon has a mantra at the moment:
Several multilateral fiscal boosts may have saved Brazil's short-term financial future but it may not have saved its reputation in the eyes of trade financiers and investors. Everything hinges on the outcome of the presidential election in October,
How did Argentina get into the mess it is currently in What are the necessary conditions for restoring stability And what are the implications for Latin America and other emerging markets Glen Hodgson, vice-president and deputy chief eco
Noble Group Limited has completed via Noble Finance Ltd a US$100mn, three-year revolving loan facility with optional trade finance facility. The co-ordinating arrangers were Bank of China Hong Kong and Fleet Boston Financial and the deal has been participated in by Bank of India, Hamburgische Landesbank, Indover Bank, IntesaBci, Nedcor Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and United Overseas Bank.
The Asian crisis of 1997 changed much in the economic landscape of the region not least the nature and direction of structured trade finance. Christian Stauffer, a director of Noble Trade Finance Limited, the structured trade and commodity finance vehicle of Noble Group Limited based in Hong Kong, argues that today the market is becoming ever-more sophisticated, with corporates demanding more and more value-added services.
The crisis in Argentina has not had any great negative effect on Asia as far as trade finance is concerned. As Helen Castell reports from Hong Kong however, margins have remained low as competition has increased among deal-hungry banks in the region
The past year or two has seen the Russian trade and export finance markets boom. The question now is how much further borrowers will be able to improve the terms of their financings and more generally whether the depth of appetite to finance the
Norilsk deal structured around German offtake
Deutsche Bank and SG have signed a US$75mn structured copper pre-export financing for Norilsk Nickel, the leading Russian nickel producer. The transaction is structured around the borrower&
LTP markets in Russia
MDM Financial Group, a leading Russian commercial banking group, and LTP Trade plc, the UK-based solutions provider for the trade finance market, have signed an agreement und
It seems aeons ago that Bolero, TradeCard and CCEWeb launched their electronic trade offerings to an expectant market. Some years on and it would be fair to say that progress has been slow. Now, argues Steve Rynecki, the banks could steal a march on
A uniform set of rules for the world of electronic trade were published earlier this year. eUCP is definitely a key development in bringing the market closer to accomplishing collaborative electronic solutions in the documentary credits arena, belie
Otto UK, a subsidiary of the world's largest catalogue retailer, has used bolero.net to develop a state-of-the-art electronic document-handling platform providing unprecedented supply chain visibility.
As the annual forfaiting meeting convenes in Dublin in September, a fair few IFA members could create a few sparks. They are unhappy with the new IFA guidelines on market practice and say that the IFA board has ignored vital issues of concern that they have brought up. Rupert Sayer listens to both sides of the argument.
As UK director of project and export finance at engineering giant Alstom, John Tyler has a pretty good window on the state of international export markets and of sentiment. He is also chairman of the British Exporters Association (BExA), which gives
Aluminium project agrees loans
Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) has agreed a number of bilateral loans for its Kestrel expansion project. It has secured a US$200mn loan from Citigroup/SSSB, a US$75mn loan from Crédit A
Trade finance has always been regarded as the most resilient of financial products, able to continue when all other capital markets are effectively closed. The performance of the trade and export finance markets in the Middle East over the past year
PMorgan Treasury Services has appointed Conor O'Dowd as regional head of global trade asset distribution in EMEA to cater for the growing demand from its clients for risk and balance sheet management techniques around its trade business.
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Banks are jostling for a stake in South Africa’s promising renewable energy sector. Will this be the next best thing for the project finance market, asks GTR deputy editor Shannon Manders?
