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TRADE FINANCEMarket Outlook

2013

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TRADE FINANCE Market Outlook 2013 1

CONTENTS

SPONSOR FEATURE 4SNR Denton: What Happened in 2012 and What to Look Out For in 2013

2012 IN REVIEW 11Market Moves – a round-up of 2012Deals of the Year 2011 by regionAwards for Excellence Results 2012

2013 OUTLOOK 61North America Trade Finance RoundtableBAFT IFSA – Basel III’s unintended consequencesDeutsche Bank – Asia comes of ageSwift/ICC – Preparing for UR BPOCiti – Transforming TradeTrade Regulation – A new look at Basel IIIGlobal Export Finance 2012: Looking aheadCommodity Finance RoundtableIFC Bank Partners Meeting – Can partnerships

save trade finance?

Directory 115A directory of the world’s leading trade finance institutions

2013 Calendar 150Dates for your diary in 2013

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TRADE FINANCEMarket Outlook

2013

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Trade Finance Market Outlook 2013



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INTRODUCTION

IntroductionWelcome to Trade Finance Market Outlook 2013, sponsored by SNR Denton.

With 2012 drawing to a close, trade finance has been elevatedto a much higher status within financial institutions than manyhave seen in years, but challenges remain as regulatory change,compliance, and capital requirements all hang over the industry.Trade financiers are a resourceful lot though, and this is a timein which innovation and adaptability pays off.

As Trade Finance Magazine enters its 30th anniversary year in2013, we remain committed to covering this fast-paced newsenvironment on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, allowingyou to access the news you want in the way you want it – by e-mail alert, RSS feed, through Twitter, Linkedin and in greaterdepth in the magazine itself. 2013 will also see the launch ofour iPad app and a full rebranding of the Trade Finance productset. Throughout all of this we will continue to help you keepyour finger on the pulse of this fast-changing market as the go-to source of market analysis and comment.

We continue to report live from industry events including theannual meetings of US Ex-Im, EBRD, IFC and the IFA, as wellas Sibos. Our own conferences, arranged in conjunction withEuromoney Seminars, are recognised as the market-leadingdebate and networking events for the industry, and we havenew events launching in the coming months.

Within these pages we include a review of 2012, comprising around-up of our awards and market moves. Following that wehave a selection of articles describing the state of the tradefinance market and the outlook for 2013. We hope you find ourannual directory of contacts, and calendar of upcomingindustry events useful in the coming months.

Special thanks for all the editorial contributions to thispublication, and thanks to those of you who continue to workwith us to make Trade Finance the most widely respected globalsource for news on the trade, supply chain, export andcommodity finance markets. We look forward to seeing you allin the coming year.

Oliver O’ConnellEditorTrade Finance Magazine

Managing editor Jonathan Bell Tel: (+44) 20 7779 8428 E-mail: [email protected]

EditorOliver O’Connell Tel: +1 212 224 3413E-mail: [email protected]

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What Happened in 2012 and What to Look Out For in 2013

By Geoffrey WynnePartner, SNR Denton and Head of the Trade and Export Financing Group

2012 has, in some ways, been much the same as the last few years which havefollowed the financial crisis years of 2007 and 2008. It started as a year of cau-tious promise and, to a certain extent, some of that promise has come tofruition. On the other hand the crises that existed at the start of 2012 have notall been resolved and consequently 2013 opens up with continuing unresolvedfinancial crises. In addition, as will be seen, issues that were uncertain at thestart of 2012 have, in some cases, been clarified, and new issues have come totake their place.

An overview of 2012In the trade finance arena there were a number of successful syndicated financ-ings, but on the whole there has continued to be less major syndicated financ-ings. Those that were attempted have, to a great extent, been successful. How-ever, the issue of financing only track record borrowers continues to attract theheadlines. Thus, a strong record borrower should still be able to complete a suc-cessful syndication. In some cases this might not always be as much as the bor-rower would have wanted. But successful closings have happened. Access to themajor syndicated market by debut borrowers remains problematic in manycases.The continuing effect of lower commodity prices particularly has affected

the trade finance market since there are less commodity deals to finance. How-ever, with oil prices remaining steady (and on the high side) it is oil financingsthat continue to have the greatest potential for size.

4 TRADE FINANCE Market Outlook 2013

SNR DENTON

It has been noticeable that some banks are committing smaller amounts intofinancings. In some ways this is counterbalanced by other banks joining facili-ties that they have not signed before.Behind the major headlines of large and well known syndicated facilities

there are still many bilateral facilities being arranged by banks in the tradefinance arena. Many of these facilities are better structured than they have beenin the past with the increased use of security in particular.Amongst specialist trade finance banks there are imaginative solutions being

adopted to try and persuade the credit committees in banks to embrace thesefacilities. There is also an attempt to make facilities attractive to customers. Thestory is still the same – good names can attract offers of financings from a num-ber of sources. Debut borrowers are fortunate enough if they have one offer topursue.The good news remains that defaults are few and far between.

What structures?Receivable financings, whether they be supply chain or otherwise, have beenon the increase. A number of major banks are making facilities available eitherdirectly or via participation arrangements to vendors of commodities, finishedgoods etc. What is, however, missing is financing without existing receivables.Thus, pre-export financings and prepayment financings have not been asnumerous as they were a few years ago.It is interesting to note as 2012 ends that the changes that took place in

Brazil regarding restrictions on the length of time for prepayment financingshave been changed again to allow for longer financings. Legislation earlier in2012 shortened the finance period to less than a year. This resulted in a drop ininternational financings. This recent change to increase the period again willhave a positive effect on prepayment financings in Brazil. Historically Brazil hasbeen a large market for prepayment financings.A number of banks have joined the growing list of institutions that are pre-

pared to finance transactions in circumstances where the bank becomes theowner of commodities. These are done by a committed repurchase arrange-ment (a repo) but also where the bank is prepared to step in and purchasegoods from one party and then sell them on deferred terms to another party.There is the variation where the bank agrees to hold ownership of those goodsin warehouses or onboard ship for a period of time before selling. In manycases the bank acts in its own name. There are cases where the bank actsthrough a specially formed subsidiary. There is continued analysis regardingthese ownership structures and whether they will in reality be treated as a true


SNR DENTON

sale in a subsequent liquidation of the bank’s counterparty. The risk of re-char-acterisation of the transaction either as a loan financing or as one which willnot give the bank the benefit of ownership remains a risk. However, the aware-ness of the issues and continuing good structuring is helping many of thosetransactions to be concluded. They can be time consuming as analysis involvesthe jurisdiction of the bank’s counterparty and where the goods are situated aswell as the analysis of English law which often governs the transaction.

What about the legal and regulatory framework?There has been the continuing debate about the effect of Basel III when it isimplemented. There has not been any further flexibility granted beyond theassistance for letter of credit business. This recognised the short term nature ofletters of credit and the fact that counterparty banks could have a credit ratinghigher than the country of their incorporation. The optimists in the trade finance market are still hopeful of some further

assistance to trade financings before Basel III is fully implemented. The effect ofmuch of Basel III is arguably to make trade finance transactions less attractivefrom a use of capital point of view. That might have two effects. The first is thatthere will be less funds available for trade finance. The second is that tradefinance (because it will not attract a good enough risk capital treatment) willbe less attractive in a bank as compared to other transactions which might pro-duce even better returns. Some say that the low level of loan losses is not suffi-cient to improve the volumes.There continues to be the debate as to whether further assistance should be

given to make trade finance more attractive from a capital risk weighting pointof view. That continues to dovetail into the whole debate as to whether tradedebt itself should be given a better treatment in the liquidation of the obligor.The debate here continues along two lines. The first is the argument that, with-out the need of anything further, trade debt (to be defined in some way) willalways have priority in a restructuring or liquidation of an obligor. The secondis that there should be a definition of trade debt and then a means to make iteasy to legislate for its priority in the insolvency of an obligor.2013 will undoubtedly see progress in the debate but whether it sees a reso-

lution of all the issues is something to wait and see. Defining what is trade andwhat is trade debt are the key issues. Defining trade might be easy but somewould say that would produce too narrow a definition of trade debt. Then thereis the issue which still needs to be resolved as to what trade debt really wouldmean. Most would agree that short term letters of credit involving the importand export of goods into the country where the obligor resides should be trade


