Your Monday morning coffee briefing from TFG. Last Thursday saw the UK report a record number of daily new cases. Greater testing capacity and the pre-lockdown surge in social and retail activity have partly contributed to this short-lived spike, with new cases having dropped off since. A vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was found to be more than 90% effective and could be fully approved in Europe and the US by December. Pfizer and BioNTech expect to manufacture 50m doses by the end of the year and 1.3bn doses in 2021.
President-Elect Biden and the trading landscape he inherits
President-Elect Biden – once he assumes office – will inherit the US trading power, which over the last 4 years has solidified itself as a force to be reckoned with after its aggressive approach to trade. Throughout his campaign, Biden’s stance on global trade has been much more relaxed than that of Trump’s administration. That being said, the two do share fundamental beliefs that historic free trade arrangements have not benefited the US, and that China is a problem that needs addressing. Read more →
Firms lack Brexit plans
A study from BDO shows that almost two in five medium-size businesses have no plan for Brexit or have delayed their preparations as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. More than a quarter of 500 business leaders surveyed said adapting their plans for Brexit is their most immediate concern. Read more →
Least developed countries hit hard by trade downturn triggered by COVID-19 pandemic
Least developed countries (LDCs) have been hit hard by the downturn in global trade triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, with LDC merchandise exports declining by 16 per cent during the first half of 2020, WTO members were told at a meeting of the WTO’s Sub-Committee on LDCs held on 11 November. Read more →
WTO / TFG Report Published – 12 companies tackling trade document digitization head on
The age old problem of document digitization in trade has probably been around since goods were traded using stone tablets in the Mesopotamian era. So who’s making a dent using blockchain / distributed ledger technology? From the updated WTO / TFG periodic table of projects in trade, we reveal 12 projects tackling this head on. Read more →
Gunvor closes USD $1.225 billion revolving credit facility
Gunvor Group Ltd has successfully secured a US$1.225 billion Revolving Credit Facility (RCF), with Natixis acting as one of the Bookrunning Mandate Lead Arrangers. The facility will be used to refinance the A and B tranches of Gunvor’s existing European RCFs. Initially launched at US$1 billion, the RCF was very well received and will be used to finance general corporate purposes and working capital requirements. Read more →
Global Supply Chain Finance Forum issues payables finance guidance to drive further clarity on terms and techniques
The Global Supply Chain Finance Forum – an initiative comprising the ICC, BAFT, EBA, FCI, and the ITFA – has released a new guidance document on payables finance, to aid financial institutions, accounting firms, rating agencies and regulators in gaining clarity and consistency on the various terms and techniques. Read more →
TFG’s Deepesh Patel speaks on the Reuter’s Events Commodity Trading Summit
TFG’s Deepesh Patel spoke with Simon Collins, CEO and co-founder of TradeCloud Services Pte Ltd and Movsum Muslum-zada, Global Head of IT, SOCAR Trading, at Reuters Events’ Commodity Trading Summit, on the topic: Overcoming Barriers to the Digitization of Commodity Trading. The session covered:
- What are the biggest challenges for commodity traders and the commodity trading industry as a whole?
- What are the benefits of digitalizing commodity trading and what needs to happen from a practical IT / operational perspective?
- What does the landscape look like from a regulatory and compliance perspective (e.g. Basel IV, LIBOR transition, SFTR compliance)?
- Is there an education and awareness gap?
- Is data the new gold, and what are the issues around data capture, storage and data sharing?
- What’s next for the commodity trading industry?
New Podcast: Multilateral Perspective – A Roadmap for Sustainable Trade Finance
???? NEW PODCAST on #TRADFINANCETALKS: ????. What has biodiversity, sustainability and climate change ⛅️ got to do with trade finance and supply chains? Banks have a vital role in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and various environmental objectives. Trade finance can also help support and influence the adoption of sustainable practices by customers and their supply chains ????.
We take a look at the role of multilaterals and public-private partnerships can help the trade finance community achieve sustainability objectives. Listen now.
EUF and FCI held their first online EU Factoring Summit
The EUFederation for the Factoring and Commercial Finance Industry and FCI (formerly known as Factors Chain International) held their first online EU Factoring Summit in the COVID World. The webinar was attended by over 200 participants from around the world. Read more →
Spotlight on: Agribusiness
A TXF / TFG interview on Trade Finance Talks TV featuring 4 soft and agri experts discussing the challenging environment for softs commodity traders and what to expect for the next 6 months. Read more →
BAFT International Convention begins
TFG are proud media partners of the BAFT International Convention 2020. We’ll be featuring on demand content on the convention portal – join us this week, and get involved with the conversation! Read more →
