Rand Merchant Bank has hired Nigel Beck to the newly created role of head of sustainable finance and ESG.
Beck joins from Standard Bank, where he has held numerous sustainable trade-related roles over the past 13 years. Most recently, he was the South African bank’s global managing director of sustainable finance and ESG advisory, which saw him advise clients on sustainable products, develop and execute sustainability linked loans and debt facilities, and advise on ESG risk and compliance with Equator Principles and IFC Performance Standards.
He has also served as global chair of the Equator Principles Steering Committee, and is a member of the Impact Investing National Task Force as well as the International Chamber of Commerce’s sustainable trade finance working group.
Fasanara Capital, a UK alternative asset manager, will lend S$50mn to small and medium-sized enterprises in Singapore through peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace Validus.
Fasanara is a London-headquartered quant fund, meaning it chooses investments based on quantitative analysis of data. It has already funded 2,800 loans through Validus’ marketplace since 2019, the Singapore company says in a statement.
In addition to S$20mn made available through the P2P marketplace, Fasanara is also tipping S$30mn of funding into loans provided by Validus through the Singapore government’s Enterprise Financing Scheme for SMEs.
Under the scheme, the government shoulders up to 70% of the risk for loans, capped at S$10mn each, to SMEs through participating financial institutions, including Validus. Loan categories include trade, working capital and venture debt.
The Australian government has announced an overhaul of a grants scheme for exporters after a review found it should be streamlined.
The Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) programme, which has been running for almost half a century, allows existing exporters and businesses that want to sell internationally to apply for reimbursement for partial cover of expenses such as marketing, representation and travel in overseas markets.
A government-commissioned review published last year found that while there is widespread support for the programme, businesses found the application process tricky and wanted more certainty about how much money they would be approved to claim back.
A study of global gold trading data has uncovered signs of smuggling in several major markets, warning that metals traders, refiners and banks should pay closer attention to potential red flags.
According to research by investigative campaign group Global Witness, many countries are currently exporting quantities of gold far in excess of their reported production and imports.
Though this can be partly attributed to flaws in how data is recorded and presented, the report warns that in many cases it suggests gold is being smuggled across international borders in order to disguise its dubious origins.
“When gold is smuggled into a country, it is not reported as an import, but it often leaves the country through legal channels and shows up in the export figures, leading to gaps between production and net export figures,” Global Witness says.
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-elected Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni published by the East African nation’s government on May 1.
It follows reports that the three largest French banks, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and Société Générale will not provide finance for the proposed 1,445km heated oil pipeline running from Hoima, Uganda to the port of Tanga in Tanzania.