The European Investment Bank (EIB) has unveiled plans to expand its role in trade and export finance, in a bid to boost trade with high-risk countries and help Europe compete with China.    The EIB said earlier this month that it will present plans to its board for a pan-European Trade and Investment Initiative, launch…

AIG and Canadian asset manager Onex have joined forces to acquire specialty re/insurer Convex in a US$7bn deal.

XDC Network is hoping to “re-energise” trade finance platform Contour after acquiring it from Xalts for an undisclosed amount last week.

JP Morgan’s new global head of export finance, Laura Galvin, has said that her focus is on “growing the business”. 

Law firm HFW has hired Marni Isaacson as a Geneva-based senior associate in its trade finance team.   Isaacson joins from Swiss commodity trader Element Alpha, where she was senior legal counsel. Prior to that, she was also an associate at several US law firms.  Qualified in New York and New Jersey, HFW says Isaacson’s…

BNP Paribas has said a €190mn fraud charge linked to receivables financing in its global markets division is linked to “new entries” with “low collateralisation”.  The Paris-headquartered lender made a €190mn “cost of risk” charge in relation to a specific credit event in its Q3 earnings report published on October 28.  Group chief financial officer Lars…

NGOs claim the decision to lift force majeure on Mozambique LNG poses a major security threat to local communities.

Trade finance platform Mitigram has named Joshua Kroeker as its chief executive and announced the departure of previous leader Pedram Tadayon.   Kroeker (pictured) joined Mitigram in early 2024 as head of Asia and later became chief product officer. The fintech said he “brings a wealth of international experience and a distinguished record in advancing…

Creditors of collapsed trade finance firm Stronghold Global Finance (UK) Limited are owed at least £1.28mn and may not receive any disbursements from the company’s estate, liquidators have said.   A court placed Stronghold into liquidation last year after it failed to pay debts of £181,000 to seven creditors, including former employees and vendors such…

A guarantee provided by UK Export Finance’s (UKEF) last month to Jaguar Land Rover went beyond the export credit agency’s risk limits and underwriting criteria, requiring it to obtain explicit government approval for the deal.   The UK government announced the Export Development Guarantee of up to £1.5bn in late September to help the carmaker…

The benefits of trade digitalisation are vast, enabling banks and their clients to transact more efficiently and securely, yet at the global level, progress remains patchy.  The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has responded to this challenge by developing the Innovation Lab, a first-of-its-kind initiative set up to help its partner banks across…

In 2021, JP Morgan created the role of global head of supply chain finance (SCF) to reflect the growing strategic focus on the business, and tapped long-time executive Heather Crowley to lead it. Based in New York, Crowley now oversees the bank’s global trade and working capital product strategy, product delivery and innovation efforts. Her…

Distributing trade finance products such as supply chain finance and short-term loans will become a “strategic necessity” for banks due to tougher capital requirements set to be phased in by the end of the decade, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has said in the latest iteration of its Trade Register report.   Under global…

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (US Exim) has signed seven letters of interest (LOIs) totalling more than US$2.2bn to advance critical minerals projects in Australia, as part of a broader deal signed between the two countries this week.  The LOIs were issued to Arafura Rare Earths, Northern Minerals, Graphinex, La Trobe Magnesium, VHM, RZ Resources and Sunrise Energy Metals.  The supported projects…

Progress on shipping decarbonisation could slow after member states voted to push back talks on the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) net-zero framework, sector figures have warned.  The US had already rejected the draft terms on reducing the industry’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in August, describing the framework as a “global carbon tax on Americans levied…

Swiss Re has promoted Toby Marshall to global head of sovereign credit and political risk insurance.   Marshall has been a senior trade credit and political risk underwriter at the re/insurer since April 2020.  In the new role, he will remain based in London and deal with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions clients such as multilateral…

Fintech company SecureLend has launched a 'first-of-its-kind' AI platform designed to automate business lending and working capital workflows.

The International Chamber of Commerce UK wants “digital trade superhighways” to replace the current “outdated” corridors.

Law firm White & Case has promoted Jessica Lynd to partner in its trade practice.  Based in Washington, DC, Lynd has worked at White & Case since 2013.   She focuses on US customs law compliance and customs dispute resolution, and also has experience in World Trade Organization dispute resolution and defending trade remedy investigations before…

Trade-focused fund Baghdadi Capital has completed a strategic investment in Teybridge Capital Europe, a Dublin-headquartered specialist in working capital solutions and trade finance.  As well as taking an equity share, Baghdadi Capital will facilitate an initial funding line of £50mn, with the aim of gradually increasing this to around £500mn.  The investment has been structured…

HSBC and Siemens have carried out the first fully digital, end-to-end indirect guarantee, marking a development in Europe's trade finance digitalisation. 

The Angolan government and HSBC have reached financial close on the €200mn water infrastructure improvement ProÁgua project.

Adoniro Cestari took up the role of head of trade and working capital solutions at Citi in New York in May this year, following a 25-year career at the bank that began in his home country of Brazil and brought him to the US a decade ago. He now leads Citi’s trade business at a…

Independent credit and political risk insurance broker Texel Group has further expanded its Singapore office.

Former HSBC Spain trade finance head Emilio Sanchis Gimenez will lead sales for its Global Trade Solutions business across Continental Europe.