SNR DENTON

debt. The issue is how much further should trade debt be expanded? There isevery reason to expand what is trade debt for the purposes of what banks mightwant to finance. However, covering all of this into a definition of trade debtwhich must have priority in insolvency is much more difficult. The argument isthat if the definition is too wide then in a major and catastrophic insolvencythere would not be enough assets to repay that so called priority debt. Thatmight then be self defeating if the purpose is to ensure that trade debt is repaid

in all circumstances.There is one argument,

which is that well structuredtrade finance facilities, particu-larly with security, already havethe priority that is needed. Insome cases even without thesecurity but with careful moni-toring trade facilities can berepaid ahead of a liquidation.Indeed it is this early monitor-ing and the ability to take actionahead of a liquidation that isbetter. Self help remedies areoften far better than waiting forthe outcome of liquidator orcourt decisions.Legislation passed in the US

and its implication to thosedoing business in the US or with offices in the US, even where they might beinvolved in transactions outside of the US, have continued to worry parties in2012. There is no reason to think that these problems will not continue into2013.The legislation known as “Dodd Frank” will continue to be rolled out and

will continue to cause issues as to how wide these problems might permeate.Some 50% of measures promised under “Dodd Frank” have yet to be enacted.An interesting provision called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act

(FATCA) with its effectiveness coming in over the next few years has vexedmany. However, the Loan Market Association (LMA) has sought to help withsome riders to insert in financing agreements. More importantly, there have beensome bilateral treaties between the US and many countries in Europe whichshould mitigate the effect of FATCA going forward. The problem with FATCA


SNR DENTON

The optimists in the tradefinance market are still hopefulof some further assistance totrade financings before Basel IIIis fully implemented. The effectof much of Basel III is arguablyto make trade financetransactions less attractive froma use of capital point of view.

and some solutions is that it causes creditors to fight with each other about whobears the risk of any gross up of payments should FATCA arise. Even if a bor-rower agrees to accept the risk an exempt lender might argue that the borrowershould not pay (and the non exempt lender should take the risk) as increasedpayments from a borrower might change the nature of its credit standing.Finally, the scandals involving the fixing of Libor (the London Interbank rate

used to fix interest rates in many loans) look as if they will be resolved bychanges recommended by the Wheatley Report. This is designed to find amore objective and fairer means of fixing the rate. There will be the continued“prosecution” and fining of banks for past failures. This should make such ascandal less likely to occur in the future. Hopefully, as the solution unfoldsthere will not be a need to re-examine definitions used in loan documenta-tion. If that is not the case and rewriting is necessary then many will be occu-pied in 2013 doing just that.

The growing use of sanctionsAs was anticipated at the beginning of 2012 there has continued to be thepolitical use of sanctions against countries and regimes. The fact that there areshort term sanctions imposed and then released continues to make it difficultfor participants in the market and their legal advisors to reach definitive longterm solutions. The Libya issue where sanctions were passed and then removedin the space of nine months still affects the thinking in this area.One of the issues that needs to be resolved is how wide sanctions wording

needs to go. Many banks have no problems with accepting that documentationshould clearly cover United Nations and European Union measures but arereluctant to agree to abide by the sanctions by one country which is not theirown. In such a case this might make the bank liable for penalties in its owncountry. In some cases this is resulting in sanctions being dealt with in side let-ters outside of the main documentation.

Related issuesCoupled with sanctions are the facts that banks have been fined for actionsthey have taken in arguable breaching sanctions and/or anti money launderinglegislation or terrorism laws. This means that banks are particularly looking attighter “know your customer” provisions and generally much tighter compli-ance procedures. The problem for banks and the market generally si how far aaprty has to look to check on who its customer is or does it need to lookbeyond (probably) and, if so, how far. Financing transactions become evenmore time consuming and risky.


SNR DENTON

In the area of letters of credit some banks are inserting provisions designedto protect themselves by making the bank the arbiter as to whether theremight be a breach of laws or regulations that might be binding on it. If thisbecomes the norm then it will affect the value of letters of credit as independ-ent payment obligations triggered by a complying presentation of documents.

The Euro2013 will no doubt continue to see arguments about the survival of the euroand who will remain a member of the euro club. Nothing happened in 2012,and hopefully that position will remain in 2013. The wisdom of a careful defi-nition of the euro will continue to be important.

More thoughts for 2013Looking forward it is ironic that in 2012 the LMA published its pre-exportfinancing (PXF) document but 2012 had less PXF transactions. Perhaps 2013will provide more transactions where the use of the LMA standard form PXFmight be considered.A great deal of work went into its production. However, it is a very long

document with many options. The question to be debated is whether anyoneattempts t use the full documentor whether the vogue forshorter documents will con-tinue.2012 also saw the acceptance

by the ICC (InternationalChamber of Commerce) of thenew Uniform Rules for Forfait-ing URF (URF). These takeeffect from 1st January 2013. Itwill be worth looking out in2013 to see if this has a dramaticpositive effect on forfaitingtransactions. Put simply forfait-ing is the packaging up of pay-ment claims (quite often result-ing from the sale of goods ondeferred terms). These paymentclaims are bought at a discountby the primary forfaiter from


SNR DENTON

Will 2013 finally be the year thatsees trade finance take aprominent place in the armouryof banking products? That mightbe too optimistic. However, thereare good signs. Even with someplayers in Europe in particulardropping out or cutting back,there are new players enteringthe market.

the seller of the goods who receives a transferable promise to pay from thebuyer. The primary forfaiter can then sell the payment claims in the secondarymarket and the payment claims can be traded between parties until the matu-rity date. URF covers both the creation of the primary forfaiter’s transaction(the primary market) and the on sale to others (the secondary market). If, as ishoped, the market embraces the URF and its master agreements then this is away of creating transactions and selling payment claims on a much wider scale.The definition of payment claim is deliberately wide to permit many transac-tions to be included within the URF.2013 will also see continuing work on Bank Payment Obligations (BPOs)

which arguably might revolutionise payments for the purchase and sale ofgoods. If BPOs are tradable then more possibilities arise.

The trade finance market generallyWill 2013 finally be the year that sees trade finance take a prominent place inthe armoury of banking products? That might be too optimistic. However,there are good signs. Even with some players in Europe in particular droppingout or cutting back, there are new players entering the market. Losses are verylow and there are possibilities that regulators will see the need to assist worldtrade generally. It is not for the banks that the rules of Basel III in particularshould change but because exporters and producers in emerging need tradefinance to survive and export goods and commodities. If this breakthrough isachieved then there would be a potential explosion in available facilities.It is also worth noting that there are others attracted by the low risk of trade

finance. That includes the continued but growing involvement of the insurancemarket and other participants outside the banking sector who would invest intrade facilities.All of this means that 2013 could be an exciting year. ■


SNR DENTON

Geoffrey Wynne

Geoffrey Wynne is a partner in SNR Denton UK and head of itsTrade and Export Finance practice. He also is vice-chairman of theDrafting Committee for the URF.

For more information please contact Geoffrey:T +44 (0)20 7246 7050F +44 (0)20 7246 [email protected]


2012 YEAR IN REVIEW

2012 YEAR IN REVIEW

The global magazine for export and commodity finance www.tradefinancemagazine.com

Volume 15 Issue 1 February 2012

TRADE FINANCE

First Quantum signs Zambian finance

Banks launch Cocobod three-year loan

Rusal secures PXF covenant waivers

IFC hits new records in trade support

Australian ECA-backed project focus

Dealogic year-end trade loan tables

Keeping the ice open forRussia/CIS financingKeeping the ice open forRussia/CIS financing


Volume 15 Issue 2 March 2012

TRADE FINANCE

OECD considers new ship export credit rules

First deal under IFC’s commodities prog

Brazil shocks market with trade tax

ENRC signs Sberbank mega-loan

JBIC funds overseas M&A activity

Finance unveiled for Uzbekistan’s Surgil

Finding the right fit fornew liquidity sourcesFinding the right fit fornew liquidity sources

