Your Monday morning coffee briefing from TFG. Here are some of the last week’s updates from the trade sector. The BoE kept the interest rates on hold. Moody’s lowered the UK credit outlook to negative. Alibaba joined Swift gpi and the WTO declared the Indian export subsidies illegal. On the technology front CargoSmart completed PoC with eTradeConnect.
What happened last week?
The Bank of England kept interest rates on hold.
However, two members of the rate-setting committee voted for an immediate cut. Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, said the Brexit deal had created “the prospects for a pick-up in UK growth”. The Bank expects the annual pace of growth to rise from around 1% at the end of this year to more than 2% by the end of 2022. Read more →
German exports rebound to provide an unexpected boost to the economy
German exports rose 4.6 per cent in September, as a rebound in trade to other eurozone countries, the UK and US offset a decline in China and provided a rare boost to Europe’s biggest economy. Read more →
Moody’s lowers UK credit outlook to negative on Brexit ‘paralysis’
Moody’s has lowered the UK’s credit outlook to negative, arguing that the gridlock over Brexit had diminished the UK’s institutional framework. “It would be optimistic to assume that the previously cohesive, predictable approach to legislation and policymaking in the UK will return once Brexit is no longer a contentious issue, however that is achieved,” the rating agency said. Read more →
Alibaba joins SWIFT gpi
Alibaba.com, the world’s largest e-commerce company, has joined SWIFT gpi for Corporates (g4C). The internet giant is also collaborating with SWIFT, and a group of corporates, banks and treasury vendors on a new g4C payments tracking solution. Read more →
WTO declares Indian export subsidies illegal
The United States, which argues that the subsidy schemes for steel, medicine, chemicals, information technology and textiles amount to seven billion dollars a year.
The WTO found that India has been granting prohibited customs and tax breaks, and that it had issued notes to exporters that they can use to pay off certain debts to the government. Read more →
Accenture, SAP and R3 build currency token prototype for connecting RTGS to Corda blockchain
The payment platform plans to allow for integration and interoperability between distributed ledger technology (DLT) -based and classic government-issued payments and settlements. The co-innovated prototype design uses currency tokens to facilitate end-to-end settlement. Currency tokens are used in preference to digital currencies in this design because they serve as a proxy for standard central bank fiat currency and use cryptography to increase security and authenticity. The prototype provides the flexibility that is essential to adopting and integrating new payment technologies while allowing banks to maintain their current payment formats. Read more →
CargoSmart completes PoC with eTradeConnect
CargoSmart, a leading shipment management technology solution provider, today announced the successful completion of a proof-of-concept with eTradeConnect, a multi-bank blockchain consortium in Hong Kong facilitated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Read more →
