The International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA) is grabbing the digitisation and ESG agenda and TXF talks to Sean Edwards, ITFA’s chair in the runup to the organisation’s 47th annual conference in Bristol in October about how to rebuild bank trade capacity in the current climate.
Justine Hendricks, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer at Export Development Canada talks to TXF about the implications of EDC’s net zero commitment on it and its customers and how it will engage all clients in the transition journey
How is SWIFT’s own digital trade evolution progressing? Will corporates, banks and vendors be on board and does the organisation risk competing with itself? TXF looks to history and asks more questions than it can get answers to at the moment. Will a pivot toward APIs be an answer in trade?
TXF’s Global Trade Virtual 2021 event took us on the rollercoaster journey of financing international trade last week. Saying “yes, and” could get the markets to help financing trade more sustainably (and digitally)
One hundred years of an international trade body was a virtual party not to be missed. TXF spoke to Tod Burwell in the wake of the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade’s (BAFT) centennial celebration to find out what has been the secret of the trade organisation’s longevity, how it has helped moved international trade in a positive way, and what excites the organisation’s President and CEO about the future
In the run-up to TXF’s Global Trade Virtual 2021 on 23-24 June, Patrick DeVilbiss, Offering Manager, Trade and Supply Chain Solutions at CGI talks to TXF about how accelerated trade digitisation amid the pandemic should be long lasting
Is financing ESG-linked projects and exports going to be limited by what exporters and project financiers cannot do rather than what they can? How can (or should) incentives be improved and how can more deals that improve ESG outcomes be made bankable?
Has the secret sauce to trade digitisation been discovered in MLETR and is it something that will get over a decade of industry fatigue on the subject? Will the trade industry be able to get the sauce out of the bottle, will everyone like the same sauce, will they need to?
Jump right in and take sustainability to where the client is at in their journey. That’s the strong message of TXF’s discussion with Donna Laviolette, Senior Manager, Global Sustainability at Xylem and Donna McNamara, Global Head, Trade Product Commercialization, Treasury and Trade Solutions at Citi, hosted by Citi. How does financing trade sustainably work in practice?
The G for governance is often silent in discussions of ESG, Environment, Social and Governance. TXF tries to unpick this and its importance for supply chain management for export credit agencies
How can - or should - the SCF industry distance itself from the fast evolving situation at Greensill Capital? Is more transparency needed? For sure. How should the credit insurance industry respond? What is the fallout? TXF discusses eggs in baskets and babies with bathwater and waking up and smelling coffee with senior industry players.
What has Covid meant for ECAs and their ability to attract smaller companies? How are ECAs responding to the needs of these new clients and how are they broadening their financing partners? Once the pandemic imperative is over, will those smaller businesses be back for more? TXF talks to four ECAs about their experience with SMEs – and finds out things may have changed for good.
The OECD Consensus has a long history but it’s still the only game in town. With the International Working Group now in stasis, is that a problem, or is it going to focus minds on reform? It’s time for new thinking.
Henrik Welch, vice president and group treasurer at Alfa Laval discusses treasury perspectives on navigating international trade and cross border working capital management with TXF, and the need for banks and ECAs to step up further.
It’s easy to be gloomy, but a new year is a good point to look to the bright side. Here are some thoughts about why staying in bed for the whole of 2021 will not be the best option for trade, treasury and risk.
In a discussion supported by Finverity, TXF looks at new ways for companies to effectively use digitisation in emerging markets to propel access to financing for sustainable international trade through supply chain finance (SCF).
In a discussion supported by Finverity, TXF looks at new ways for companies to effectively use digitisation in emerging markets to propel access to financing for sustainable international trade through supply chain finance (SCF).
Are we going to be looking at a whole different playing field for trade credit insurance across borders as the pandemic works itself through the financial system? Katharine Morton, head of trade, treasury & risk at TXF, investigates the potential lumps and bumps along the way ahead of TXF’s Global Trade Virtual event on 8-10 December.
Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI) has bold ambitions, and launching an Islamic Finance suite of products in the eye of the COVID-19 crisis is part of its positive push to narrow the trade finance gap and tap into the potential of the halal market globally. TXF spoke to both ECI’s CEO, Massimo Falcioni, and to Zishan Iqbal, Director of Murabaha Solutions, about the agency’s plan and the products.
