denotes premium content | Jan 9 2009 Trade & Forfaiting Review magazine archive
Volume 4 Issue 5
Features
BROKER'S VIEW: Credit Insurance's three faces
The days when there was a single credit insurance market have gone for ever. Over the past six years we have seen the credit insurance business evolve into three distinct and separate markets, each specialising in different fields.
STRUCTURED COMMODITY FINANCE:Does SCF complete or compete with export and project finance
Alain Fanaie is Head of Structured Commodity Finance at Credit Agricole Indosuez in London and has particular experience in Middle Eastern and US oil and gas deals. Here, he considers the position and role of structured commodity finance in relation to export and project finance.
YOUR SAY: Private vs public - which ECAs best serve the national interest?
At a World Bank meeting in December, a senior official of the multilateral development finance agency was asked why the bank has curtailed its lending to help launch export credit agencies (ECAs) in developing countries, particularly since the bank and conventional wisdom hold that exports are the engine of growth. His answer was that poor countries cannot afford to indulge the subsidies and financial losses experienced by ECAs.
COMMODITY FINANCE: VIETNAM: Aiming high
Vietnam, in its drive to join the first world, is intensively focusing efforts on developing its agricultural sector. The government is spurring numerous schemes to improve productivity and quality in a bid to build export markets. Justin Pugsley reports from Ho Chi Minh City.
COUNTRY FOCUS: UZBEKISTAN: Slipping in the wealth table
Curt Masters and Mark Lockwood of the Almaty, Kazakhstan office of Baker & McKenzie, give an updated legal and regulatory overview of the mining, oil, gas and power sectors in Uzbekistan.
CREDIT INSURANCE AND E-COMMERCE: Evolution or revolution?
What effect is technological change and pressure having on short-term credit insurance? James Larkin, Managing Director of Aon Trade Finance, questions the efficacy of some business-to-business systems and ventures in light of his own credit insurance environment.
REGIONAL FOCUS: EAST & SOUTHERN AFRICA: Pulling the privates in
A new programme to get east and southern Africa's trade profile up and to encourage foreign trade counterparties has been launched. Backed by the World Bank and COMESA, the idea is to involve the private trade credit insurance market. Rupert Sayer finds out more.
bolero.net : more users, plus US roll-out
Two more banks have signed up to electronic trade finance system bolero.net, while the online network has just opened up in the US too. Rupert Sayer finds out more.
company spotlight: thor hammer : welcome to the modern world
When you export to over 70 countries, you need an efficient automated documentation system. Not a manual one-person show. But Thor Hammer had just that until recently. The world’s second biggest exporter of soft faced hammers relied on one person to manually type in all export documentation. Now, with an electronic refit by ISM, it has seen the light as never before. Amy Shiels investigates.
corporate initiatives: ford and gm - car wars!
Motor giants Ford and General Motors are neck and neck in a global race to become electronic purchasers and suppliers. During the past three months, the two US rivals have been announcing software joint ventures literally within hours of each other, like a tit-for-tat battle for e-domination. Now Toyota, Nissan and Renault have been drawn in, not to mention an independent parts supplier. Rupert Sayer looks at the drive behind these moves.
customs clearance : communities of common interest
Derek Dubber, Head of Business Development at CNS, talks about the way in which the UK customs clearance market has developed and the new directions in which it is now heading. CNS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southampton Container Terminals, whose parent companies are Associated British Ports and P&O Ports. It was formed in 1987 with the objective of providing specialist network systems for the freight and transport industries.
electronic trade systems: bolero.net : we have a live deal!
The first live bolero.net transaction has been completed. Citibank was at the centre of the deal - a purchase order-to-payment on an Asian garment shipment involving five companies. Dennis Chong finds out more.
encryption law : a safe code?
