Ace launches trade credit portal

Political risk insurer Ace has launched ACE 360, a web portal allowing clients to monitor and administer their trade credit policies online.

JLT names capital risks director

Risk insurer Jardine Lloyd Thompson has appointed Mark Wong as regional director in its capital risks team in Asia.

Brazil and Africa forge trade pact

The African Development Bank and Brazilian Development Bank have agreed a long-term agreement to boost financial cooperation in the two regions.

Brazil's Telemar recieves Nordic backing

Nordea and KfW Ipex Bank are providing a 10-year US$400mn export loan to finance Brazilian telecommunications enterprise Telemar Norte Leste.
 

EU regulators under pressure to amend CRD4

Banks and businesses are calling for EU regulators to amend the proposed new capital requirements.

PrimeRevenue appoints SCF exec

PrimeRevenue has appointed Oliver Belin as business development executive at its Europe office.

NLMK puts potential PXF on hold

Russian steel giant NLMK has postponed a potential pre-export financing that it was looking to raise early this year.

XL names political risk team

XL Insurance has named the three former QBE members that have joined its global political risk and trade credit team in London.

Labbat joins JP Morgan

Lillian Labbat has joined JP Morgan as managing director in its treasury services team.

Turkish wind farm gets German backing

Bayern LB has agreed a €39.125mn export loan to wind turbine developer Nordex to develop Turkish wind farm Zeytineli.

GTR reveals Best Deals 2011

GTR has whittled down a huge number of best deal submissions to under 30 winning transactions.

We hope that the selected deals reflect the diversity of the trade, supply chain and export finance market. The winning list includes transactions closed in various countries including Iraq, Azerbaijan, Angola, Guatemala and Ghana.

We also saw a wide range of sectors supported by the trade and export finance banking industry, including the financing of satellites, car ferries, telecoms equipment, radars, cocoa and cashew nuts, among many others.

StanChart acquires ETG

Standard Chartered has acquired a US$74mn minority stake in Tanzania’s Export Trading Group in a deal that values the company at over US$500mn.

Emea insurance rates expected to rise

Insurance rates for natural catastrophe risk and supply chain perils are expected to continue increasing in 2012 across Emea.

Baft-IFSA elects new board

Financial services group Baft-IFSA elected new members to its 2012-13 board at the group’s global annual meeting in Europe this week.

Ugandan hydropower project gets green light

Renewable energy company South Asia Energy Management Systems has received a US$24mn loan to develop a 14MW run-of-the-river hydropower project in Uganda.

ITFC signs sugar refinery deal

The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation has signed a US$60mn syndicated structured finance deal with Indonesian sugar refinery, PT Angels Products.

Piracy attacks are on the rise

Pirate attacks in East and West Africa are rising, according to the International Chamber of Commerce.

Factoring services are in high demand

Since the global financial crisis there been an increased awareness in factoring products and their ability to finance domestic and international trade, according to Malta’s FimBank.

Markets monitor EU ban on Iranian oil exports

EU ministers have agreed to place a ban on new contracts for Iranian exports of crude oil and petroleum products.

ICC predicts gloomy outlook for trade

The demand for trade finance products will wane in 2012, according to research by the International Chamber of Commerce and the International Monetary Fund.

The research is based on a joint ICC-IMF survey among 337 financial institutions which indicated the emergence of a two-speed financial system with the outlook for emerging Asia being the strongest, and the eurozone lagging behind as the weakest.

BBVA's Shaw moves to New York

BBVA’s global head of transactional trade finance, Nick Shaw, has transferred to the bank’s New York branch.

SMBC buys RBS aviation business

RBS has agreed to sell its aviation business to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation for US$7.3bn.

Barclays hires new Mena trade head

Barclays Corporate has hired Kersi Patel as its new head of trade and working capital in the Middle East.

InvestBank opens TF subsidiary

Sharjah-based InvestBank has opened a second subsidiary bank, Al Imdad to specialise in trade financing and supply chain logistics for traders and manufacturers.

Rand names new FI member

South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank has appointed Cheri Manthe as senior relationship manager in its banks and development finance institutions team.

Bryant joins Deutsche's UK trade team

Jeff Bryant has joined Deutsche Bank as director within the trade finance UK team. He will be based in London.

JP Morgan sells off Vastera

Shipping logistics firm Livingston International has acquired the customs and trade compliance services of JP Morgan’s global trade business, formerly known as Vastera.

London set to become Rmb trading centre

London is set to become an offshore trading centre for Rmb after chancellor George Osborne signed a deal with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority this week.

France's downgrade 'already reflected in the market'

France and Austria have lost their AAA ratings and have been downgraded by Standard & Poor’s to AA +.

Cameroon gas project wins syndicated loan

Kribi Power Development Company has won a €138mn syndicated loan with six international and development banks to construct a natural gas-fired power plant in Cameroon.

US Exim approves loan for Saudi Quaryyah IPP

US Exim has approved its involvement in the Saudi Quaryyah IPP project in Riyadh.

RBS shake-up sees GTS division restructured

RBS is set to restructure its global transaction services division, which includes trade finance.

Turkish importer gets JBIC backing

Turkish industrial importer and retailer Enka Pazarlama has signed a ¥15bn loan with the help of Asian banks and export credit agencies to purchase and export construction machinery from Japan.

JP Morgan mandated for Airbus deal

China Southern is in the process of finalising the purchase of an Airbus A380 with the help of JP Morgan and export credit agencies UK Export Finance, Coface and Euler Hermes.