TXF talks to CGI’s Rory Kaplan, senior offering manager for trade and supply chain solutions, Patrick DeVilbiss, director of consulting, trade and supply chain solutions and Colin Zeglen, product manager for trade and supply chain solutions for a reality check on digitisation in challenging times.
TXF looks at distinctions between virtual and real in trade digitisation. How much is the current crisis helping drive change? The challenges are more than simply counting metaphorical beans.
China’s underreported new ABCP digitisation play, if it works, could have implications for trade finance markets. It’s a big if, but it certainly warrants closer attention to how the pilots could presage changes to sidestep bank financing.
TXF spoke with Tim Gaul, global export finance director, export and agency finance at Caterpillar to outline what the reauthorisation of US Exim means for the US exporter, especially given now it can tap other more flexible ECAs - like Serv, UKEF and most recently Sinosure - for support.
Angela Perez, head of structured finance at Elecnor spoke to TXF both about the Spanish infrastructure and engineering company’s response to the current crisis, and the wider role teamwork across the industry will play in the recovery.
Wednesday 20 May | 11am BST | 12pm CEST How much is digitisation going to help narrow the gap between what trade finance is needed and what is under offer?
Beatriz Reguero, President, and Vinco David, Secretary General, of Berne Union, the global export credit and investment insurance industry association, discuss the association’s strategy through the Covid-19 crisis and climate change, how uncertainty is both a plus, and a minus for its members. One thing that is certain about the coming year – is more uncertainty.
Stephen Renna, chief banking officer at Export-Import Bank of the US talks to TXF about US Exim’s response to Covid-19 as it hits the ground running following full reauthorisation. How is US Exim filling the gaps left by the private capital market in both guarantees, working capital support and SCF? What about cooperation with other ECAs when the hard work of recovery really starts?
Supply chain finance can be a great tool for keeping funding flowing to all parts of the supply chain, but is there an existential strain on programmes from the dislocations of physical supply chains amid Covid-19? How will the crisis hit banks' and non-bank programmes and how will contracts be affected? Will ECAs and governments increasingly have to step in?
Steven Beck, head of trade and supply chain finance at ADB talks to TXF from lockdown Manila about how ADB is supercharging its existing trade finance programs to keep trade flowing amid Covid-19 and how both the digitisation and sustainability agenda will be maximised.
Gabriel Cumenge, deputy secretary of the French Ministry of Finance, DG Tresor tells TXF the importance of ECAs continuing their roles as the shock absorbers of global trade and driving the sustainability agenda through the current crisis.
TXF’s ‘in viro veritas’ series looks at the effects of the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic on trade and export finance. The first in the series was an early stage call to action, the second showed ECAs picking up their activities and this, the third, looks at more a coordinated response from institutions.
Overall volumes of global commodity finance fell by 16% in 2019 compared to 2018, according to the full-year TXF 2019 Commodity Finance Report, while structured commodity finance plummeted to nearly half the volume of the previous year. Max Thompson reviews the drivers behind these low figures, as well as the most active regions and sectors across the commodity finance space.
EKN had a banner year in 2019. EKN’s director general, Anna-Karin Jatko tells TXF about the rise of supplier credits for larger contracts, and how as part of ‘Team Sweden’ she has put sustainability, digitisation and the simplification of export finance at the top of the Swedish ECA’s mission statement.
The new coronavirus, Covid-19, is shining a light on just how connected global trade is to the world’s second largest economy. TXF takes a look at how China will officially support its trade and we ask whether global ECAs need to be taking note. ‘Think Global, Act Local’ may be apt for world trade and the response to the disease.
Finnvera’s CEO Pauli Heikkila talks to TXF about how the Finnish ECA’s increased exposure to the cruise ship sector drove much of its stellar growth in 2019. Should managing concentration risk be a concern going forward, not least amid the current coronavirus outbreak? Is Heikkila worried that the ECA, which won TXF’s ECA of the year award in 2018, will find diversification a challenge?
It may have been a so-so year for many ECAs, but not Euler Hermes. CEO Edna Schoene was in a buoyant mood when she spoke to TXF. Financing ships has boosted business, claims have been benign and short term business has been stable, but the need to change the OECD Consensus radically is still top of mind,
It was unseasonably warm for Stockholm in February at EKN’s annual seminar. TXF was in Sweden to hear about the opportunities to finance the transition to carbon zero. Apparently, no more Nobel prizes need be awarded for some of the technology to make it happen. The financing is a different question.
