CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE – Sean Edwards, ITFA Chairman / Head of Legal and Special Adviser to The Global Trade Finance Department At SMBC, Apr 2022

Dear Members,

As you may have seen we have been successfully holding in-person events and so excited to be able to announce that more are being planned.  With Zurich being our next stop, Dubai, Amsterdam and Paris will eventually follow, with a variety of topics and interesting and topical agendas being planned.  We’re especially pleased that we are able to announce a new date for the previously postponed Tallinn SCF Summit namely 31^st May to 1st June. We’re delighted to be holding this event and thereby demonstrate our faith in this region which holds so much promise. It is events such as these that point us to constructive engagement and, maybe, help to contribute to the reconstruction that must follow.

For the very first time, I am pleased to announce that through our Insurance Committee we will be dedicating one day, to be exact the 21st June, entirely to insurance.  Whilst as usual a topical session will open the event, we will also be hosting the ITFA Insurance Awards, a very first of its kind.  Planning is still underway however please note that we will be hosting the event in the lovely city of Paris.  As some of you may know on the same day, 21st June, Paris also celebrates la Fête de la musique (Festival of Music), which will certainly add a touch of Parisian glamour to our event!

We are in Paris again on the 27^th for a further live event with our partners , CGI, this time focussing on trade finance technology. This will also be our first event entirely in French but all are welcome – just bring your dictionaries!

As you can see we remain committed towards building our events calendar https://itfa.org/category/itfa-events-2022/ for the rest of the year, aiming to keep increasing networking opportunities for those able and willing to attend in person.  I invite you to follow us on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/company/itfa-org for instant updates.

Finally I cannot but remind all about our annual appointment! As already announced the magical city of Porto has been chosen to host our 48th Annual International Trade and Forfaiting Conference. Commencing on the Wednesday morning, 7th September, the fintech morning leads to the official opening of the conference. The event will end on Friday afternoon.  A kind reminder that this year we will be re-introducing our Education seminar which will be held on Tuesday 6th Sept. Registrations are now open, so take advantage of the Early Bird prices and register by the 15th June.  Click here https://2022conference.itfa.org/attend/registration-fees/

May I close my welcome message by thanking this year’s sponsors https://2022conference.itfa.org/sponsorship/sponsors/.  Pleased to announce that this year we have a record number of sponsors, a clear testimonial of support and acknowledgment in recognition for IFTA’s constant and meaningful contribution to the market, as well as reinforcing the popularity our conference keeps gaining year after year.  Should anyone be interested to sponsor please click here for more information https://2022conference.itfa.org/sponsorship/sponsorship-opportunities/ or send us an email on info@itfa.org

ITFA is pleased to announce that the following …… institutions have joined our ever growing association:  Aegon Asset Management, Evolution Credit Partners Management LLC., Norex International LLC., Stephenson Harwood, StorX , Squire Patton Boggs.

We are so glad to welcome back the following institutions: COMOI Consulting S.p.A., Jiangsu Jiangyan Rural Commercial Bank Co. LTD, Meridian Finance Group, SABB.

Stay tuned for more updates about our events and annual conference!