Industry insiders are hopeful that access to funding and insurance will remain resilient across the wider supply chain finance (SCF) market, despite the disastrous collapse of London-based behemoth Greensill.
Though Greensill’s demise is rooted in its exposure to GFG Alliance, a network of companies linked to metals magnate Sanjeev Gupta, its collapse last week was
There had been hopes that despite Greensill filing for administration in a London court on Monday, private equity investors would be able to
salvage the company’s SCF business, which sources describe as robust and insulated from the company’s GFG-related activities.
But as of press time, serious doubts are arising over that proposed acquisition, opening up the possibility that other SCF providers and funders could be called upon to step into the
The tie-up, which
GTR first reported last year, means that corporates with multiple banking partners will no longer have to provide ESG information in differing formats through bilateral exchanges, which is costly, time-consuming and inefficient. Instead, the inclusion of the ICC’s guidelines on the KYC registry provides an industry standard that means corporates will only need to complete and update a single form that they can then share with their banking partners.
“Never before have environmental and sustainability practices had a more significant bearing on the financial decisions made by consumers, investors, corporates and financial institutions alike,” says Bart Claeys, head of data and analytics products strategy at Swift. “This has led to a huge increase in demand for ESG due diligence which has, due to a lack of standardisation, been difficult to provide.”
The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and its trade finance offshoot are set to commence the second stage of a US$2.3bn coronavirus support package to boost exports in 57 member countries.
After disbursing some US$250mn in health-related assistance last year during the first step of its coronavirus support strategy, the bank says it has signed an agreement with the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to begin a second stage, focused on trade.
The latest phase, which the bank dubs the “restore track”, will focus on measures over the medium term to finance trade and SMEs, protect “strategic” value chains and keep afloat necessary supplies for the healthcare sector and essential commodities.
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has partnered with tech-based working capital solutions provider Demica to roll out a new supply chain finance (SCF) platform across Africa.
The collaboration will see Demica license its technology platform to Afreximbank on a white-label basis. The solution will focus on approved payables financing, with coverage extended across Afreximbank’s member countries.
“This is an innovative partnership with Demica and leading African financial institutions,” says Gwen Mwaba, global head of trade finance at Afreximbank. “The product, which will deploy world-class technology and a collaborative delivery model, aligns with the bank’s vision of transforming Africa’s trade, and will contribute to achievement of the bank’s strategic objective of reducing the trade finance gap in Africa, especially for the SME segment.”
Overseas energy financing from Chinese policy banks plummeted last year in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report says, as pressure builds on Beijing to drop its zest for coal projects in developing countries.
According to data from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center (GDPC), funding from the China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (Cexim) plunged by roughly 43% in 2020.
Having funded around US$8.1bn in loans for energy projects in developing countries in 2019, the pair’s outlay tightened to US$4.6bn last year.
More than half of the two banks’ combined overseas energy funding went to a single project in Nigeria, with Cexim providing a US$2.5bn loan to the Ajaokuta, Kaduna, Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project in Nigeria.