Louis Taylor, CEO of UK Export Finance (UKEF), tells TXF he is all geared up for a busy life after Brexit. How is he facing media concerns about the UK’s export credit agency’s approach to sustainability? What about the world post US Exim reauthorisation? How is direct lending to SMEs going to progress?
What does being a modern ECA mean? Peter Gisler, CEO of SERV has strong views on the Swiss ECA’s ability to be proactive, flexible and to think outside the proverbial box of options available. Nonetheless, it isn’t always an easy path. Gisler shares his thoughts with TXF.
Werner Schmidt, Deutsche Bank’s new head of structured trade and export finance discusses how he sees his role morphing given the increasing complexity and longer lead times of many large deals. Is it still fun?
Andreas Back, senior manager, financial services at Wartsila goes in depth with TXF to discuss financing sustainable power in a market that still needs backups when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing, his competition, his dealings with ECAs and DFIs and also the changes in marine finance. How does it work when your niche is being niche?
The US SEC is on a drive to get companies to disclose supplier finance more explicitly. Companies would do well to tell their stories. The US accounting regulator has been asked to provide guidance. Some players are concerned that there is a risk to SCF as a whole if that guidance goes one way. Why should they be worried, and why is more transparency needed?
TXF finds Mairead Lavery full of vigour about her first year as president and CEO of EDC in advance of her first performance review with the chair of the board. Her energies are devoted to promoting Canadian exporting companies on a path to sustainability, inclusion and diversity. Is she concerned about EDC’s perception as being more a bank than a traditional ECA? Not a bit of it. What about local content requirements? Competition with other ECAs? It’s a question of philosophy.
TXF caught up with Citi’s John Ahearn to find out more about his newly-created role as chairman of trade to oversee strategic investments across the business, and what 2020 has in store for trade.
David Avram, trade and export finance director at Fives talks to TXF about his outlook on the markets in 2020, and how the company structures its export finance activities. Will ECA-driven KYC red tape, and the timing of demands for compliance hinder the industrial engineering group’s deal flow?
Ahead of TXF Americas next month, TXF caught up with Dr Jeevan Perera, a senior engineer at NASA, to find out how he teaches risk management to rocket scientists.
Correctly pricing sustainability into corporate supply chains shouldn’t just be a matter of ticking boxes (or drawing straws). Companies are going to have to use their judgement to incorporate material climate risk of their supply chains into their financial statements better. Here’s a look at what some companies are doing, and how some are building sustainability into financing programmes.
Appetite and capacity for credit and political risk insurance (CPRI) has been growing in the past 10 years but may be plateauing as the market matures. Matthew Beckett, EMEA director of insurance placement and loan capital markets at SMBC gives Katharine Morton a bank’s perspective on the future of what has been perceived as a ‘silent’ product in the run up to TXF’s CPRI conference in London on 4 December
Nicolas Langlois, Standard Chartered’s global head of trade distribution talks to Katharine Morton about the bank’s recent $1 billion risk-sharing with the IFC to boost trade finance in emerging markets and how it is to stay on track. Will the seeds be spread effectively? Langlois shares his path to being head of trade distribution, the evolution of the bank’s distribution strategy and how he sees trade distribution developing.
We are delighted to bring back this senior-level virtual event dedicated to the MENA region! Examine the regions' key trends and future opportunities whilst networking in a safe space.
It's been away for far too long - but your TXF Global Commodity Finance event is coming to Geneva! Join dealmakers in an enchanted forest of opportunity for an unmissable networking experience...
Your largest export, agency & project finance event returns in the flesh for 2021! Get your boots back on the ground in Madrid at this go-to global event for all things export finance.
A key virtual 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!
A dedicated virtual forum for the APAC commodity finance community. Join dealmakers from across Asia-Pacific as we tackle key industry issues and analyse the latest deals in the market.
TXF France is the industry leading event to make connections and discover new sectors, regions and ideas for ECAs, banks, exporters and service providers.
The next episode of this intimate and focused event returns virtually to get you up to date on the latest trends in Italian Export Finance. Expect first-class networking and debate
The trusted meeting place for anyone involved in the financing of German exports.
TXF presents this intimate and focused event returning virtually to get you up to date on the latest trends in British Export Finance. Expect first-class networking and debate!