Katharine Morton ponders the opacities of financing trade, and what lies beneath, revealed at ITFA’s celebration of a mysterious dance of hide and seek
The TXF half-year 2019 export finance report shows a bullish start to the year in the power sector, Japan’s JBIC coming in as top direct lender and the US and Australia being the two top destination markets. Jonathan Bell provides some teasers.
In the fourth of this series of Risky Business podcasts Coriolis Technologies CEO Rebecca Harding talks to TXF’s Katharine Morton about how the internal challenges of the EU continue to pull at the union. Is trade the way out of its problems?
The problems at the Oyu Tolgoi mining project in Mongolia mean the sponsors, Rio Tinto via its ownership of Turquoise Hill Resources, will have to raise $1 billion-plus more debt for the scheme. But is additional debt or a full refinancing the more likely outcome?
Cofco has signed the largest loan for an agri trading company yet which is linked to sustainability elements. Jonathan Bell examines this growing trend within agri-finance and importantly, how the Chinese trader is helping to push for increased traceability of soy beans.
In the third of this series of Risky Business podcasts Coriolis Technologies CEO Rebecca Harding talks to TXF’s Katharine Morton about how it’s not all about trade wars for China trade, but it doesn’t help.
In the second of this series of Risky Business podcasts Coriolis Technologies CEO Rebecca Harding talks to TXF’s Katharine Morton in more depth about the effects trade wars are having on US trade, and what the impact will be of US Exim getting back its mandate.
TXF talks to Makiko Toyoda and Jessica Schnabel, the women who are spearheading the development of IFC’s latest initiative to raise access to trade finance for women-owned businesses, revealing ambitious goals and the practical steps to help fulfil them.
In the first of this series of Risky Business podcasts Coriolis Technologies CEO Rebecca Harding talks to TXF’s Katharine Morton about where we are now with trade weaponization and the effect that trade wars are having on the key power relationships and physical supply chains globally, with technology at the forefront.
TXF sat down with industry experts to look at how changes in corporate trade and supply chain and digitisation are blurring the lines between cash management and financing international trade sustainably. This wide-ranging discussion was hosted by SWIFT in London.
In mid-June, Visa made the bold call that it was taking on SWIFT on facilitating direct, bank to bank transactions and going head on in the cross-border payments space for larger corporate payments. TXF asked Kevin Phalen, head of global business solutions at Visa, to go into more detail about Visa B2B Connect. It’s very much not about cards.
In mid-June, Visa made the bold call that it was taking on SWIFT on facilitating direct, bank to bank transactions and going head on in the cross-border payments space for larger corporate payments. TXF asked Kevin Phalen, head of global business solutions at Visa, to go into more detail about Visa B2B Connect. It’s very much not about cards.
In advance of the ICC World Banking Commission annual meeting in Beijing, TXF gathered China financial experts and corporates to talk about financing China trade. Multilateralism was the watchword as the country manages expansion against a slowing growth backdrop.
Just who are you? TXF contemplates trust in trade and the bumblebee in KYC. Some commercial KYC solutions are struggling, but SWIFT is coming into the game for corporate KYC alongside its bank registry. If banks and corporates are going to trust SWIFT for the KYC Registry, why would they need to embrace other technologies such as blockchain for trade?
When the self-styled biggest global provider of trade finance teams up with a large European asset manager to wrap European trade finance assets and lend to institutional investors, it should be a winning combination. But how can HSBC and Allianz Global Investors avoid the pitfalls of the past? TXF spoke to HSBC’s Surath Sengupta and AllianzGI’s David Newman to find out.
Now that SWIFT’s Trade Services Utility (TSU), the matching application that underpinned the Bank Payment Obligation, is on its way out, the wiring of trade finance needs looking at. Katharine Morton warns that it can feel like explaining how electricity works.
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.
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.
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 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.
Manu Taneja, director of regional cash & banking, APAC at GE Corporate Treasury in Singapore sees a role for traditional trade finance in Asia, but digitisation will be core to the future – as will the role of treasury itself.
A week in the life of a cyber security crisis for the aluminium company Norsk Hydro raises interesting questions. Following a cyber-playbook type approach in terms of communications appears to work well at the first instance. How will it play out when it comes to insurance?