Inside: Deals of the Year2011 – EMEA

All winnersrevealed


Volume 15 Issue 3 April 2012

TRADE FINANCE

Ghana Cocobod revises annual deal criteria

China lifts restrictions for RMB trade settlement

French banks keep Trafigura credit lines intact

US Ex-Im battles with Senate over budget

BAFT-IFSA establish trade finance Risk Clusters

Australia’s Gorgon LNG signs new loan

Corporate strategy:firms seek ECA havensCorporate strategy:firms seek ECA havens

Inside: Deals of the Year2011 – Americasand Asia-Pacific

All winnersrevealed


Volume 15 Issue 4 May 2012

TRADE FINANCE

Changes at the top at BNPP Geneva

Glencore signs mega revolving credit

Metinvest comes to the market for PXF

Vitol looks to Asia for new funds

ING completes trio of Russian EF deals

Berne Union insures record amount

Drier times forcommodity

bankers

Drier times forcommodity

bankers


Volume 15 Issue 5 June 2012

TRADE FINANCE

Deutsche Bank reorganises SCTF

Trafigura expands finance capabilities

Noble group draws the banks in

HSBC and EFIC team for Russia agri

Australia Pacific LNG project signs

US Ex-Im finally gets the vote of approval

Awards 2012:Ahead of the curveAwards 2012:Ahead of the curve


Volume 15 Issue 6 July/August 2012

TRADE FINANCE

ABN AMRO appoints global energy head

Gunvor signs RCF deals in Asia and Europe

Venezuela’s PDVSA inks structured trade finance

Egyptian Refining project reaches financial close

Afreximbank signs unique financing with Econet

Asia and Americas Awards for Excellence 2012

New lines of support for Brazilian tradeNew lines of support for Brazilian trade


Volume 15 Issue 7 September 2012

TRADE FINANCE

Citi hires Van Broekhoven for commodities

Duferco taps the Asian bank market for funds

Realistic pricing on Ghana Cocobod PXF

Olam secures loan for Gabon palm oil

Mecca-Medina high-speed rail gets bank funding

Capital equipment financing regional reports

Rethinking Basel IIIand trade financeRethinking Basel IIIand trade finance


Volume 15 Issue 8 October/November 2012

TRADE FINANCE

Wells Fargo appoints global trade services head

Crédit Agricole CIB reorganises trade units

TNK-BP signs new loan as Rosneft talks continue

Australia’s FMG secures crucial finance facility

BNPP and US Ex-Im sign Vietnam satellite first

Capital market solution for Finnvera funding

Towards a newtrade financeTowards a newtrade finance

Sibos 2012 Osaka special edition

Media partner 2012


Volume 15 Issue 9 December 2012/January 2013

TRADE FINANCE

Mercuria continues to expand non-oil trading

Kazakhmys comes back to the loan market

Gazprombank sets a new benchmark

India’s Reliance seals mega US Ex-Im deal

ADB to launch a supply chain finance programme

Commodity traders continue as the banks’ honey pot

Strong pipeline of deals forAsia-Pacific export financeStrong pipeline of deals forAsia-Pacific export finance

Trade Finance Market Moves Round-up 2012

Highlights of the past 12 months’ key market moves and appointments – stay up-to-date and read more at www.tradefinancemagazine.com or on Twitter @TradeFinance.

January

HSBC America appointed StephenBottomley as a senior executive vicepresident and head of commercialbanking for North America.

BBVA relocated its transactional tradefinance head, Nick Shaw, to New York tomaximize its cross border business andLatin American and USA networks.In Dubai, Kersi Patel was named as

Barclays’ new head of trade and workingcapital, Middle East.

JP Morgan hired Lillian Labbat as its new managing director for TreasuryServices business to cover export and supply chain finance across the Americas.Jonathan Whitehead was promoted to the role of global head of

commodities at SG CIB.


MARKET MOVES

Nick Shaw Lillian Labbat

February

Zhann Meyer joined Nedbank Capital from Standard Chartered as its newhead of African business. The ICC appointed Daniel Schmand as vice-chair of the ICC Banking

Commission responsible for the newly created area of supply chain finance.Schmand is head of trade finance and cash management corporates EMEA atDeutsche Bank’s GTB division.

RBS appointed Anand Pande as the new product head of trade finance.Based in Singapore he replaces Adnan Ghani who is now in a sales role ashead of transaction services origination, UK network and trade.Jonathan Joseph-Horne joined SMBC to manage the bank’s export and

agency finance business in the EMEA region in the global trade financedepartment, reporting to John Turnbull, EMEA region head.

UniCredit made a strategic hire for Asia Pacific structured trade andexport finance (STEF) business in Hong Kong, hiring Patrick Welch asdirector, commodity trade finance – Asia-Pacific. The senior leadership team was reorganised at ANZ’s global institutional and

Asia-Pacific, Europe and America (APEA) division. Included in the reorganisationwere Christina Tonkin, managing director of global loans and transaction banking;Gary Newman, managing director of global institutional relationships; and Ivy AuYueng, managing director commercial banking, Asia-Pacific.

March

Standard Chartered named Tim Hinton as the newglobal head of SME banking with responsibility for 30countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Deutsche Bank selected Elwin Karyadi as head ofglobal transaction banking (GTB) in Indonesia and Le-Nhat Phuong Hong as head of global transaction bankingin Vietnam.

Bibby Financial Services appointed Simon Davies asglobal trade finance director.Svetlana Gromyko-Piradova is named as the new head of

structured trade and export finance at ZAO UniCreditBank, Russia, replacing Thomas Deutscher who moved to the team inGermany.


MARKET MOVES

Svetlana Gromyko-Piradova

April

Jacques-Olivier Thomann left his position as head of structured finance inSwitzerland and managing director of BNP Paribas (Suisse), with Philippede Gentile taking over both roles, while also retaining the role of global headof energy and commodity finance.The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), formerly the

international wing of the Japan Finance Corporation (JFC), was officiallyspun off and former Toyota president Hiroshi Okuda was appointed as its newgovernor.

Société Générale CIB announced a new organisational set-up. In theglobal finance division, headed by Pierre Palmieri and his deputies, SlawomirKrupa and David Coxon, a new energy and natural resources business line wascreated, co-headed by Federico Turegano and Jonathan Whitehead, andincluding energy, trade and commodity, metals and mining financings activities.Also within the division is a new business line headed by Matthew Vickerstaffthat includes infrastructure and asset based finance, export finance, andtransaction and debt advisory activities. Jonathan Whitehead has also beenappointed head of commodities markets in the separate global markets division,and François Combes and Jean-François Maurey are appointed deputies.

HSBC promoted Andrew Robison to deputy head of commodity andstructured trade finance UK.It was announced that Australia’s Westpac will open in Mumbai with an

aim to developing its commercial and wholesale banking business in India.Hodaka Shoji, formerly head of global trade finance at Mizuho’s New York

office, has relocated to Japan to begin a secondment at Nexi.Citi Latin America appointed a new executive

management team under the leadership of FranciscoAristeguieta – CEO for Latin America, excluding Mexico.Brazil and Colombia will continue to be led by GustavoMarin and Bernardo Noreña, respectively. Additionally,Suresh Maharaj has been appointed to lead CentralAmerica and the Caribbean, and Juan Bruchou, Citicountry officer for Citi Argentina, will be responsible forthe South America cluster (Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru,Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay). Aristeguietawill oversee the Chilean market directly.

The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development(DBED) and China Exim signed an agreement that establishes the bank’sfirst US location in the state of Maryland.


MARKET MOVES

FranciscoAristeguieta

Amol Gupte was named as Citi Transaction Services (CTS) head forthe Asia-Pacific region, reporting to Rodrigo Zorrilla, Citi chief operatingofficer Asia-Pacific, and Francesco Vanni d’Archirafi, CEO CTS.

The Bank of Ireland appointed Philip Smith as thenew head of trade finance, within the bank’s global marketsdivision, replacing Tom Turney.Norway’s new state-funded export credit company was

named Eksportkreditt Norge (Export Credit Norway).ABN AMRO opened its new representative office in

Shanghai, with its initial focus on the bank’s energy,commodities and transportation (ECT) business in theregion.

The Berne Union named its new secretary general –Peter Jones, previously the chief executive officer of the African TradeInsurance Agency.

May

Trafigura expanded the commodity finance capabilities within its GalenaAsset Management unit with the hire of Christoph Gugelmann, StefanoSabbadini and Philip Jan Kok from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. They willbe responsible for expanding the sourcing, structuring and trading capabilitiesin the trade and commodity finance sector.Jaime Rivera resigned as CEO of Bladex to be succeeded in July by

Rubens Amaral Jr.HSBC created the role of head of product management for global trade

and receivables finance Asia-Pacific, naming Bhriguraj Singh to the post.Geneva-headquartered Banque de Commerce et de Placements

appointed Yvan Rodo as head of commodity trade finance and senior vicepresident.

INTL FCStone added Miguel Angel Burelo, Fatima Parreira andAlexanders Saenz to the trade and export finance group of INTL ProvidentGroup USA, the investment banking division of its wholly owned subsidiaryINTL Trading.

Commerzbank appointed Atsushi Matsuda as its new head of cashmanagement and international business (CMIB) in Japan responsible forpromoting JBIC/NEXI related structured financings, as well as cashmanagement and trade finance.


