denotes premium content | Dec 5 2008 Trade & Forfaiting Review magazine archive
Volume 3 Issue 6
Features
COMMODITY FINANCE: Steeling the show!
Steel internet trading sites are being planned in Japan, South Korea and in Russia. Askold Dvorjake reports.
COUNTRY FOCUS: CHINA Bringing down the barriers
Derek Simpson, Head of Trade Services in China for HSBC takes a look at the risks involved and considerations when trading with China, the role banks can play in mitigating risks, current government trade initiatives and the outlook on China trade.
COUNTRY FOCUS: Finland, Northern Exposure
Finland is a little big country in northern Europe. It is mostly known for its formula 1 and rally drivers, for its record high mobile phone penetration and Nokia handsets. But what about export finance, asks Jean-Francois Tapprest, head of export and project finance at MeritaNordbanken in Helsinki?
COVER & PAYMENTS TABLE: MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 3.6
ECA and private insurance cover for the region, plus other economic and social data.
COVER STORY: Private lessons
They come in all shapes and sizes, with different cultural backgrounds, different status and ownership structures, but are all being forced down the same road to greater co-operation with the private sector. Official export credit agencies may be back in vogue following the emerging market crises of recent years, but they are facing the stark reality that they cannot continue in a saviour role alone. Rupert Sayer considers the situation.
DOCUMENTATION: Letters of the law
How secure is a letter of credit? International consultant on banking and trade finance, Claude Mifsud, looks at the latest legal challenges surounding UCP 500.
Forfaiting Rates 3.6
Indicative discount to yield rates (%) supplied by Standard Bank London.
LEGAL ISSUES: Time for a governing law clause for LCs?
Why do documentary letters of credit not contain a governing law clause? A simple question, but one which is becoming increasingly difficult to answer with any degree of credibility. Banks, importers and exporters alike have, for some time, seemed at ease with an LC which incorporates the UCP, but which is silent as to governing law. Jeremy Davis, a solicitor in the banking department at London City law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse investigates further.
YOUR SAY: The ISP Critic: Too biased?
Michael Sullivan, a New York attorney, has criticised the International Standby Practices (ISP98) as reflecting
