New ITFA initiative for Northern Europe

ITFA’s Northern European Regional Committee (NERC) aims to increase its representation of the region and become more inclusive in its activities.

These are the aims of Paul Jennings, of ABC International Bank, NERC’s recently elected chairman. He is conscious that currently representation on the regional committee has largely been drawn from London and feels that this does not fully reflect interest in forfaiting from across the region as a whole.

“I feel we could do a lot more to involve members outside of the UK and to widen the geographic representation on the Regional Committee,” he says. “For example, we are keen to reach out to members in Scandinavia and in the Netherlands to involve them further in ITFA’s activities.”

He says that the development of market practice guidelines and the new collaboration between ITFA and the International Chamber of Commerce have been important steps in bringing greater transparency to the market. He would now like to hold ITFA events in other parts of the region where there is a definite interest among local members in educational seminars and other social gatherings.

Jennings would also like to encourage more corporates to become involved and for them to use ITFA as a means to become more familiar with forfaiting techniques and with the banks and others who operate in the market.

“I think NERC can communicate to a much wider audience than we do at the moment,” he concludes. “I would like to see a broader based committee and to make ITFA a wider platform for exchanging views and information which is ultimately to the benefit of all members in our region.”