denotes premium content | Jan 9 2009 Trade & Forfaiting Review magazine archive
Volume 5 Issue 6
Features
ELECTRONIC TRADE SERVICES REVIEW: Building on level foundations
Jacob Katsman, Chairman and CEO of CCEWeb Corp, creator of @GlobalTrade secure payment and trade management system, takes a look at the main players out there in the world of electronic trade services and solutions. eUCP promises to provide a boost for the leading lights of the market. Could 2002 be the year that paper gives way to computer?
ELECTRONIC TRADE: BANK VIEWPOINT
Idana Salim and Zeno Chow, Vice-Presidents at JPMorgan Treasury Services, discuss how banks can deliver value throughout the trade flow - from initial stages to payment and collection - through understanding electronic methods of supply chain management.
FORFAITING MARKETS: Forfaiting as an Instrument of Portfolio Management
Various international banks and financial institutions have been the traditional players in the forfaiting market. They offer export-driven companies a range of different solutions to take risks off their balance sheet and to bring in additional liquidity. However, things are changing: some multinational companies have entered the forfaiting market and have made other players very much aware of their presence, according to Dirk Budach, responsible for the forfaiting business at Siemens Financial Services GmbH, based in Munich, Germany.
LEGAL ISSUES: The death of bank charges?
New Zealand, a land renowned for its beauty, butter and bone-bruising All Blacks rugby team, has spawned a legal decision that threatens to affect the way in which all banks and finance houses secure their trade debts. David Beaves and Victor Lee from Sinclair, Roche & Temperley in Hong Kong, detail the way the Privy Council gave judgment in the case of Re Brumark and delivered a decision that could be the death knell to the use by banks of the charge on book debts by making it very difficult in practice for banks to take a valid fixed charge on book debts.
ONLINE COTTON TRADING: Cotton marketplace expands globally
The cotton industry's online marketplace, The Seam, has appointed an international manager and is opening an office in London, UK, while launching several new trading products for the global cotton industry. Namakando Liswani reports.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: Building foundations on cotton
Investment in the cotton industry is as much-needed as in most other agri-sectors in sub-Saharan Africa. Bruce Robertson from Plexus Cotton in the UK relates the Great Lakes Cotton Company experience - a subsidiary of Plexus that has met success and put something back in Uganda, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: TRADE & COMMODITY FINANCE OVERVIEW
Ian Henderson, Senior Product Manager, Structured Commodity Finance, at WestLB gives a synopsis of the current state of trade and commodity finance in sub-Saharan Africa. Markets such as Zambia, Ghana and Nigeria keep the deals flowing and even countries such as the DRC, Equatorial Guinea and Sudan are looking brighter prospects for financiers and traders. As ever, the risks remain however.
TRADE FINANCE INDEX: Lifting slightly
The LTP Trade Finance Index from LTP Risk Management gives its January performance update. The year opened with a rise in the Index, although overall since October, monthly returns have remained weak.
DIGITAL SIGNATURES AND VALIDATION: The future of high value e-commerce
To achieve widespread acceptance of high-value e-commerce, a level of integration and enhancement of legal protections, similar to the ones that EDI offers, must also be made available within the internet environment. Achieving legal-grade e-commerce, however, involves several complex issues. Bernhard Werres, Vice-President EMEA at ValiCert reports.
E-CATALOGUES: E-procurement’s critical Catch 22
Recent research undertaken by Byline for e-catalogue content management company Cataloga has highlighted a ‘you go first’ approach towards e-procurement from buyers and suppliers. This stand-off attitude is causing significant delays to the much-promised return on investment from e-procurement implementations. Adam Jacobs, Cataloga’s Senior VP, Sales, and its Co-Founder, delves into the research findings.
ELECTRONIC TRADING CHAINS: BOLERO.NET
Electronic trading chain enabler, bolero.net, has launched boleroSURF, a new service that enhances the fulfilment capacity of the existing service offering and, according to Bolero, really takes the pain out of international trade.
FACTORING AND TECHNOLOGY: Managing knowledge intensive factoring business
Choose your technology products wisely is the message from SK Amarnath, Senior Manager at ICICI Infotech Services Limited in Mumbai, India. Here, he looks at factoring in particular and the need for the right technology.
RETURNS FROM E-PROCUREMENT: Choose your procurement method carefully
European companies that have embraced e-procurement technologies have achieved very disparate economic returns depending on whether they have implemented e-requisitioning or e-auction capabilities, according to a recent study by Accenture.
SECURITY AND TRUST: Secure e-business? It's 'a people issue'
Robin Dahlberg, Internet Security Systems’ Managing Director for UK and Ireland operations, discusses the whys and wherefores of e-business security and argues for an holistic approach that places as much emphasis on management techniques and insider threats as it does on technology and external attackers.
SUPPLY CHAIN LOGISTICS: Generating value and return
Michael Nixon, Vice-President, Market Strategy, at Global Logistics Technologies, Inc takes a look at the latest innovations in logistics technology: how to generate top-line value and bottom-line return on investment.
