denotes premium content | Jan 7 2009 Trade & Forfaiting Review magazine archive
Volume 3 Issue 8
Features
COVER & PAYMENTS TABLE: Eastern Europe & FSU 3.8
ECA and private insurance cover for the region, plus other economic and social data.
BROKER’S VIEW: Putting claims to the test
The principle raison detre of insurance policies is the payment of claims. Yet much talk that surrounds their use, structure and legal application is often centred around every other factor - price, relationships, complex wordings and so on. Too much emphasis focuses on the work that has gone into the creation and development of insurance products and not enough on the end result - the indemnification of losses.
CANADIAN BANKS: Out of the shadows
Canadian banks have been backing trade and export deals all over the world in all sectors, but somewhat in the shadow of their bigger and brasher US neighbours and more aggressive European counterparts. Representatives from four of Canadas leading trade banks speak on the record about what drives their strategies today.
E-COMMERCE SURVEY: A question of e-commerce
Trade & Forfaiting Review, with its sister publication e-mmerce, has undertaken a survey of readers and related market players on the subject of electronic trade finance. We sent questions to around 1000 readers and received 121 responses. This response is not huge - but it rarely is with such questionnaires. However, the comeback was still commendable and shows that this area of trade and technology is one of the most relevant facing traders and financiers today. Many thanks to thos who did return their questionnaires. Without such surveys, who is to know if everyone is heading in the right direction with similar ideas and expectations?
INVOICE FINANCE:Cashflow conundrum solved
Peter Brinsley, international manager for Royal Bank Invoice Finance in Croydon, UK, looks at the financial implications facing exporters into Europe and the benefits that effective finance - invoice finance - brings.
LEGAL ISSUES: Security and the law
Christophe Jacomin, a lawyer at Gide Loyrette Nouel in Paris, shows how to structure trade finance deals in Central and Eastern Europe in order to minimise the legal risks.
REGIONAL FOCUS:EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE, Is the EBRD meeting its mandate?
Hugh Baylis, senior banker, financial institutions (trade facilitation) at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), examines the impediments to trade in East and Central Europe, what the bank is doing to address the issues and how its trade facilitation programme is helping the transition to market economies in the region.
REGIONAL FOCUS:SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, Patience and philosophy
Bank Belgolaise has an extensive network of local affiliated banks across Africa, with an active presence in no less than 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Via its London branch, Belgolaise plays an active role in promoting corporate banking and trade finance in the English speaking African countries. Keith Dixey, manager and head of commercial banking in London, explains how he combines focus, discipline and a bit of philosophy in order to succeed in becoming a major financier of Africas fledgling economies.
REGIONAL FOCUS:SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: By-passing the risks
Africa has always been considered the ‘last frontier’ of trade financing. It likewise displays the problem of political risk in a more focused manner than any other continent in the banking world. On the one hand, bankers are faced with B+ and A rated countries to whom they are prepared to lend money and, on the other hand, there are the D and E rated countries who need the money but cannot gain funds on the external markets, even for the most transparent, short-term trade finance deals. Howard Palmer, a self-confessed guru from tradefinanceguru.com, looks at Africa’s risk dichotomy.
RISK WATCH:
Acia-Pacific 3.8
Bangladesh: Plans to sign two contracts between US oil companies and the Bangladeshi authorities during President Clintons brief visit fell through. Although US companies have invested more than US$500 000 in gas exploration, they will not invest further until Dhaka agrees to export gas to energy-hungry India - a controversial political issue.
YOUR SAY: Oh, to be in Washington now that April is gone
For many in Washington DC, April was indeed the cruellest month. Temperatures ranged from 20 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit and precipitation (in the forms of rain, sleet, snow and hail) exceeded that of the average April by 25 %. The town was host to meetings sponsored by the World Bank and IMF, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), truck drivers unhappy with the price of fuel, and activists with multiple agendas for changing Bank and Fund practices.
