Your Monday morning coffee briefing from TFG. A container ship ran aground, blocking the Suez Canal which carries about 12% of global maritime trade. The blockage may take some time to clear, further disrupting global shipping, already beset by high freight costs and delays caused by the pandemic.
Suez disruption to Global Trade
On 23 March 2021, a 400-metre-long container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal in Egypt. Calculations suggest that each week of immobilization could cost global trade USD6bn-10bn. This incident will likely result in shipping delays of everyday items for consumers around the world. According to Lloyd’s List, every day it takes to clear the obstruction will disrupt an additional USD9bn worth of goods. Read more →
UK and EU reach financial regulation deal in breakthrough on co-operation
The UK and the EU have reached a deal to create a forum for cooperation on financial services regulation. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) sets the terms of engagement between the two parties but does not yet grant the City of London access to the EU’s Single Market. Read more →
BoE warns banks against sudden halt to Covid-related lending
Lenders have been urged by the Bank of England to keep credit flowing to businesses once the state-backed COVID-19 loan schemes come to an end, warning that withdrawing funding would prove self-defeating. The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) has warned SMEs will need to finance cash-flow deficits this year and banks must continue to provide support. Read more →
Abu Dhabi agrees multibillion-pound investment in British business
The UAE and UK agreed an investment deal that will see billions invested in UK infrastructure, energy and technology. An Abu Dhabi investment fund has agreed to pay £800m into UK life sciences, in what could be the first of billions of pounds of investment in the UK. Read more →
New WTO report examines ways of increasing Africa’s trading capacities
African economies have been hit hard by the downturn in global trade triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The WTO publication entitled “Strengthening Africa’s capacity to trade” explores how African countries can leverage the multilateral trading system to take greater advantage of international markets and promote economic transformation. Read more →
Finastra Integrates Enigio Solution with Fusion Trade Innovation to Make Paperless Trade Finance a Reality
Finastra announced the integration of its Fusion Trade Innovation and Enigio’s trace:original, to create a solution for managing and handling digital original documents using DLT. The resulting app removes the need for a central registry or document repository. Read more →
How TradeTech can build resilience in global value chains
According to a recent World Economic Forum report on TradeTech, which includes a global survey in 2020 with hundreds of respondents who engage in international trade operations, organisations all over the world have had to quickly adjust and adapt digitalisation and emerging technologies to keep the supply chain flowing. Read more →
