Newsletters


THE ITFA MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL COMMITTEE ANNUAL TRADE FINANCE DISTRIBUTION WEBINAR ‘Understanding the blueprint for Regional Trade Finance Distribution’, Nov 2021

Friday, November 12th, 2021

On 18th October 2021 the International Trade & Forfaiting Association ‘ITFA’ Middle East Regional Committee held its 3rd Annual Trade Finance Distribution Webinar titled “Understanding the blueprint for Regional Trade Finance Distribution”.

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CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE – Sean Edwards, ITFA Chairman / Head of Legal and Special Adviser to The Global Trade Finance Department At SMBC, Dec 2021

Tuesday, December 14th, 2021

As we come to the end of another year, let me first take the opportunity to thank all those who attended our Market Update Seminar and Christmas Cocktail Party, which was held on the 6th December at the Savage Garden Rooftop Bar of the Doubletree, Tower of London Hotel.

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ITFA EMERGING LEADERS – COMMUNITY SURVEY + CALL FOR APPLICATIONS, Dec 2021

Tuesday, December 14th, 2021

2021 marked another successful year for the ITFA Emerging Leaders Initiative. Despite the ongoing pandemic situation, we completed another round of the Martin Ashurst Mentorship Scheme, which connects Emerging Leaders with a pool of global experts and leaders in trade. The scheme allows Emerging Leaders to discuss their career and career path, industry positioning, and insights into the different areas of trade finance.

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TRADE IN 2022 – A LOOK AHEAD, Dec 2021

Thursday, December 9th, 2021

2022 is unlikely to produce the big goods trade rebound that everyone has been hoping for. The Covid pandemic continues with a new variant, Omicron, so there are likely to be sustained pressures on supply chains as well as upward pressure on prices.

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DISCOVERING THE INSURTECH LANDSCAPE, Dec 2021

Monday, December 13th, 2021

The Trade Finance Market is currently going through an important period of transformation in areas such as sustainability and digitalisation. Credit insurance industry commentators estimate that their members provide around $2.5bn of payment risk protection to banks, exporters and investors – equivalent to 13% of world cross border trade for goods and services.

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CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE – Sean Edwards, ITFA Chairman / Head of Legal and Special Adviser to The Global Trade Finance Department At SMBC, Nov 2021

Friday, November 19th, 2021

I cannot but start with the commitment made by the UK government during the COP26, to make the UK the world’s first ‘net-zero aligned financial centre’, which will eventually make it compulsory for companies to publish their plan setting out how they will decarbonise and transition to net zero.

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GIDDINESS AND STOICISM ON WORLD TRADE AND ESG AT ITFA, Nov 2021

Wednesday, October 27th, 2021

The masks came off as building resilience in world trade and ESG ran in tandem at ITFA’s in person annual event in Bristol.
World trade is finding the balance between giddiness and stoicism [which is another take on the word resilience] a hard one to pull off.

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”COLLABORATION AT ITS BEST” – HOW OUR STRATEGIC TRADE FINANCE INITIATIVES PUT IT TO WORK, Nov 2021

Tuesday, November 9th, 2021

A total of 200+ ITFA members flocked to Bristol on Wednesday October 6th to attend the ITFA Annual Conference which started with a half-day Fintech briefing. This was our 3rd edition that we organised following a good start in Cape Town (2018) and a 2nd one in Budapest (2019).

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ITFA NEW MEMBERS, Nov 2021

Thursday, November 18th, 2021

ITFA is pleased to welcome two institutions to its growing family:

– Cope Ehlers, P.C. 
– Sterling Bank PLC    

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CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE – Sean Edwards, ITFA Chairman / Head of Legal and Special Adviser to The Global Trade Finance Department At SMBC, Oct 2021

Wednesday, October 20th, 2021

I am basking in a warm post-conference glow after returning from Bristol, the venue of the 47th Annual Conference. Given the present circumstances and after one year’s absence, this year’s event was a remarkable success, attracting over 200 delegates from 18 countries!

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THE TRADE CREDIT VILLAGE JUST GOT SMALLER. DOES THE ZURICH EXIT MATTER?, Oct 2021

Friday, October 22nd, 2021

Departures from parts of the trade credit and CPRI market – in particular by Zurich and QBE – have raised eyebrows as reduced capacity could make it harder for banks to secure a programme with a single insurer.

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2021 ANNUAL ITFA CONFERENCE – 5 THINGS WE LEARNED, Oct 2021

Wednesday, October 20th, 2021

ITFA’s Annual Conference, hosted this year in Bristol, UK from 6 – 8 October, brought together nearly 200 members of the ITFA international community. In three days, market trends in a post-pandemic world, legal and regulatory updates, fintech initiatives and ESG efforts were just some of the topics discussed.

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HOW BRIGHT THE DAWN, Oct 2021

Friday, October 22nd, 2021

At the ITFA Annual Conference in Bristol Deutsche Bank’s Sanjay Raja shares his outlook for GDP growth, perspective on the tightening labour market, and concerns about inflation, after a strong start to 2021 that changed course as the year went on.

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NEW ITFA MEMBERS, Oct 2021

Thursday, October 21st, 2021

ITFA is pleased to welcome the following institutions to its growing family:

– ABBYY 
– Access Bank PLC                                                  
– Accelerated Payments Ltd                      
– Banque Saudi Fransi
– DP World Financial Services Limited
– Pemberton Asset Management
– Ta3meed Financing Platform 
– Zenith Bank PLC (Nigeria)

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ADGM AND ITFA PARTNER TO BOOST THE IMPACT OF #tradetech, July 2021

Thursday, July 8th, 2021

Some jurisdictions are taking the lead to promptly adapt regulations to the digital transformation of commerce and finance. This has been the approach taken by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) which collaborated with ITFA in 2020 to integrate negotiable instruments into the scope of their new Electronic Transactions Regulations 2021.

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CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE – Sean Edwards, ITFA Chairman / Head of Legal and Special Adviser to The Global Trade Finance Department At SMBC, Aug 2021

Thursday, August 19th, 2021

Good vibes are still in the air following our successful first in person event, the NERC Summer Event, which we hosted on 12th August. The well attended event, with over 120 participants, was held at the Savage Gardens, London.

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THE IMPERATIVE OF SUSTAINABILITY, Aug 2021

Friday, August 20th, 2021

The ITFA’s 47th Annual Conference from the 6th – 8th October has at its heart sustainability and digital technologies for enabling trade finance.

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A FAMILY REUNION, Aug 2021

Thursday, August 19th, 2021

Deutsche Bank’s Clarissa Dann reflects on her first ten years of ITFA Annual Conferences and explains why the 47th Annual International Conference in Bristol is a particularly special homecoming

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SUMMER UPDATE ON OUR FINTECH INITIATIVES, Aug 2021

Thursday, August 19th, 2021

Join us in Bristol at the ITFA annual conference that takes place from October 6th till 8th.
Starting at 9am on Wednesday 6th, conference delegates will be invited to join the morning sessions that will feature the latest fintech developments as reported by a number of initiative members who will share their most recent testimonials.

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TOP TAKEAWAYS: ITFA’S FIRST IN-PERSON EVENT OF 2021, August 2021

Thursday, August 19th, 2021

With England having lifted most of its domestic Covid-19 restrictions, marking a new phase in pandemic life, ITFA’s Northern European Committee (NERC) hosted an in-person event in London on August 12.

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