MARKET MOVES

Peter Jones

Fifth Third Bank hired Jan-Erik Andersen as grouphead of international banking leading the bank’sinternational corporate banking and trade finance divisions.Ian Henderson left London-headquartered trade finance

boutique and insurance broker Texel to move to metals andminerals trading company MRI Trading, based inJohannesburg.

Deutsche Bank in London suffered a blow with thedeparture of Kris Van Broekhoven from the structuredcommodity trade finance department. In the wake of Van

Broekhoven’s departure, Sander Stuijt was named head of SCTF sales forEMEA, and Denis Chevalier head of EMEA sales support. Both are based inAmsterdam and report to John MacNamara, head of Deutsche Bank’s SCTFunit.

June

JP Morgan aims to expand its trade finance and cash management services inIndonesia with the appointment of Michael Sugirin as head of treasuryservices for the country.

Wells Fargo appointed Gisele Luna de Mello as regional manager forglobal financial institutions in South America.US financing and insurance specialist CIT Trade Finance named

Jonathan Lucas as president.Barclays continued to grow its global trade and working capital team

with the appointment of Vivek Gupta as head of trade and working capital forIndia.

HSBC appointed Ricardo Elias as the new regional Asia-Pacific head ofreceivables finance within its global trade and receivables finance department.London-headquartered trade finance boutique and insurance broker,

Texel Finance hired Fred Arnold, formerly global head of soft commoditiesat KBC Bank.

Mizuho Corporate Bank reached an agreement with Germany’sWestLB to buy the bank’s Brazilian corporate banking subsidiary WestLB doBrasil.

ABN AMRO appointed Maarten Terlouw as the new global head of energywithin the bank’s energy, commodities and transportation (ECT) business.


MARKET MOVES

Ian Henderson

July

Deutsche Bank expanded its export finance departmentin New York with the hiring of Nicolas Moessner, director,structured trade and export finance, responsible forstructured trade, export and project finance transactions,many of which will have a Latin America focus. Sir Suma Chakrabarti was appointed as the new

president of the European Bank for Reconstructionand Development (EBRD).

Deutsche Bank named Vikas Arora as head of globaltransactions banking (GTB) and head of trade finance andcash management for corporates (TFCMC) in Thailand.Credit and political risk insurer Zurich announced that

David Anderson is to move from Singapore to WashingtonDC as credit and political risk director for global businessdevelopment.

Standard Chartered appointed Richard Jaggard to therole of head of transaction banking for Europe.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea restructured,appointing executive director Seop Shim to the board ofdirectors. Director general Yeong Pyo Hong from the

business coordination department was appointed as executive director fortrade and investment credit. Director general Man Ik Chang of the planningdepartment took over the position of executive director for inter-Koreancooperation fund. The investment banking office to the financial advisory andstructuring department was also expanded and put in charge of large overseasproject identification, as well as financial advice and arrangement services. Inaddition, Kexim has expanded its international relations office and upgradedit to department status. The engineering and environment advisory office hasalso been expanded to ensure environmental assessments meet internationalstandards. The bank also established a project finance support office to workwith Korean policy banks, commercial banks and export companies, and anoverseas construction finance office to support the expansion of localconstruction companies into emerging markets.


MARKET MOVES

Sir Suma Chakrabarti

David Anderson

August

SNR Denton announced that Michael Barz has joined the firm’s New Yorkoffice as a partner in its Corporate and Business Transactions practice.Bill Borden joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) in the

role of managing director and head of North America product solutions,covering the group’s global corporate banking, global commercial bankingand business banking. Dennis Sweeney was appointed as managing directorand a treasury solutions executive, to work with global teams and productleaders to provide the bank’s clients with advice and expertise related totreasury platforms.Big changes in IFC’s Global Trade and Supply Chain Solutions team as

Bonnie Galat relocated from Washington to Paris, from where she remainshead of trade business development and relationship management with globalFIs. Sabrina Borlini has moved from Brussels to Washington to serve asmanager of business development. In this new position, she will be responsiblefor global business development strategy and execution across all trade andsupply chain products. Hyung Ahn was named manager of trade products. Inthis new position, he will have global responsibility for product developmentand execution in trade and supply chain. Scott Stevenson, operating out ofIstanbul, remains senior programme manager for GTFP and for trade andsupply chain advisory services

JP Morgan appointed Kiat Seng Lim as the head of financial institutionssales for Asia-Pacific to head the FI client and sales strategy.

Export Development Canada named Denis L’Heureux as its new chiefrepresentative for Greater China.At Barclays Simon Enticknap took on the role of global head of working

capital and supply chain finance to lead the development of supplier finance.Jim Bidwell became global head of documentary tradeproducts in addition to his existing position of global head ofproduct development. Andrew Charnley became director inthe team, a move from his previous role as joint head of theUK global retail banking sales finance team with Barclays.All report to Ray Zabarte, global head of trade and workingcapital product management.

Citi hired former Deutsche Bank structured commodityfinance specialist Kris Van Broekhoven for its commodityfinancing operations as global head of commodity finance.


MARKET MOVES

Kris Van Broekhoven

Alex Manson was appointed as the new group head of wholesale bankinggeographies at Standard Chartered.

Salans, Fraser Milner Casgrain (FMC) and SNR Denton, announcetheir intention to merge. The new firm, Dentons, bringing together theirunique strengths, experience and cultures across Europe, Canada, the UK, theUS, the Middle East, Central and East Asia, and Africa to create a fullyintegrated global firm that will rank as the seventh largest law firm in theworld, measured by number of lawyers and professionals.

September

Danny Ip joined IFC as principal business developmentofficer for the global trade and supply chain solutionsdepartment covering global banks in the Asia region.

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU)appointed William Nowicki as a managing director in thecommodities & structured trade finance group of thecompany’s investment banking division for the Americas(IBDA).

HSBC announced the role of head of global trade andreceivables finance would be taken up by James Emmettbased out of the bank’s London headquarters.Tod Burwell was named president and CEO of BAFT-

IFSA, the global financial services association forinternational transaction banking.

Citi named Andrew Gelb as the new head of NorthAmerica treasury and trade solutions to succeed AmolGupte.

Credit Agricole CIB (CA-CIB) reorganised its tradefinance set-up, in a move which saw the departure of exportfinance head Henri d’Ambrieres. Emmanuel Bouvier

d’Yvoire was promoted and now has the title of global head of commercialbanking and export and trade finance, with the unit now under thecommercial banking division umbrella. The reorganisation also saw AndreGazal promoted to global head of export finance, reporting to Bouvierd’Yvoire. The new global head of trade finance is Naeem Khan.

Citi hired Georges Romano as regional head of export and agency financefor Latin America, based in New York. The bank also appointed Ae KyongChung as global head of export and agency finance distribution, moving fromher position as Americas head in the export and agency finance group.


MARKET MOVES

James Emmett

Tod Burwell

HSBC’s global network of dedicated China Desks expands to cover 17countries and territories as the bank appointed Li Zhen to become its firsthead of China Outbound.

Citi appointed Tim Tynan as the head of transaction services for CitibankJapan.

Bibby Financial Services (BFS) announced it is opening a new office inSingapore, to continues to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

October

Barclays continued to grow its Trade and Working Capitalteam and Financial Institutions (FI) business with theappointment of Jim Murphy as director of FI trade.

Wells Fargo appointed industry veteran ChristopherLewis as its new head of global trade services, within thebank’s international group.

Commerzbank named Brigitte Volz as regional head ofcash management and international business in Asia,including trade finance.

Standard Bank recruited Ian Stern for its structured tradeand commodity finance team to cover issues relating to energy commodities,metals and mining, power and soft commodities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Standard Chartered appointed a new regional head of transactionbanking for the North-East Asia region – Sridhar Kanthadai, who will reportto Jiten Arora, global head of sales and transaction banking, and Darcy Lai,regional head of origination and client coverage for North-East Asia.

ABN Amro reached an agreement to buy Banco CR2, a small privately-owned commercial bank in Brazil.

November

Standard Chartered announced the appointment of Steven Sun as the newhead of North Asia financial institutions (FI) strategic coverage.John Traynor joined Russia’s Alfa-Bank as head of transaction banking,

where he will be responsible for the development of all aspects of the bank’stransaction business.

National Australia Bank appointed Mark Borton as head of productmanagement, Asia, for NAB’s global transaction banking services, and DeanCleland to head of private financial services, Asia.

