As has become the norm over the years, the March/April issue of GTR celebrates the winners of our annual search for the Best Deals in trade, commodity, export and supply chain finance. Congratulations to them all!

From the 500-plus submissions, we have chosen to commend 16 deals of ‘16, all spread out relatively evenly geographically. Notably, the Kurdistan region of Iraq makes its debut on the list this year.

In terms of categories, export finance deals lead the way, followed closely by supply chain finance, where we saw some particularly impressive and novel structures. The collaboration to ensure a sustainable supply chain for sports brand Puma and Pemex’s use of capital market funding that allows a wide range of investors to join its SCF programme are just two of the deals in this category that stand out in my mind.

It’s no surprise that with the recent commodity price slump there were notably fewer deals submitted of this type, but these adverse conditions make the two winning commodity deals even more commendable. We hope the recent recovery in prices will encourage more outstanding transactions this year.

Consistent with the changes we are seeing across the market, we received a handful of fintech-related submissions for the first time this year, including two blockchain transactions: kudos to Barclays and Yes Bank in particular for their market-leading innovation in this arena.

Last year we introduced a new system for our awards and rolled both our Best Deals and Leaders in Trade competitions into one nomination process. As such, all submitted Best Deals are now being consulted to substantiate why institutions should be recognised as Leaders in Trade. The GTR editorial team is currently working through the Leaders in Trade submissions to decide on the winners, which will be announced exclusively at the GTR charity awards dinner in London on May 23.

We look forward to catching up with you then.

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