The Government of Tanzania Ministry of Finance has signed a facility agreement with Standard Chartered Tanzania for a US$ 1.46 billion term loan financing to fund the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project from Dar es Salaam to Makutupora.

In today’s world, cheques and paper invoices really ought to have taken their place in the Retro Hall of Fame, alongside vinyl, polaroid cameras and the Nokia 3210. Curiously, however, paper-based payment practices have shown serious staying power with cheques still accounting for 51% of B2B payments. Why? A few reasons, but principal among them is ‘fear of the unknown.’

TFG heard from Leumi UK’s Gil Karni and Yifat Oron, on the four top trends predicted for 2020

We caught up with Peter Jameson, Head of Trade and Supply Chain, Asia Pacific in Bank of America. We discussed the highlights of 2019 and the opportunities in 2020 for the trade, receivables and supply chain finance. There will be continued pressure on trade flows, with reduced volume, commodity prices, and financing demand. Despite this, Asia Pacific’s growth prospects remain favourable as compared to other regions. Businesses continue to seek growth and focus on further developing their banking needs in the region.

We discussed with AIG some of the challenges and opportunities in the trade credit insurance sector. Enabling the much-needed reduction of the trade finance gap, and bringing in a wider array of investors while mitigating the risks of such expansion in the backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty will be a huge challenge in 2020. However, dealing with a broader collection of participants in the trade finance ecosystem in terms of jurisdictions, size of the borrower, types of assets and fintech entrants set us up for interesting times.

As the most authoritative voice in the trade finance industry, ICC Banking Commission, maintains a permanent dialogue with regulators and supervising bodies, helping to develop regulations affecting the industry.

TFG has published a short guide on what receivables and invoice finance is and how it can help release working capital earlier on in the trade cycle.

TFG has published a short guide on what trade finance is and how it can be used to finance the imports or exports of goods and services, both domestically and internationally.

Your Monday morning coffee briefing from TFG. Here are some of the last week’s updates from the trade sector. 10rd February 2020. Chinese central bank on stability, coronavirus and the markets, UK’s official EU departure

Building any start-up into a successful business is a challenge, including tech start-ups. There was a time when tech was the most popular industry to start a business in, but thanks to this boom, there is now a lot of competition.