Norton Rose announced it is to merge with US law firm Fulbright &


MARKET MOVES

Christopher Lewis

Jaworksi and be renamed Norton Rose Fulbright. The twolaw firms are to join together on 1 June 2013.Jean Baptiste Piette, formerly of SG CIB, was appointed

head of Export & Agency Finance USA for BancoSantander.Fred DiCocco has been promoted at BNY Mellon to

the position of regional head of sales and relationshipmanagement, treasury services, for Asia-Pacific.

Standard Bank announced that it intends to scale-backsome of its international banking operations within its

corporate and investment banking division due to the challenging globaleconomic climate and evolving regulatory regime for banks.David Havelock, UK Export Finance’s director of credit risk assumed

the role of acting chief executive replacing Patrick Crawford, who steppeddown after eight years in the position to take up his new role as chiefexecutive of the Charity Bank.The supervisory board of the Russian development bank

Vnesheconombank (VEB) appointed Mikhail Poluboyarinov as its new firstdeputy chairman of the management board. Poluboyarinov originally joinedas director of the infrastructure department.

HSBC named Diane D’Erasmo as its first US head of international tooversee the growth companies looking to expand into the American tradeand investment market.

Standard Chartered has named Cristian Jonsson as its new global headof loan syndications, following Philip Cracknell’s retirement.The partners of Salans, Fraser Milner Casgrain and SNR Denton

approve combining to create a new global law firm driven to give its clients acompetitive edge in the world’s largest legal markets. The new firm will beknown as Dentons.

December

Cincinnati-headquartered Fifth Third Bank promoted Carol Morse to headof the commercial bank’s new Global Commodity Trader initiative. Morsewill lead a growing team providing comprehensive financial solutions tocommodity companies engaged in global business operations.South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank secured an investment banking licence

from the Central Bank of Nigeria. Michael Larbie will act as the chief executiveofficer of RMB Nigeria based from their offices on Victoria Island, Lagos.

Citi named Riko Tasmaya as head of transaction services in Indonesia. ■


MARKET MOVES

Jean Baptiste-Piette

The ICC Banking Commission named the members of its newly createdadvisory board and executive committee.

Advisory Board members– Kah Chye Tan (Chair of the Advisory Board), Global Head of Trade andWorking Capital, Barclays

– Daniel Cotti, Managing Director, Global Trade Executive, J.P.Morgan– John Ahearn, Global Head of Trade, Citibank– Georgina Baker, Director of Trade and Supply Chain, International FinanceCorporation (IFC)

– Steven Beck, Head of Trade Finance, Asian Development Bank (ADB)– James Emmett, Global Head of Trade & Receivables Finance, HSBC– Sara Joyce, Managing Director and Head, International Financial Institu-tions and Trade Finance, Bank of Montreal

– Ashutosh Kumar, Managing Director & Global Head of Corporate Cashand Trade, Standard Chartered Bank

– Daniel Schmand, Managing Director, Head of Trade Finance and CashManagement Corporates EMEA, Deutsche Bank

– Pierre Veyres, Global Head of Global Transaction Banking, BNP Paribas– Dan Taylor (Chair of the Banking Commission Executive Committee),Managing Director, Global Market Infrastructures, JP Morgan

The Executive Committee officers– Kah Chye Tan (Chair of the Banking Commission Advisory Board), GlobalHead of Trade and Working Capital, Barclays

– Dan Taylor (Chair of the Banking Commission Executive Committee),Managing Director, Global Market Infrastructures, J.P. Morgan

– Gary Collyer, Banking Commission Senior Technical Advisor; FounderCollyer Consulting

– Georges Affaki, Member of the Executive Committee and Head of Struc-tured Finance, CIB Legal, BNP Paribas

– André Casterman, Head of Corporate and Supply Chain Markets, SWIFT– Neil Chantry, Global Head of Policy and Compliance, Global Trade andReceivables Finance, HSBC

– Rudiger Geis, Managing Director, Senior Product Manager Trade Services,Commerzbank

– Vincent O’Brien, Trade Finance Expert and currently Chair, ICC BankingCommission Market Intelligence

– Vijay Vashist, Managing Director and Global Head, Trade and Supply ChainFinancing and Trade Asset Management, Global Transaction Services, DBS Bank


MARKET MOVES


DEAL OF THE YEAR AWARDS

In 2012 Trade Finance awarded Deals of the Year for the preceding calendar year. Giventhe changes and resulting uncertainty that have gripped the world and the trade financemarket since then, the importance of the Deals of the Year process – to provide a snapshotof what the industry does best and reward those responsible – remains unchallenged.

We have outlined the winning deals by region over the following pages – full write-upsare available on www.tradefinancemagazine.com.

The 2012 Deals of the Year nominations close on January 14th, 2013 – visitwww.tradefinancemagazine.com for more details.




EMEA/GLOBALIstanbul Metro – TurkeyCotunav – TunisiaAles Enerji – TurkeyHapag Lloyd – GermanyBarzan – QatarShoaiba III/SEC – SaudiArabiaRusVinyl – RussiaKaluzhskiy/VEB – RussiaTupras – TurkeyTaneco – RussiaFerrexpo – RussiaJadraas Vindkraft – SwedenAvanti/Hylas 2 – Pan-AfricanLandsvirkjun – IcelandRusal – RussiaPuma Energy – SouthernAfricaAperam – LuxembourgVEB/Ammoni – RussiaMetalloinvest – RussiaAcron – RussiaCMDT – MaliSuneor – SenegalNorilsk Nickel – RussiaUralkali – RussiaIFC GTFP cover – GlobalVSMPO – Russia

AMERICASECA/DFI-related dealsPetrobras (US Ex-Im) – BrazilPetrobras (ECGD) – BrazilReficar – ColombiaBarrick Gold – Peru EPSSN – VenezuelaVale Shipping – BrazilMontes del Plata – UruguaySeigneurie de Beaupré –CanadaCarolina Marine/Petroserv –BrazilPemex – MexicoJamaica Bus – Jamaica

Commodity-related dealsVotorantim – BrazilMultigrain – BrazilGuarani – BrazilIADB-ChinaExim TCLP –LatAmBunge – US/Global

ASIA-PACIFICECA/DFI-related dealsAxis – IndonesiaJurong Aromatics –SingaporeHyundai Steel – South KoreaNPTC/EVN – VietnamMong Duong 2 – VietnamSantos – AustraliaVung Ang 1 – VietnamDuyen Hai 1 – VietnamKPC/Liebherr – IndonesiaMacarthur/Meridian –AustraliaTeMihi – New ZealandSasan Power – India Hwagain Paper – China

Commodity-related dealsNNT-Batu Hijau – IndonesiaApril – IndonesiaJinan Iron & Steel – ChinaBPC/ ITFC – Bangladesh

Supply chain-related dealsFu Tai Hua/Foxconn – Taiwan Reliance Industries – IndiaZTE Corp – China

Deals of the Year 2011

EMEA/GLOBALBridging the gap in IstanbulIstanbul Metro – MFI-backed finance

As of December 2012, Istanbul will have its first underground metro system onthe Asian side of the city, connecting it to the network on the European side.This would not be possible without the Multilateral Investment GuaranteeAgency (MIGA) and the collection of European banks which provided a242.7million ($321 million) to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality without theguarantee of the central government.

MLAs: BNPP, CACIB, ING, SG CIB, UniCredit, WestLB. Borrower: Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Amount: e242.7million ($321 million). Tenor: 9.5 years. DFI: MIGA. Lawyers: Allen & Overy. EPC contractors: Astaldi, Mak-Yol,Gulermak.

The crest of a Tunisian waveCotunav – multilateral-backed finance

When the Tunisian people ousted President Ben Ali in mid January 2011, itwas seen by the rest of the world as a great victory for democracy. But thepolitical furore put strain on all foreign investment and halted some strategictrade transactions. This was the case for Compagnie Tunisienne De Navigation(Cotunav) which had secured financing commitments from French banks forthe purchase of a Korean-built ferry, but was forced to wait on guarantees frommultilateral MIGA until the political situation stabilised. Luckily, Cotunav didnot have to wait long. After the government reshuffle, MIGA was the first mul-tilateral to open cover on Tunisia bringing the crucial transport deal to a closein mid-July.

MLAs: BNPP, SG CIB. Borrower: Compagnie Tunisienne De Navigation (Cotunav). Amount: e153 million ($202 million).Tenor: 13 years. DFI: MIGA. Lawyers: Allen & Overy and Jurismed Tunis. Exporters: Daewoo.



