3 day event
Europe Trade Finance Week 2013
Radisson Blu Hotel, Hamburg
May, 21, 2013
GTR, the leading global financial publisher and events organiser, descended on Hamburg last week for the Europe Trade Finance Week, the continent’s leading gathering for trade, export, commodity and supply chain finance, taking place at the Radisson Blue Hamburg on May 21-23.
Held over three days and enjoying sponsor support from leading financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank, ING, Commerzbank, HSH Nordbank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and BNY Mellon, Europe Trade Finance Week incorporated various workshops, stream sessions, training simulations and networking functions, as Europe’s trade finance leaders came together to discuss both the challenges faced in the local market as well as the opportunities to be found further afield.
Discussions centred on a range of issues over the three days, from the role of exports in driving the European and global economy, challenges faced by corporate treasurers in obtaining finance and managing risk, increasing the use of cross-border supply chain finance across Europe, alternative options within the commodity finance sector, increasing local market provisions, the role of the BPO and increasing awareness of the role of insurance.
“With so much coverage of the challenges faced within the European market, there has never been a more important time to bring business leaders together to discuss both the new ways in which trade is being financed as well as the increased focus on opportunities outside of core markets,” said Jeff Ando, Head of Conference Production at GTR. “One area of particular interest will be the opportunity to hear from differing companies as to how they are approaching the key issues of funding, regulation and new market opportunities.”
With a wide ranging delegation in attendance from the corporate, banking, insurance, legal and technology sectors, strong focus was placed on networking and meaningful business interaction, as well as knowledge sharing on the current business operating environment. Proceedings within the main conference part of the event began with a presentation from Dr. Matthias Koehler, Head of Export Financing & Export Credit Guarantees and Chairman of the Interministerial Committee (IMC) at the Federal Ministry of Economics & Technology (Germany).
“One of the key benefits of hosting such events is the long standing relationships enjoyed with senior market leaders, with many of the most established and internationally recognised banks and multinationals in regular attendance,” said Peter Gubbins, Managing Director of GTR. “A further recent trend has been greater participation from smaller, more locally-focused organisations, providing greater diversity in the size and scale of the companies attending.”
Further reflecting the huge activity in the European supply chain finance market, the Europe Trade Finance Week also included The Cool Connection, a web-based supply chain simulation workshop organised to engage participants in supply chain management, purchasing, sales and finance. The event concluded with the GTR Editorial Board Meeting on the afternoon of May 23, where a number of global heads debated many of the issues covered during the conference, to be published in the next issue of GTR.
