CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE – Sean Edwards, ITFA Chairman, May 2024

Dear Members and Friends,

I hope this message finds you in good health and high spirits.  As we step into a new month, I’m managing a few days in the office following a busy conference round over the last few weeks.

May was packed with a number of events across the globe. Our biggest event was the ITFA Americas 27th Annual Conference at The Westin Michigan Avenue, Chicago and what a success it was!  The vibrant discussions and networking opportunities truly showcased the participants.  May was also special as we organised a first in Sweden! In conjunction with the NERC, for this year we decided to shift the spring cocktail from Amsterdam to Stockholm.

A little further afield we held another first, this time in Armenia where we held a workshop of supply chain finance and digitalisation with partners FCI on the fringes of the annual EBRD Meeting. This was a well-attended event; as ever I am impressed by the expertise of banks in the Caucasus. Our value-add as a global association was to open our community of partners to help them achieve their plans.

And more to come: on May 30^th we will be hosting three separate regional committee events. In Sydney there will be a back-to-back schedule starting with an Emerging Leaders Event, followed by a seminar on Credit Insurance in Global Trade and Supply Chain Finance. Later in the day on another continent, a Trade Finance networking cocktail will be held in Paris. 

I invite you to have a look at our events page ITFA Events 2024 for more details about these events and what’s scheduled for June.

As you will see we already have an exciting lineup of events. During June, precisely on the 24^th, we will be holding our Annual General Meeting 2024 ITFA Annual General Meeting (AGM). More details to come in the next few days.

I have saved the best until last of course so don’t think I have forgotten our much-anticipated ITFA 50^th Annual Conference Cyprus  which is now only just 4 months away!  This landmark event promises to be an extraordinary celebration of our journey together.  Registrations are coming in at a fast clip and we anticipate the event to be hugely attended. I urge you to register asap to ensure you do not miss out on this remarkable occasion and book your stay at the main hotel. Early bird prices expire on May 31^st! Another valid reason to hurry up and register! More information along with a detailed programme of the Conference can be found here.

I would like to once again extend our appreciation to this year’s sponsors. If you or your organisation are interested in sponsoring our event, please click here for more information or contact us via email at info@itfa.org.

In this month’s newsletter, you will find the Latham & Watkins Memorandum of Advice, commissioned by the ITFA Insurance Committee, regarding Credit Risk Insurance. Additionally, you can review the publication of the GCD Report on Credit Risk in Credit Insurance. This month, the African Regional Committee was actively involved, playing a key role in GTR West Africa in Lagos and producing a well-attended Educational Webinar on Managing Credit and Operational Risk in Trade Finance. We are also delighted to announce that the ITFA’s Fraud Working Group (ITFFWG) has released their first white paper, which is included in this edition. This month was meaningful to me as I received the Director’s Award from the ICC UK and the UK’s Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation (C4DTI) for my significant contributions to the digitalisation of international trade. I kindly invite you to read all about this achievement in my interview with Rebecca Spong.This month was personally meaningful as I received the Director’s Award from the ICC UK and the UK’s Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation (C4DTI) for the most significant contributor to the digitalisation of international trade. You can read all about this in my interview with Rebecca Spong.

Additionally, we are excited to introduce the ITFA Project Tracker for the first time. This tool provides a clear overview of ongoing projects with a RAG status system to indicate their progress. Developed in response to member feedback, it centralizes comprehensive project information in one place for improved awareness

Lastly, we extend a warm welcome to the newest additions to our ever-growing association – Diot Siaci and Lonmar.

I encourage you to take the time to read through this newsletter, keeping an eye out for exciting announcements, upcoming events, and opportunities for involvement. As always, your feedback and suggestions are invaluable to us.  Let us continue shaping the future of our organisation together.

Stay connected with us on LinkedIn for real-time updates on upcoming events.

Warmest regards

Sean Edwards