Page 32 - Personal Data Held News Today

Credit insurance and surety specialist Xenia has agreed to buy the trade credit business of Credit Insurance Alliance Brokers (CIA) for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to complete on May 10, following which Xenia will integrate CIA’s business into its regulated entity, Credit Risk Solutions. “This acquisition represents a real win for both ...

HSBC has entered into a public-private partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines and related equipment, as part of efforts to help supply chains in Asia scale up to deliver vaccines at the volume and pace necessary to put an end to the pandemic. The partnership extends a US$1.2bn risk-sharing agreement between HSBC and ADB launched in July 2020 to support PPE suppliers, and will see a further US$300mn put into the vaccine ecosystem –from so...

Despite dire warnings of a precipitous drop in global trade as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the latest figures from the World Trade Organization (WTO) show that trade volumes recovered more quickly than expected in 2020, while the outlook for 2021 is relatively positive – albeit with several important caveats. In its latest trade forecast, the WTO predicts that world merchandise trade volume will increase by 8% in 2021 and 4% in 2022. The organisation also published its final figures fo...

The International Group of P&I Clubs (IGP&I) has approved TradeLens’ electronic bill of lading (eBL) system for use by its members, taking the total number of eBLs it accepts to seven. Made up of 13 protection and indemnity (P&I) clubs, the IGP&I as a whole provides marine liability cover for approximately 90% of the world’s ocean-going tonnage. Previously, the IGP&I’s rules specifically excluded liabilities in respect of the carriage of cargo under all electronic systems to the extent th...

Accounting firm Grant Thornton – appointed to recover funds owed to Greensill after its collapse into insolvency last month – has reportedly been unable to verify invoices used by Gupta-owned companies to raise financing from the London-headquartered lender. According to the FT, citing correspondence and sources familiar with the matter, Grant Thornton has approached several companies with outstanding invoices from Gupta’s trading firm Liberty Commodities – only to be told by those co...

A Moroccan fertiliser company says it has executed the first use of blockchain for an intra-African trade finance transaction, in a deal facilitated by the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB). OCP Group, a state-owned phosphate mining and fertiliser producer, says US$270mn-worth of phosphate fertiliser exports to an Ethiopian buyer were executed through a blockchain platform provided by Singapore fintech dltledgers, with the total deal worth US$400mn. The remaining tra...

HSBC has provided two green guarantees for suppliers to offshore wind energy installations in Taiwan, the latest in a string of deals as the island ramps up plans to switch from nuclear to renewable energy. The two guarantees total NT$310mn (US$10.9mn). The first, valued at NT$240mn and with a validity of one year, is being issued to Century Iron and Steel Industrial, a Taiwan-based company which is providing 69 pin piles to Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) for the Changfang and Xidao ...

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) says it is set to launch a US$1bn continent-wide transit guarantee scheme, having agreed last month to pilot the programme in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa). In March, Afreximbank said it would begin issuing transit bonds in Comesa member states after it finalised an agreement to join the bloc’s Regional Customs Transit Guarantee (RCTG) scheme. With US$200mn earmarked for support in Comesa, an Afreximbank spokesperson sa...

A global survey of SMEs has found a “precipitous rise” in the cost of working capital finance, as well as growing concerns over late or extended payments from SMEs’ customers. Carried out by working capital marketplace C2FO in December 2020 and January 2021, the survey quizzed more than 6,700 representatives from SMEs in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific on their working capital health. Though the vast majority said they had enough liquidity on hand to survive for the next six months...

Having received regulatory approval to acquire a controlling stake in South Africa’s Grobank, Nigeria headquartered Access Bank has outlined plans to rename the lender and expand its trade finance business. The South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) announced last week that it had signed off on the transaction, which is set to be completed in Q2 2021 and will see Grobank rebranded as Access Bank (South Africa). Access Bank group managing director and CEO, Herbert Wigwe, told CNBC Africa that the ...