Successful lobbying by trade finance insurers, lawyers, banks and industry bodies has helped the sector dodge the danger of a PRA consultation paper that could have nearly shut down trade credit insurance as we know it. Will the industry get a taste for acting together?
Corporate supply chains are now accommodating trade wars, but things will not go back to where they were once peace breaks out. Katharine Morton takes the Asian perspective on the new normal.
The proposed move of GE Capital’s SCF programme to MUFG raises many questions. How does 'porting' SCF from one provider work (or not), and what makes a corporate choose a bank over a non-bank provider (or otherwise)? What happens to the long tail? TXF spoke to banks and platform providers to gauge their views.
TXF's Financing International Trade (FIT) MasterZone will have its inaugural outing in what is fast becoming the most dynamic and exciting hub for trade, treasury and risk in the world, Singapore. Join us for intensive expert briefings, technology updates and best practice roundtables
What is stopping trade finance becoming an easy-to-buy-and-sell asset class? For all the hype, what continues to turn something that should be straightforward into something so complex? TXF investigates.
Taking on an active corporate supply chain finance programme can be a daunting prospect. When that one is the size of GE Capital’s Trade Payables Services, it changes the dimension of the challenge. TXF spoke to Maureen Sullivan, Managing Director and Head of MUFG’s Supply Chain Finance Group for the Americas about why the bank has made such a move, and what her plans are for TPS.
BAFT Europe heralds another year of change in store, underpinned by confident banks, secure in their brands and their ability to partner rather than defend from fintechs.
TXF and Coriolis Technologies’ country risk index investigates the trends in trade weaponization in Africa. Rebecca Harding, CEO of Coriolis Technologies points to increased terrorism, political risks and the double-edged sword of China’s BRI. This is the seventh in the current series of seven insights.
TXF and Coriolis Technologies’ country risk index investigates the trends in trade weaponization in MENA and GCC. MENA and GCC foreign policy risks rise outside the usual spots. Rebecca Harding, CEO of Coriolis Technologies also looks at Lebanon, Libya and Morocco where functioning banking systems are helping support nascent trade hubs. This is the sixth in the series of seven insights.
Recorded webinar - We reflected on 2018 and asked what actually made a difference in trade technology in the past year and picked out the highlights amid the hype.
TXF and Coriolis Technologies’ country risk index digs deep into the strategic trends in militarisation of trade. In this section Rebecca Harding, CEO of Coriolis Technologies sees weaponization of trade in Brexit rhetoric, European populism and Turkish troubles. This is the fifth in the series of seven insights.
TXF and Coriolis Technologies’ country risk index digs into strategic trends in trade weaponization in Asia. Here, Rebecca Harding, CEO of Coriolis Technologies sees Asia in transition, China’s weapons trade increasing and upticks in arms imports in Australia, Japan and Indonesia. This is the fourth in the series of eight insights.
The US’s most successful export at the moment seems to be populism, says Rebecca Harding, CEO of Coriolis Technologies. TXF and Coriolis Technologies’ country risk index investigates the trends in trade weaponization in the Americas. Here, Canada and Mexico export arms, Central America imports populism. This is the third in the series of seven insights.
TXF and Coriolis Technologies’ country risk index investigates the trends in trade weaponization in Russia and Eurasia. Here, Russia’s ‘hybrid war’ trade strategy and it’s marriage of convenience with China’s trade tactics are investigated by Rebecca Harding, CEO of Coriolis Technologies. This is the second in the series of seven insights.
TXF and Coriolis Technologies’ country risk index digs deep into the strategic trends in militarisation of trade and in this overview, Rebecca Harding, CEO of Coriolis Technologies sees weaponization of trade in unexpected areas. This is the first in the series of seven insights.
There are many approaches to trade digitisation, but DBS Bank is taking a different path to many of its peers. It’s early days, but Abdul Raof Latiff thinks that the road less travelled will work. He and Himanshu Sharma talk trade tech strategy to TXF.
Farooq Siddiqi, global head of trade and Samuel Mathew, global head of documentary trade at Standard Chartered talk to TXF in Singapore about the big picture of protectionism and the wider march of technology in trade. The message is, don’t fixate on digital ‘islands’ as going more deeply into local markets could be the answer.