Innovative financing for Turkish powerAles Enerji – ECA co-financing

JP Morgan and GE Capital Markets Services (GECMS) arranged this innova-tive financing facility with co-financing from three export credit agencies(ECAs) for the Ales Enerji power project in Turkey.

MLA: JP Morgan. Mandated financial advisor: GE Capital Markets Services. Amount: $37.4 million. Tenor: 12 years.Borrower: Ales Elektrik Uretim ve Ticaret. ECAs: US Ex-Im, Coface and EKF. Exporters: GE Packaged Power, Inc.

Memorable multisource for SaudiShoaiba III – ECA-backed financing

Saudi Electric Company (SEC) is the largest utility company in the MiddleEast, and rarely taps international markets for financing. So on that rare occa-sion when HSBC was mandated to arrange $989.1 million in financing forSEC’s Shoaiba III, the deal was destined to become the largest ever facilitybacked by French export credit agency (ECA) Coface in Saudi Arabia.

MLAs: HSBC, BTMU, Citi, Deutsche Bank, SMBC. Borrower: SEC. Amount: $989.1 million. Tenor: 13 years 5 months.ECAs: Coface. Lawyers: Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie. Exporters: Alstom.

An onshore Russian project firstRusVinyl - ECA-backed project

This deal was landmark project finance transaction that created a key precedentnot just for the Russian petrochemical sector but also for the wider CISregion. RusVinyl’s a750 million ($994 million) ECA-backed project financingto help build Europe’s largest integrated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant marksthe first time that international banks have accepted full onshore market riskfor a Russian petrochemical project financing.

MLAs: BNP Paribas, EBRD, Fortis, HSBC, ING Bank and Sberbank. Borrower: RusVinyl. Amount: e750 millionequivalent. Tenor: 12.5 years tenor for the two ECA tranches, 11 year tenor for EBRD and Sberbank’s loan. ECAs:Coface and ONDD. Lawyers: Linklaters (lenders), White & Case (borrower and sponsors). Exporter: Technip.



Pioneering in Russian export creditVEB/Kaluzhskiy – ECA-backed financing

Pioneering new frontiers in export finance is exactly the type of activity whichwill win business and new clients. In this case, mandated lead arranger HSBCarranged a rouble-denominated export credit for VEB to onlend for the Kaluzh-skiy cement plant in a deal setting a precedent in the export finance market.

MLA: HSBC. Borrower: VEB. Amount: RUB6.7 billion (e160 million equivalent). Tenor: 10 years. ECAs: EKF, ELO.Lawyers: SNR Denton. Exporter: FL Smidth (Denmark).

Refining the terms for TüprasTüpras – ECA-backed financing

The financing behind the upgrade of Tüpras’ Izmit refinery can be considered a realmultisourced international financing. With a club of 10 banks and two Europeanexport credit agencies (ECAs), the documentation negotiation was spread acrossseven countries. The end result was a $2.1 billion debt package, of which $1.7 billionwas covered by Italian and Spanish ECAs affected by sovereign downgrades.

MLAs: BBVA, BTMU, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Santander, SMBC, Société Générale CIBand WestLB. Borrower: Tüpras (Koc Holdings). Amount: $2.1 billion. Tenor: 12 years 6 months for ECA tranches, 7years 6 months for the commercial tranche. ECAs: Cesce, Sace. Lawyers: Allen & Overy, Linklaters. Exporters:Tecnicas Reunidas.

A slick operation for TatarstanTaneco – ECA-backed financing

Taneco, a subsidiary of Russian oil producer Tatneft, chose to internally man-age the construction and operation of the Nizhnekamsk refining project.Although it did not have to issue a single engineering, procurement and con-struction contract, it did have to source equipment from various internationalsuppliers. On hand to simplify this process were the export credit agencies ofDenmark (EKF) and Italy (Sace) who agreed to provide a financing facility formultiple suppliers.

MLAs: BTMU, Nordea, SG CIB, SMBC. Borrower: Taneco (Tatneft). Amount: $219.5 million. Tenor: 10 years for EKFtranche, 12 years for Sace tranche. ECAs: EKF, Sace. Lawyers: Clifford Chance, Gorrissen Federspiel. Exporters:Haldor Topsoe, Hempel, Luigi Resta, Mangiarotti, Walter Tosto, Flowserve Worthington, Weir Gabbioneta, BasellPoliolefine Italia.



Secured success for Ukrainian minerFerrexpo – PXF financing

This pre-export financing (PXF) deal represents Ferrexpo’s successful come-back to the international debt markets. Ferrexpo, a Swiss-based iron ore min-ing company with operating companies based in Ukraine, returned to themarket with this pre-export finance structure. Ferrexpo was attractive to banksbecause it had a healthy balance sheet driven by the high price of iron ore lastyear. The miner reported record results for the first half of 2011 with a 65%revenue increase and a better-than-expected EBITDA increase of 86% to $401million.

MLAs: ABN AMRO, Citi, Credit Suisse, ICBC, ING, JP Morgan, Société Générale CIB, UniCredit, WestLB. Borrowers:Ferrexpo AG and Ferrexpo Finance. Amount: $420 million. Tenor: 5 years. Lawyers: SNR Denton (lenders) Dewey &LeBoeuf (borrower).

Tapping new sources of liquidityJadraas Vindkraft – ECA-backed financing

This deal marks the first time that an export credit agency deal has secureddirect funding from a pension fund. This is a pioneering transaction that hasallowed Denmark’s EKF to take advantage of a new source of liquidity fromPensionDanmark to help build a 203MW wind project in Sweden. In the con-text of a pan-European liquidity squeeze, the scheme marks another avenue forproject sponsors to raise cost-effective debt when commercial banks struggleto meet demand. EKF informs Trade Finance Magazine that the agreement isnot exclusive and they are already in talks with other interested funds.

MLAs: DNB, SEB, and PensionDanmark,. Borrower: Arise Windpower and Platina Partners. Amount: Kr1 billion ($178.3million). Tenor: 18 years. ECAs: EKF. Exporter: Vestas.



Coordination of the highest orderAvanti/Hylas 2 – ECA-backed project

The financing story for Avanti Communications Hylas 2 satellite is a complexand unusual one. This required arranger Barclays Capital to be innovative anddiligent to meet all the facets of this deal, spread across a considerable timeperiod as the company reorganised the business in a different jurisdiction.

MLA: Barcalys Capital. Borrower: Avanti Hylas 2 Limited. Amount: $328 million (total). US Ex-Im tranche: $216million; Coface tranche $112 million. Tenor: 9 years (2 years drawdown, 7 years repayment). ECAs: Coface, US Ex-Im.Lawyers: Simmons & Simmons (Barclays/Coface); White & Case (US Ex-Im); Osborne Clark (Avanti). Cypriotcounsel: Chrysses Demetriades & Co (US Ex-Im and Barclays/Coface); Andreas Neocleous & Co (Avanti). Exporters:Orbital Sciences Corporation and Arianespace.

Long days and longer tenors for IcelandLandsvirkjun – ECA-backed financing

In the context of Europe’s liquidity freeze, it is a wonder that in the coldnorthern reaches of the continent an Icelandic hydropower project was able tosecure financing for 21 years. State-owned power company Landsvirkjun, withthe expertise of Barclays Capital on the export credit agency (ECA) advisoryside, secured a $45 million dual-tranche facility for its 95MWBudarhalsvirkjun project, with a three-year drawdown period and an extended18-year repayment schedule.

MLAs: Barclays Capital, SEB. Borrower: Landsvirkjun. Amount: $45 million. Tenor: 21 years. ECA: Euler Hermes, SEK.Lawyers: Logos, SNR Denton. Exporters: Voith (Germany).



A new Russian PXF recordRusal – PXF financing

Timing they say can be everything. When aluminium market conditions dete-riorated as a result of the global economic slowdown, Russian aluminium pro-ducer Rusal was forced to agree to a debt restructuring in December 2009 andeventually signed an international override agreement (IOA) with 70 of itscreditor banks. After a successful Hong Kong listing the company decided toexit the IOA by arranging this controversial, but award-winning, $4.75 billionpre-export financing.

MLAs: BNP Paribas, ING, Crédit Agricole CIB, Gazprombank , Nordea, Natixis, RBS,Sberbank, SMBC, Société GénéraleCIB, UniCredit. Borrower: Rusal. Amount: $4.75 billion in two tranches: Tranche A (international lenders): $3.75billion; Tranche B (Russian lenders): $1 billion. Tenor: Tranche A: 5-years (15-month grace period); Tranche B: 7-yeartenor (5-year grace period). Lawyers: Clifford Chance (lenders), Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (borrower).

