People & places: UK exports plunge in January despite falling pound
UK exports fell by £1.4bn ($2.1bn) – 6.9% – to £19.5bn ($29.15bn) in a surprise month-on-month fall from December 2009.

People & places: Kees Hoving appointed Regional Head at Deutsche
Kees Hoving has moved from Royal Bank of Scotland to become Managing Director, Regional Head of Trade Finance and Cash Management Corporates Business for Germany, at Deutsche Bank.

Deal news: EBRD funds Serbian gas network upgrades
EBRD has made a €150m sovereign loan to Serbia’s Srbijagas, the state-owned gas transmission, storage and distribution company, to enable it to upgrade the country’s gas transmission network.

People & places: GE’s Jeff Immelt to speak at Ex-Im Bank conference
General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt and James Owens, CEO of Caterpillar, will deliver the opening speeches at the Export-Import Bank of the United States 2010 annual conference in Washington, DC on 11 March 2010.

People & places: Russian oil companies line up loan mandates
Russian oil producers Bashneft, Gazprom Neft and Tatneft are all expected to tap international markets during the year as liquidity improves.

People & places: Zurich promotes political risk head Dan Riordan
Insurance giant Zurich has named Daniel Riordan, Head of Zurich’s Surety, Credit and Political Risk group, as President of its North America Commercial Specialties unit.

People & places: Compensation after air freight price fixing cartel busted
Companies that purchased international air cargo or air freight services in Europe, between 2000 and 2006 inclusive may be able to claim for refunds for the amount overcharged due to alleged price-fixing by airline companies.

People & places: Russian government to seize gas field from TNK-BP
TNK-BP stands to lose control of the Kovytka gas field following a recommendation from the Russia’s environmental protection agency, RosPrirodNadzor.

People & places: Relief as Kazakh banks respect ‘qualifying’ trade
BTA Bank, the largest bank in Kazakhstan, has published its term sheet setting out how creditors will be treated in its forthcoming restructuring.

People & places: Trade finance default register ‘to be ready by March’
The ICC-ADB Trade Finance Default Register initiative is on course to finish collecting data from participating banks by the end of January 2010 and will present the data publicly in March 2010.

People & places: Australia backs PNG gas project with $500m loan
The Australian government has backed the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea with a loan of $500m (AUD547m) to support the participation of Australian suppliers in one of the biggest natural gas projects in the region.

People & places: Ferrexpo secures $230m PXF
Swiss iron ore producer Ferrexpo has secured a $230m pre-export financing loan, making it the first metals and mining company with assets in the CIS to conclude such a deal since the start of the global financial crisis.

People & places: Mehmet Saydam takes new role at Deutsche Bank
Mehmet Saydam, Director at Deutsche Bank in the Structured Commodity and Trade Finance team, has joined ‘the bond brigade’ in a promotion to the role of Head of Commodities, Russia and CIS, in Global Capital Markets at the bank.