Page 28 - Personal Data Held News Today

French President Emmanuel Macron has signalled his support for Total’s US$3.5bn East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) as France’s biggest banks shun the project. With oil and gas investments falling out of favour in the eyes of investors, the pipeline could well be the continent’s last major foray into fossil fuels. Macron stated the project will be a “major opportunity to intensify trade between our two countries and to further expand our co-operation”, in a letter to recently re-e...

The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) has agreed to provide insurance cover to a new syndicated financing deal, which is expected to bolster exports from Arab countries to the West Africa region. Last week, the ICIEC said it would extend US$50mn in insurance cover to the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (Badea) in support of a wider financing arrangement. A spokesperson from the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB), of which ICIEC is a me...

Greensill collapsed into insolvency in March after a group of investment funds it was relying on were abruptly suspended, as serious concerns emerged over weaknesses in the underlying programmes. Four of those funds, managed by Credit Suisse, had provided around US$10bn in support to the London-headquartered lender, while another from GAM Investments was worth around US$700mn. Fitch Ratings says the suspension and liquidation of those funds – along with industry concerns over controversial ...

A host of temporary support policies, But in recent weeks, the bank’s board of directors confirmed it would renew all the amendments made to three of its programmes, and also keep in place a bridge financing programme it created in the throes of the pandemic to help foreign purchasers of US goods. The temporary relief measures will now last until April 2022 and apply to US Exim’s working capital guarantee, supply chain financing (SCF) guarantee and pre-export financing programmes, as well ...

Kjel Christensen has rejoined JP Morgan as trade finance sales lead for its North America corporate and investment bank consumer and retail portfolio. Christensen moves from working capital solutions provider Taulia, where he spent almost seven years, most recently as managing director for Americas and Asia Pacific. Prior to that, he held a vice-president role at JP Morgan for three years. His professional background also includes roles at American Express and Costco. Based in Utah, Christensen...

Export credit agency (ECA) financing for fossil fuels could be illegal under international law and governments are obligated to curtail it, according to a legal opinion commissioned by campaign group Oil Change International.  Authored by barrister Kate Cook and Cambridge University law professor Jorge E Viñuales, the 99-page opinion, published today, says principles in areas ...

Wikborg Rein, an international law firm headquartered in Oslo, has appointed Eleanor Midwinter as a partner in its London office, effective May 1. Midwinter joined the firm as a senior lawyer in February 2017, and since then has played a key role in consolidating its offering within international trade, energy and shipbuilding. Her contractual work is focused on the trade, transportation and storage of physical commodities, particularly LNG, oil and alternative fuels. Prior to joining Wikborg R...

Supermarket chain Tesco has become the first UK retailer to offer sustainability-linked supply chain finance (SCF) to its supply base, through a new programme with Santander. The voluntary programme, which has been in development for 18 months and is due to launch in September, will see Tesco’s suppliers get preferential financing rates via Santander’s SCF platform if they meet targets around carbon data disclosure, emissions reduction and progress against sustainability goals. “In this c...

Two directors have stood down from the board of Singapore-based fintech Triterras following a disagreement over the company’s response to allegations of related party transactions. Triterras says in a regulatory filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that Matthew Richards and Vanessa Slowey resigned as directors on April 22. The duo have also terminated their membership of the company’s audit and compensation committees. Richards’ resignation letter, addressed to Triterras...

US law firm Arent Fox has made three new hires in its international trade and investment practice. David Tafuri (pictured), who has been named as a partner, joins the firm from Dentons, where he chaired the emerging democracies practice. His prior experience also includes seven years as partner at Squire Patton Boggs, and before this he served as rule of law coordinator for Iraq at the US Department of State, where he worked directly with the chief justice of Iraq and Iraqi ministries to help r...