Roaring success for Puma in AfricaPuma Energy – structured term loan

The Puma Energy southern Africa transaction was a landmark cross-border,syndicated acquisition financing in the sub-Saharan Africa energy sector. It wasthe first limited-recourse structured term loan for Puma, part of the TrafiguraGroup. The deal was also arranged using indigenous financing sources, withBNP Paribas’ (BNPP) syndication drawing on a pool of South African finan-cial institutions.

MLAs: Absa Capital, BNP Paribas, Investec, Rand Merchant Bank, Standard Bank. Borrower: Puma Energy. Amount:$155 million. Tenor: Tranche A: 5 years / Tranche B: 5.5 years. Lawyers: Allen & Overy (lenders); DLA Piper(borrower).



Metal men shine for AperamAperam – borrowing base facility

The Aperam deal is a transaction with its roots deeply embedded in the core ofthe steel industry spread across numerous jurisdictions. It is also a deal whichdemonstrates the real strength and diligence of the metal men financiers whoadvised and structured the landmark facility. The deal goes way back toDecember 2010, when the board of ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steelmanufacturer, approved the demerger of its stainless steel division into a newlisted entity, Aperam. Société Générale CIB acted as financial adviser toAperam, providing advice on the capital structure and on a first-time rating, inaddition to being mandated as the initial sole arranger and facility agent for asyndicated $800 million three-year secured working capital facility. This wasultimately made available in March following the demerger. A $500 millionhigh yield bond was also issued for the company.

MLAs: Société Générale CIB, BBVA, Santander, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Agricole CIB, ING, Natixis. Borrower:Aperam. Amount: $800 million. Tenor: 3 years + 1 year extension option. Lawyers: Clifford Chance (lenders);Linklaters (borrower).

New levels for Japan-Russia cooperationVEB/Ammoni – ECA-backed financing

Economies of scale are nothing new when it comes to Russia, but financingthe big projects will always pose challenges and require new and innovativestructures to achieve the optimum result for clients and lenders alike. In thistransaction, coordinating mandated lead arranger, SMBC, brought togetherexport credit agencies (ECAs) and commercial banks to arrange the largestbuyer credit transaction ever seen supported by Japan’s agencies JBIC andNexi.

Coordinating MLA: SMBC. MLAs: ECA: SMBC, BTMU, Mizuho. Commercial: SMBC, BTMU, JP Morgan. Borrower: VEB.Amount: ECA: $1.008 billion. Commercial: $500 million. Tenor: ECA: 14 years; Commercial: 5 years. ECAs: JBIC, Nexi.Lawyers for lenders: ECA: Freshfields. Commercial: Linklaters. Exporters: Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, SojitzCorporation, China National Chemical Engineering Corporation. Importer: JSC Ammoni.



The blowout PXF syndicationMetalloinvest – PXF financing

Metalloinvest’s pre-export financing (PXF) is a remarkable deal which will beremembered as one the biggest deals and largest oversubscriptions of last year.BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank, the original bookrunners on the deal,appeared to effortlessly lead this jumbo metal pre-export financing syndicationdespite the market being fairly skittish still after the crisis. The deal launched at$1.2 billion but secured nearly three times this in commitments before thegroup decided to close the facility at $3.1 billion. More impressively the dealwas also fairly keenly priced against a margin grid. Its initial margin of 300basis points over Libor eventually settled at 225bp.

MLAs: BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Société Générale CIB, ING, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole CIB, WestLB, BTMU,Credit Suisse, Natixis, Nordea, RBS, Sberbank, UniCredit. Borrower: JSC Lebedinskiy GOK and JSC OEMK. Amount:$3.1 billion. Tenor: 5 years (3 years repayment and 2 years grace period) plus a 7-year tranche. Lawyers: Linklaters.

Committed to the Russian marketAcron – PXF financing

This classic pre-export financing (PXF) transaction arranged by VTB Bank(Austria) for the Russian company Acron in the first half of 2011, stands outwith its peculiar security and coverage ratio structure designed for one of theworld’s majors in the fertiliser industry. The deal partly refinanced the firm’sexisting debt and also provided the necessary long-term capital to fund anexpansion of Acron Group’s global business in a difficult market, while sup-porting the company in its efforts to maintain a well-balanced and commensu-rate debt profile.

MLA: VTB Bank (Austria) AG. Borrower: Acron. Amount: $175 million. Tenor: 5 years. Security agent: VTB Bank(Deutschland) AG. Guarantor: Agronova Europe AG. Lawyers: Gide Loyrette Nouel.



Changing the risk structureCMDT – PXF-financing

This transaction is a prime example of how an international bank can workwith an African bank to successfully structure and finance a strategicallyimportant trade flow. In this case, HSBC and Banque de Développement duMali (BDM) worked together on what was the largest cotton financing inAfrica in 2011.

MLAs: HSBC, Banque de Développement du Mali. Borrower: Compagnie Malienne pour le Développement des Textiles(CMDT). Amount: e85.3 million. Tenor: Up to 450 days. Lawyers: SNR Denton.

Local expertise rises to the challengesSuneor – structured trade financing

Breaking into new frontiers where there are good margins to be made is chal-lenging for many Western banks, particularly when it comes to sub-SaharanAfrica and soft commodities. Consequently, much is left to local institutionswhere resources may be much more stretched. In this transaction, local banksin West Africa admirably rose to the challenge to successfully finance one of theregion’s biggest groundnut producers and exporters.

MLAs: Ecobank Capital, Banque Atlantique Senegal. Borrower: Suneor. Amount: XAF50 billion ($105 million). TrancheA: XAF46 billion – 10 months availability. Tranche B: XAF4 billion – 6 months availability. Tenor: Tranche A: 10 monthsmax; tranche B: 60 days max. Collateral manager: SGS.

Honouring strategic relationshipsNorilsk Nickel – PXF financing

Trying to arrange large-scale pre-export finance (PXF) transactions in the lastquarter of 2011 was no easy matter. In this case, the deal was being arranged forNorilsk Nickel in Russia, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladiumand one of the world’s largest producers of platinum, rhodium, copper andcobalt. It was the first time the company had sought a PXF funding since 2008.

MLAs: Citi, Société Générale CIB, HSBC, UniCredit, ZAO UniCredit, Barclays Capital, BTMU, DZ Bank, JP Morgan,Nordea, Rosbank, WestLB. Borrower: Norilsk Nickel. Tenor: 5 years. Amount: $1.5 billion. Lawyers: Linklaters.



Funding the biggest Potash playerUralkali – PXF financing

In June 2011 Uralkali acquired rival potash producer Silvinit making thisRussian borrower one of the largest potash companies in the world. AfterUralkali merged it decided to refinance Silvinit’s existing $1.5 billion loanfrom Sberbank, used to purchase the license for Polovodsky, a major greenfieldproject, in 2008.

MLAs: ING, UniCredit, ZAO UniCredit, Nordea Bank, RB International, SMBC, BTMU, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank.Borrower: OJSC Uralkali. Amount: $1.2 billion. Tenor: 5 years. Lawyers: Debevoise.

Covering new trade frontiersIFC’s GTFP – trade insurance cover

This is an unusual deal to win a Deal of the Year award. It is one which bringsthe insurance market straight in to the heart of global trade by supporting theIFC’s Global trade Finance Programme (GTFP). The deal provides a greatexample of the critical role insurance can play to help stimulate growth.

Borrower: 50 emerging market banks. Broker: Marsh. Insurers: Ace, Aspen, Catlin, Chaucer, CV Starr, FCIA, Hiscox,Kiln, Zurich. Amount: $531.5 million. Tenor: Up to 3 years. DFI: IFC as insured and GTFP guarantor.

Tailor made to mirror sales patternsVSMPO – PXF financing

This pre-export financing (PXF) for Russia’s VSMPO, the world’s largest verti-cally integrated manufacturer of titanium products, was not only the first suchfinancing ever to have been arranged for the company, it was also a particularlychallenging deal largely due to the complex structure required to meet thedemands of finished products to multiple buyers. Coordinating mandated leadarranger on the $120 million, deal was Credit Agricole CIB (CACIB). OtherMLAs on the deal were: BNP Paribas, Société Générale CIB (SG CIB) andWestLB. The deal was also signed on 16 November 2011, at a particularly dif-ficult time for the market.

MLAs: Credit Agricole CIB (coordinator), BNP Paribas, Société Générale CIB, WestLB. Borrower: VSMPO. Amount:$120 million. Tenor: 1 year. Lawyers: Linklaters (lenders); Allen & Overy (borrower).