Ramon Tolk, senior director, treasury at specialty packaging company Avery Dennison’s European Treasury Centre in the Netherlands, talks to TXF about cross border pooling structures and intercompany lending. How can treasury respond to the potentially beneficial changes in US tax regulation and create US/EMEA cross border pooling?
When it takes the same amount of time to underwrite the risks of a power station as a letter of credit, something had to give. Chris Hall, Senior Underwriter, Liberty Specialty Markets discusses Toredo, a web-based platform which moves trade credit insurance underwriting into the digital era
Katharine Morton, Head of Trade, Treasury and Risk at TXF shares some of her memories of the International Trade and Forfaiting Association’s Cape Town spectacular.
Amber Case is author of ‘Calm Technology’, a book about designing for your attention and designing better technology that works with and not against you, that makes good use of your attention. Katharine Morton sits back and chats with the ‘cyborg anthropologist’ about the wider applications of calm technology for finance and trade. Don’t race to digitise.
Mega upstream gas projects have been prolific in recent years, but asks Jonathan Bell, how is the industry changing and what can we expect with future projects?
How do you draw together themes of protectionism, regulation and digitisation? Katharine Morton reflects on her travels of the past two weeks and suggests that, amid the recent hike in US tariffs to China, precautions are needed for turbulent times.
Cyber security is not just an IT problem. It’s a business continuity one that can hit business and finance across the board. TXF’s Katharine Morton spoke to industry players about what it takes to survive a cyber attack in trade.
When Japanese brewer Asahi bought SABMiller’s central and European assets from AB InBev (ABI) for €7.3bn it made Asahi Group the third largest brewer in Europe. The deal was one of the most complicated in the history of brewing and Anthony Buchanan, treasurer of Asahi Breweries Europe, still has his work cut out.
Turkish banks and corporates have a good reputation for using technology to improve trade process and efficiency. In a discussion hosted by BNY Mellon in Istanbul in July, and moderated by TXF, banks and corporates discuss how SWIFT gpi technology could help with trade and also how Bank Payment Obligations (BPOs) – which Turkey was an early adopter – could be best used, if it isn’t overlooked.
Getting banks, regulators and investors to understand trade funds better is key to trade evolving as an investible asset class. Aidan Applegarth, owner and managing director of Bankingwise, a trade services consultancy is perturbed by the lack of support from the banks and the fact that the market has potential to grow as long as it’s not viewed as one-size-fits-all.
The four systemically important banks in Greece met with TXF at a roundtable hosted by BNY Mellon in Athens and discussed the future of Greek exports. How are the banks helping to nourish and finance green shoots of recovery?
The annual German export finance event to join. Senior and exclusive! Includes afternoon session and ice-breaker drinks on the 25th, with a full agenda on the 26th.
TXF South Africa is back and this time it's personal - we'll have more intimate discussion and more high-ranking voices from the export, project and commodity finance community than ever before.
TXF Spain brings a broad range of exporters and financiers from across the country. Conducted in Spanish, attendees can expect to gain exciting new opportunities and connections for exporting.
TXF MENA 2019 returns covering the opportunities at your fingertips across ECA, Project, Trade and Commodity Finance in this region. Senior and unmissable!
The climax to Geneva commodities week, TXF Geneva brings together the European commodity finance market for an unparalleled day of thought leadership, networking and education.
Get ahead with the Italian export finance market. Hosted by SACE, this event explores the region's emerging trends and best new opportunities. Conducted in Italian; translated to English.
A key event in the export, agency & project finance event calendar for senior and influential professionals working across the Asia-Pacific region. Networking and deal opportunities abound!
Join the movers and shakers of the political risk and trade credit insurance market for a day of networking, education and collaborative discussion
The fun in the sun returns! Bringing all key players together for two days of networking, we explore case studies of the latest deals and examine the next hot opportunities across the region.
Get a fresh look at the Asian Commodity Finance market, share your views and make real connections with regional deal-makers.
TXF Africa 2020 will focus on recent and forthcoming developments across regional export, project & commodity finance and explore new opportunities for each market.
The global export, agency & project finance games return for 2020! Join us in Madrid for the largest gathering of its kind with a vision to taking your network further than ever before.