Legal

(London) – International law firm Sullivan has advised ITFA (the International Trade and Forfaiting Association), on the launch of the new ITFA Unfunded Master Risk Participation Agreement (MRPA) and associated user guidelines, published yesterday, and will be issuing a CRR compliant legal opinion shortly.

The volume of space dedicated to ‘trade wars’ in the past few months is vast. But this does not guarantee the subject has been properly examined and analysed. I would like to suggest another perspective, questioning some common assumptions.

Credit Insurance is an important risk mitigant in international trade. But what actually is credit insurance, how can it be used to facilitate trade finance as a risk mitigant, and what are the key watch-outs a corporate or bank should consider when using credit insurance? We talked to two credit insurance experts about security, policy wording, obligations and what happens when things go wrong.

Simplifying and standardising trade finance faces a myriad of challenges but is necessary to enable open, secure trade finance. I caught up with Harri Rantanen at SEB to find out more about the objectives and mission behind Standardised Trust.

We heard from ICC United Kingdom’s Chris Southworth, Professor Charles Debattista and David Lowe from the ICC Incoterms® 2020 Steering Committee. We hear about the importance of Incoterms® in international trade, why they are changing in 2020, and what businesses should be thinking about in order to prepare for these changes.

As the UK prepares to leave the EU, significant efforts have needed to be made to prepare the government to negotiate for their own Free Trade Agreements. Is the UK ready for such a challenge?

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) announced that it has accelerated attempts to digitalise of trade finance by releasing two new sets of enhanced rules, Uniform Customs and Practise for Documentary Credits (eUCP) and Uniform Rules for Collections (eURC 522).

Certificates of Origin, alongside with the ICC Incoterms® rules, are some of the most crucial trade documents which authenticate the origin of any goods which are exported. Trade Finance Global spoke to CO experts, traders, shippers and producers, compiling a list of the most common mistakes when preparing Certificates of Origin, and how to avoid them.

TFG were live at the Telegraph’s Future of Trade & Export conference, joined by Michael Boguslavsky, Head of AI at Tradeteq. There are a number of disruptive opportunities to digitise trade finance, including, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, natural language processing.

As part of the Incoterms 2020 Media Alliance with the ICC UK, Trade Finance Global reports important information on the rules that are changing for Incoterms at the end of the year. Using the wrong ICC Incoterm when trading goods worldwide exposes companies to greater risk and cost in the form of lost goods or unnecessary disputes

Today at the ICC Annual General Meeting, Trade Finance Global (TFG) announces that it has joined the ICC United Kingdom. TFG reports from the ICC AGM in London.

Crypto assets (including Crypto currencies) and the technologies which underpin them are important because of the potentially huge benefits to society they can deliver. TFG heard from Manu Duggall on their standing under English law, which will determine whether that law will be chosen as the law of the contract and the forum for disputes over others.

TFG are delighted to be joined by Michael Vatikiotis, who was the keynote speaker earlier today at FCI’s 51st Annual Meeting in Ho Chi Minh City, an experienced author, journalist and conflict moderator specialising in Southeast Asia.

Here to discuss their recent report, Banking Regulation And The Campaign To Mitigate The Unintended Consequences For Trade Finance: is Olivier Paul, Director of Finance for Development at the ICC, joining us from Paris.

Sullivan’s Geoffrey Wynne highlights the key legal and regulatory themes to pay attention to in 2019.