Page 16 - Exporta Publishing News Today

A planned European Union law requiring large and businesses and financial institutions to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence should also apply to export credit agencies (ECAs), activists say. The European Commission is currently working on a legislative proposal for mandatory due diligence which will require firms to assess the human rights and environmental ...

HSBC has appointed Patricia Gomes as regional head of commercial banking for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey (Menat). Based in Dubai, Gomes takes over the role from Daniel Howlett, who is currently working with her during the transition process. She joins the Menat business from North America, where she was most recently regional ...

The number of suppliers taking early payment after invoice approval has doubled over the past five years, according to fresh research from supply chain finance (SCF) provider Taulia.  The San Francisco-headquartered fintech says in a paper published this week that 38% of suppliers surveyed currently make monthly use of early payment programmes, up from 19% ...

A trade embargo placed on Mali by the majority of its neighbouring West African countries could affect its vital gold export sector in the coming months should a détente fail to be swiftly reached, analysts say. On January 9, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) imposed sweeping  sanctions on Mali after the country’s ...

Deutsche Bank has closed a lending facility to finance phase two of the Kumasi Market redevelopment project in Ghana, together with the UK Export Finance Agency (UKEF) and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). The €184mn financing to the Republic of Ghana consists of a €145mn loan supported by UKEF and a €39mn commercial loan by Afreximbank. ...

HSBC has appointed Natalie Blyth to the newly created role of global head of commercial banking sustainability, effective immediately. In her new position, Blyth is tasked with driving HSBC’s sustainability plans within commercial banking, in collaboration with group chief sustainability officer Celine Herweijer, who the bank brought in from PwC in February last year. She ...

Despite the continued impact of the pandemic, the disruption to global supply chains and the transformative effect of technology on trade and trade finance, GTR’s most-read stories of 2021 focused on the commodity finance sector. In some cases, the most popular stories – as measured by page views – were outlier events. In one example, ...

Despite a stable end to 2021, the commodity finance industry remains wary of being embroiled in another fraud scandal. Though price rises and strong liquidity have led to booming business at the top end of the market, smaller traders continue to struggle for access to finance. Could strengthening collateral checks or warehouse inspections help mitigate ...

The Commodities Issue takes a look at the key developments across the industry, as it continues to grapple with the fallout from a string of fraud scandals in 2020.

Japanese trading conglomerate Sojitz has been hit with a multi-million dollar fine by US authorities after wayward employees secretly traded Iranian-origin goods in violation of economic sanctions on the country. Sojitz’s Hong Kong subsidiary agreed to pay US$5.2mn to settle allegations by the US sanctions enforcement agency, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), that ...