The defeat of Daesh in Syria and Iraq can hopefully provide greater impetus to new business in Iraq. What is critical now is consolidation of security for the rebuilding of basic infrastructure – such as power generation and water. Jonathan Bell examines inroads being made by European ECAs to support this trade.

TXF spoke with Steven Beck, head of trade and supply chain finance at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to find out more about the development bank’s year-on-year growth in supported trade, as well as its latest initiative to create a standardised approach to the reporting of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) by banks to regulators.

With levelised cost of energy beginning to favour renewables-linked storage over traditional peakers in the US, utility-scale storage is dawning. Regulatory change, growing investor appetite and more efficient tech signal major project lending potential in the next two years – and the bankability of GIG’s recent VPP deal sets the template for turning that potential into project financed reality.

TXF joined the ICC Banking Commission in Beijing as it celebrates a century of the institution whose founders were dubbed the ‘merchants of peace’. Katharine Morton contemplates the role of peace merchants amid the ‘warriors’ of trade and how China fits into the mix.

Capital is spilling all over the balance sheet nowadays. What should investors in alternate assets, particularly trade, be looking at? Ann Rutledge, CEO of CreditSpectrum asks how investors should kick the tyres and define the new landscape. Banks still have a crucial role to play as transformers of risk.