Dear Members and Friends, On behalf of the ITFA Board, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a Happy New Year and all the very best for 2020. May the year ahead bring good health, peace and happiness. What a dramatic start to a new decade! Whilst taking an […]

ITFA’s Northern European Regional Committee (NERC) has welcomed three new members. Peter Sargent from DNB Bank, Olga Kompaniets from AIG and Ingrid Kreuk from ABN Amro have all joined the association’s largest regional committee. Karl Page from Barclays, who remains the NERC chairman, comments on the committee’s aspirations for 2020: “The NERC membership has a […]

Negative interest rates are counter-intuitive. In a world where prudent savers are punished for saving and profligate borrowers are rewarded for borrowing, something is not on. The expression ‘time is money’ appears to have lost its logic. The trend began in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, when the central banks […]

What a crazy year for ITFA’s Emerging Leaders (EML’s) – from a name change to new faces on the panel including more international presence from Singapore, India, Netherlands and of course the UK. We are looking to expand our network in Europe, Middle East, Pan Africa and the Americas too – do reach out to […]

ITFA has interviewed the three Young Professionals who formed part of the winning team of its first ever Young Trade Financier of the Year Award.  After having interviewed, Charlotte Prior, GIB UK, Nigel Atta-Mensah and Alero Arubi, Crown Agents Bank, we learn what each of them had to share with us. Congratulations on winning ITFA’s […]

ATFA – Association of Trade and Forfaiting in the Americas and The Climate Bonds Initiative co-hosted a breakfast event on October 22nd 2019 in São Paulo, Brazil to discuss “The Challenges and Opportunities for Green Finance in Brazil”. The panel was comprised of Laurent Girault, CEO of Natixis Brazil, Thatyanne Gasparotto, Head of Latin America […]

Bayerische Landesbank in Nuremberg was so kind to host the ITFA GRC Workshop at their premises and Peter Graetz, Head of Trade Export Finance welcomed the 36 participants before Irene Port, ITFA GRC chair opened the workshop. For several years now, the ITFA GRC fall event offers the opportunity to exchange views on a wide […]

Dear Members and Friends, As Christmas approaches, the only real uncertainty the majority of us would like to face, I am sure, is what to buy as presents for our nearest and dearest. Citizens of the UK face the surprise gift of (yet another) election. Whether the results will ruin or make the festive season […]

Last year, the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (Baft) revised and updated its English law master participation agreement (MPA) in order to drive further standardisation in trade transactions and meet the “modern-day requirements” of the industry. It included a series of significant changes, including allowing for ‘true sale’, namely the transfer of financial assets, rather […]

With more than 300 delegates from more than 145 nations gathered in Greece at the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme Trade Finance (TFP) Forum 2019, it was clear that 20 years after the TFP’s foundation, countries lacking in correspondent banking lines need this trade leg-up more than ever. Clarissa Dann reports from Athens. One could be […]

ITFA has recently launched its new website which it encourages members to visit and explore. The new mobile-friendly site has been designed to offer improved navigation and functionality, while allowing visitors to better understand the ways in which ITFA serves the trade finance industry. “The site has been revamped and modernised and now provides better […]

Make no mistake, the trade war is a real thing. But it is being used as a proxy by China and the US to fight a bigger battle – one that transcends the orthodox definitions of hard and soft power, to one that incorporates sharp power – influence over finance, information, ideas, and even thoughts […]

ITFA is proud to welcome 2 new members: Crowdz is a Silicon Valley-based company rethinking invoices, cash flow and trade finance. With a digitized 24/7 global invoiceXchange and B2B payments gateway we are replacing outdated manual practices with the financial services industry’s first end-to-end invoice solution. Crowdz is a FinTech on a mission to help […]

Dear Members and Friends, October is proving to be quite a heavy weight for the global economy. At one end we have ( the possibility of) Brexit, whilst from the outset, negotiations have resumed between US and China, aimed at ending a 15 month trade battle that is weighing on the global economy. After insisting […]

As the International Trade & Forfaiting Association met in Budapest for its 46th Annual Conference, flow reports on how heads of trade agree that in times of economic stress, flight to trade finance instruments of trust seems to be on the rise. The end of civilisation as we know it or are we back from […]

At ITFA’s annual conference in Budapest in September, Lorna Pillow, the association’s deputy chair, led a panel discussion on the recent upsurge of alternative financiers in the trade finance space. Alternative trade financiers across the globe vary in structure, size and sector coverage, each with different USPs, including technological enhancement, asset management capability, structuring ability, […]

We love showcasing the innovative deals our members get up to. One of the panels at our recent annual conference in Budapest explored supply chain finance in the CEE especially the smaller emerging market countries. Chaired by Maria Mogilnaya of EBRD, one of the panelists and a very recent ITFA joiner, Banka për Biznes, explained […]

The ExCred event hosted the launch of Trade Finance Talks TV which, in partnership with the ExCred Series, spoke to some of the key players in commodity finance. Is it Basel, not Brexit, keeping the industry awake at night? Appetite Grows, Capacity Remains Abundant On the credit and political risk front, appetite is matching the […]

ITFA is pleased to welcome another four new members to its growing family: United Bank for Africa (UK) Limited ”UBAUK” is a wholesale bank regulated by the PRA and FCA to provide full banking operations in the UK. UBA UK is the go to bank for transactions to and from Africa with specific focus on: […]

Dear Members and Friends, I write this message bursting with pride after returning from the ITFA conference in Budapest. The conference attracted record numbers with close to 300 delegates attending from nearly 40 countries, who experienced, for themselves, what ITFA really stands for: relevant content, education, networking, fun and last but not least building on […]