Euro woes increase UK trade deficit

The UK’s trade deficit remains volatile as the latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows another rise in figures.

Viewpoint January 11, 2011

GTR editor Rebecca Spong looks forward to 2012 and asks what kind of New Year resolutions the market should be making.

Time to make resolutions for trade

Optimists are hard to find in the banking world as 2012 begins. There’s heightened job uncertainty, jittery markets and a big question mark over how the eurozone crisis will resolve itself.

But New Year is also a time for resolutions and figuring out a way of improving ourselves.

We at GTR have come up with a number of resolutions for the trade finance market; suggestions that could mean that the industry ends 2012 in a better state than it left 2011.

Regulatory issues: One thing we hear time and time again at conferences and roundtables is the need to inform clients of the impact of Basel III. Banks’ customers will need to understand why they are being charged more for their trade facilities.

Regulators may listen more to the arguments of corporates than the complaints of bankers.

Don’t try to be good at everything: The end of the global banking era was heralded by some last year. Perhaps a slightly over-dramatic stance to take, but there is definitely the need for banks to focus on their strengths and not try to provide every service or product in every region. We often hear warnings that bankers need to do business in regions and with risks they understand.

Ensuring senior management is aware of the relevance of your business: As the cliché goes, trade finance is the oil that keeps the wheels of trade turning. Trade finance is vital for world trade, particularly in the emerging markets. It is also a low risk fee-driven business that will keep generating regular income for your bank, in both the good times and bad.

Price risk correctly: The market itself has to also make efforts to ensure it remains a profitable and respected business. GTR often hears complaints of bankers not pricing deals in a way that actually reflect the risks involved.

Forget preconceived ideas on country risk: Reconsider what you think makes a good risk. The tables have turned in recent years, with growth stagnating in Europe and the US and markets in Brazil and areas of Africa booming.

Is 2012 the year to take a different approach when considering your country limits?

Development and aid: The need to finance deals that support the development of poorer countries might not be a top concern right now as people worry about where the next set of job cuts might happen. However, perhaps there is a way that banks work with multilaterals or development banks in supporting the growth of poverty-stricken nations, while also generating shareholder return?

The reputation of the banking industry has been sullied in recent years – perhaps it is time to demonstrate the social value banks can bring to the world?

The latest data from Dealogic reveals that the final quarter of 2011 saw a significant dip in trade finance activity; no doubt a reflection of the wider market volatility.

However the first nine months saw almost record volumes of trade finance.

The market will need to make efforts to ensure it can return to the success of early 2011 and survive any current turmoil.

What other resolutions should the market make?

Are you feeling optimistic about the outlook for 2012?

Equinox Global makes new hire

Citi introduces Rmb service

Citi’s global transaction services has launched an Rmb trade settlement service in Sri Lanka.

Trade finance volumes hit new low

Trade finance activity fell to a new low in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to new data from Dealogic.

Just 137 deals were recorded in the final quarter of last year, the lowest level seen since Q1 in 2004 when just 113 deals were closed.

Euler Hermes and Afrexim seal trade agreement

In an attempt to boost trade, Germany’s export credit agency Euler Hermes has signed a cooperation agreement with the African Export-Import Bank.

Nuclear insurance platform launched

Insurance broker Marsh has helped launch Northcourt − a new managing agent for the nuclear insurance market.

ABCIB names new management team

ABC International Bank has restructured its management team in London.

RBS job cuts remain undecided

The news that RBS is planning to cut 10,000 jobs has been circulating throughout the week.

Thomas Cooper appoints senior partner successor

Stephen Swabey, senior partner at law firm Thomas Cooper, will retire at the end of April. Tim Kelleher has been appointed as his successor.

Norilsk closes syndication oversubscribed

Russian metals producer Norilsk Nickel has closed its US$1.5bn five-year pre-export finance facility oversubscribed.

SunGard survey reveals treasurer priorities

A study conducted by SunGard reveals that the role of corporate treasurer has transformed over the past few years due to changes in the global economy.

Milkiland seals US$100mn syndicated loan

Russian and Ukrainian dairy producer Milkiland has closed a four-year US$100mn syndicated facility with three international banks to refinance its existing loans.

BBVA leads Venezuelan steel deal

Venezuelan national steel company EPSSN has won a €480mn loan from a syndicate of banks led by BBVA to finance a steel production project.

BNY Mellon creates new treasury team

BNY Mellon has established a new treasury services sales team led by Emea sales manager Colin Robertson.

PrimeRevenue expands SCF services

Lifestyle brands provider Pacific Brands has deployed PrimeRevenue’s open supply chain finance platform with financing help from National Australia Bank.

Acron and Sberbank sign loan agreements

Russia’s Sberbank has provided a US$100mn loan to fertiliser firm Acron to fund its trade finance operations.

Qatar Petroleum closes year's largest project financing

Qatar Petroleum has closed a US$6.6bn financing with a syndicate of over 30 banks and export credit agencies to fund the Barzan gas project.

The project will be financed with up to 30% equity while the remaining 70% will be in the form of a syndicated loan, expected to total US$7.2bn.

The loan comprises a commercial bank facility of US$3.34bn, a US$850mn Islamic facility and US$2.55bn worth of ECA financing.

Baker Botts appoints Middle East partner

Christopher Aylward has joined international law firm Baker Botts as partner in its Middle East practice in Dubai.