The US monopoly on encryption technology has finally been broken. New legislation just passed streamlines encryption export regulations and allows for such technology to be traded abroad. Although there are restrictions on where such technology can go, some experts are worried by possible consequences. Horst Munstler explains.
internet data : stats by the minute
The Dialog Corporation has recently launched its trade data service, TradStat, on the worldwide web. TradStat Web enables anyone with access to the internet to view constantly updated information on more than 90% of world trade flows - far more, says the firm, than any other comparable product. Dorothy Briggs, vice-president marketing at Dialog EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) elaborates.
internet: enhancing your sales : pot of gold at the rainbows end
The growth of usage of the internet seems inexorable. But there are still very few companies which actually use it as a sales channel. And those that are, either offer standard products, such as books or CDs, or have to dumb down their offering to suit the limitations of their web solutions. John Fallows, Marketing Manager at Cincom iC Solutions in Maidenhead, UK, considers the issues faced by, what some have coined, the third wave in the internet revolution.
Interview : free as a bid
Sam E Kinney, Jr co-founded Pittsburgh-based online auction company FreeMarkets in 1995. He has served as the firm’s secretary since its inception and since May 1998 has been an Executive Vice-President. Before FreeMarkets, Kinney saw service at McKinsey & Company, Lucas Aerospace Power Equipment Corporation and Booz-Allen & Hamilton, among others. He tells e-mmerce how FreeMarkets came about, what its mission is and what the future holds.
online credit ratings : look out moody’s and s&p!
International credit insurer Groupe Coface has launched a new instrument to facilitate business-to-business commerce around the world - a world trade debt rating service on the web, called @rating. Its purpose is to become an industry standard for all businesses trading over the internet. Bridget Taxy, managing director of Coface LBF, the UK arm of Groupe Coface, explains further.
public key infrastructure : has the forum found the key?
Five leading technology companies have got together to form the PKI Forum, a vehicle to push for the adoption of public key infrastructure (PKI) technology and solutions as a standard for companies. The forum advocates industry co-operation and market awareness to enable organisations to understand and exploit the value of PKI in their e-business applications. Rupert Sayer reports.
regional focus: Russia - taming the bear
Russia is a white spot in the e-commerce world. In fact, there are practically no articles concerning the development of e-commerce in post-Soviet countries. What does this marketplace look like? Who is working within it? And what are the main directions for capital investments? Russian e-commerce investigator Sergey Bondarenko, who is president of the Centre of Applied Research of Intellectual Property in Rostov-on-Don in Russia, knows more than most.
roundtable discussion : different angles, same aims
Two different companies, with two different areas of operation. But both united in the search for electronic trade solutions. e-mmerce interviews an e-commerce specialist from Anglo-Dutch container shipping firm P&O Nedlloyd and from US telecommunications giant Sprint Corporation.
Tradecard : dealing the asia cards
TradeCard has launched an online international trade transaction settlement network in Hong Kong by linking up with Global Sources and Tradelink, whose members can leverage services to conduct business transactions with e-commerce speed. Furthermore, several leading Japanese companies have just invested in TradeCard. Dennis Chong reports.
virtual payments : moving from c to b
Much has been said and written about the growth of investment in business-to-business (B2B)-oriented electronic commerce solutions. Many exciting initiatives are underway but the reality is that, when it comes to payments, the virtual revolution has been the preserve of the business-to-consumer (B2C) marketplace until now. Roger Ward, Managing Director Banking and Finance, at PROTX Ltd, tells us why.
Xml : speaking one language
The goal is to provide an open technical specification to enable XML to be used in a consistent and uniform manner for the exchange of electronic business data. The vehicle is the ebXML initiative, a joint effort by CEFACT, the United Nations body covering worldwide policy and technical development in the area of trade facilitation and electronic business, and OASIS, a non-profit, international consortium dedicated to product-independent data and content interchange, involving leading IT firms and several corporates. The initiative aims to limit fragmentation in XML specifications that might otherwise occur and has invited industries to participate in an 18-month project.