AMERICASThe bridge to Pemex for SMEsPemex – import financing

Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the fourth-largest crude oil producer in theworld, is the biggest enterprise in Mexico and Latin America and the highestfiscal contributor to the country of Mexico, so its procurement needs arekeenly eyed by banks and exporters. Bank of America Merrill Lynch(BofAML) consulted with Pemex to arrange financing for the procurement ofgoods and services to be used for exploration and production projects providedby some 900 small businesses throughout the United States. Financing wasmade available on a reimbursement basis and was drawn down upon presenta-tion of required documentation related to each supply contract.

MLA: Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Borrower: Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). Amount: $200 million. ECA: US Ex-Im.Lawyers: Thompson Coburn.

Going for gold in PeruBarrick Gold – Peruvian financial lease

Barrick Gold Corporation is a publicly listed Canadian corporation and is thegold industry leader, with 25 operating mines and a pipeline of large, long-lifeprojects across five continents. Barrick Peru, the Peruvian subsidiary of BarrickGold and one of the major gold producers in South America, owns and oper-ates the Lagunas Norte Mine in Peru and has a large capital expenditure planover the next two to three years to extend the useful life of the mine. The proj-ect involves the construction and implementation of processing facilities, leachpads, disposal facilities, purchase of mining equipment and related services.

MLA: Citi. Lessor: Citibank del Peru. Lessee: Minera Barrick Misquichilca (Barrick Peru). ECA: EDC. Amount: $147million. Tenor: 7 years.



Making a big impact in UruguayMontes del Plata – ECA/MFI buyer credit

In 2011 Chile’s Arauco and Scandinavian Stora Enso created a joint venturenamed Montes del Plata, to construct a state-of-the-art pulp mill and a port inPunta Pereira, Uruguay. The total investment on the project is approximately$2 billion and it will produce 1.3 million Adt of pulp a year. This is the largestforeign investment in the history of Uruguay with a huge positive impact onthe Uruguayan economy including a direct increase of 2% in GDP, 5,800 newjobs during construction and 5,400 at operation, including 350 at the pulpmill. Because of this, the project had the full support of the Uruguayan gov-ernment, and a memorandum includes promotion of local suppliers, technicaltraining and favourable tax treatment.

MLAs: Banco Santander, BNP Paribas (Fortis), DNB Nor Bank, Nordea Bank. Borrowers: Celulosa y Energia PuntaPereira (Mill) & Zona Franca Punta Pereira (Port). Amount: $1.354 billion (total); $900 million (ECA), $200 million A-loan, $254 million B-loan. Tenor: 12 years. Parent guarantors: Celulosa Arauco y Constitución (Arauco) & Stora EnsoOYJ (Stora). ECAs: Finnvera, EKN. ECA funding providers: FEC, SEK. MFI: IADB. Sponsors: Celulosa Arauco (Chile) andStora Enso (Sweden/Finland). Lawyers: Milbank (lenders, IADB, Finnvera); Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett (debtors,sponsors). Exporter/contractor: Andritz.

Structure sweetens Brazilian sugar dealGuarani – PXF financing

This was a ground-breaking deal which mixed US dollar funding with Brazil-ian reals to create an attractive financing package for Acucar Guarani, Brazil’sfourth largest sugarcane crusher. The deal was a well-supported syndicationthat eventually closed oversubscribed. The $560 million pre-export finance(PXF) facility has helped transform Guarani from a key, but cash constrainedBrazilian sugar producer, to a much more integrated sugar/starch group withstronger capitalisation and better access to external debt and equity financing.The B tranche of $100 million is made up of $65 million and a further $35million in Brazilian reals.

MLAs: BNP Paribas, Citibank, Crédit Agricole CIB, Itau and Bradesco. Borrower: Guarani SA, Companhia EnergitcaSao Jose, Usina Mandu, Andrade Acucar e Alcool. Amount: $560 million: $460 million tranche A and a $100 milliontranche B. Tenor: Tranche A: 5-year tenor and a 2-year grace period; Tranche B: 3-year tenor. Lawyers: Allen & Overy(lenders).



Agri-finance benchmark in BrazilMultigrain – PXF financing

The soft commodity financing sector in Brazil took a severe knock in2009/2010 with some banks dropping out and yet to return. Others never leftthe sector, and have stayed with their core clients through the tough times aswell as the good. This highly successful $500 million pre-export financing(PXF) for Brazil’s soy, cotton and grain producer Multigrain was the largestsyndicated facility in the Brazilian agri-sector in 2011.

Initial MLAs /bookrunners: ABN Amro; Credit Agricole CIB, ING. MLAs: Banco do Brasil, Citibank, SMBC, WestLB.Borrower: Multigrain. Tenor: 18 months + 8 months grace. Guarantor: Agricola Xingu. Lawyers: Landay & Leblang;Santos Neto Advogados; Mayer Brown.

A structured Brazilian record-breakerVotorantim – PXF/RCF financing

This was an alluring transaction that attracted many of the serious trade banksinvolved in Brazilian commodities. The lead group of bookrunners structureda dual facility that gave optimum flexibility to Votorantim, at keenly pricedmargins. Deals of this size occur very rarely in any year but the lead group ofbanks constructed a considered package that took advantage of structuringexpertise and foreign lender appetite to close this winning deal.

PXF bookrunners: SG CIB, HSBC, BBVA, BofAML, CACIB, SMBC. PXF MLAs: Santander, JP Morgan, BoTM, DeutscheBank, Barclays, Mizuho, Scotiabank, Standard Chartered. RCF bookrunners: SG CIB, HSBC, Santander, BNP ParibasJP Morgan, BoTM. RCF MLAs: BBVA, BofAML, CACIB, SMBC, Morgan Stanley, RBS, Lloyds. Borrower: VotorantimParticipações. Amount: $2.65 billion – of which $1.15 billion PXF and $1.5 billion RCF. Tenor: PXF split between a 7 anda 8-year tranche; RCF 5 years. Lawyers: Hughes Hubbard & Reed (lenders); White & Case (borrower). Gurantors:Votorantim Participacoes & Votorantim Industrial.



Export credit adds to green powerSeigneurie de Beaupré – ECA financing

This was a truly complex financing, combining foreign banks, the Quebecgovernment, the German export credit agency, and strangely, for a power proj-ect in Canada, no Canadian banks. The transaction was structured to supportthe export of wind turbines, engineering and construction services from Ener-con of Germany to the Seigneurie de Beaupré (SdB) 2 and 3 Wind Farms. Thisrenewable energy project under construction in Québec, is the largest windfarm ever developed in Canada, and the largest construction project in theQuébec City area.

MLAs: Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Deutsche Bank, KfW IPEX-Bank, Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, Mizuho,Siemens Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. Additional lender: Caisse de dépôt et placement duQuébec (Lender). Borrower: Seigneurie de Beaupré Wind Farms 2 and 3 General Partnership (JV between Boralex,Gaz Metro and Valener). Amount: $731.4 million. Tenor: 20.5 years. ECA: Euler Hermes. Exporter: Enercon. Lawyers:Blake, Cassels & Graydon (lender – Canada law); Clifford Chance (lender – German law), McCarthy Tetrault(sponsor).

A successful return to VenezuelaEPSSN – ECA-backed financing

It is not often we see Deals of the Year originating from Venezuela, but this onereally stands out due to the challenge of reconciling all of the various partiesconcerns in a market that Euler Hermes had only recently come back on coverfor. The purpose of this facility is the financing of steel production equipmentfor Empresa de Producción Social Siderúrgica Nacional Venezuela (EPSSN) tobe installed in a plant with a total annual capacity of 1.5 million tons in CiudadPiar, in the state of Bolivar, Venezuela. Brazil’s Construtora Andrade Gutierrezholds the EPC Contract, while Germany’s SMS Siemag is acting as the nomi-nated subcontractor for the steel equipment and its related engineering. Thetotal project cost is $4 billion, of which the equipment portion is a substantialelement.

MLAs: BBVA, KfW IPEX-Bank , Société Générale CIB. Borrower: The Republic of Venezuela. ECA: Euler Hermes.Exporter: SMS Siemag AG. Amount: e283.7 million ($379 million). Tenor: 3 + 9 years. Lawyers: FreshfieldsBruckhaus, Deringer (lenders); Rodner, Martínez & Asociados (lenders).



Export credit proves its worthReficar – ECA project finance

This ECA-backed deal helped Colombian oil company Ecopetrol which wasseeking to upgrade its Cartagena Refinery (Reficar). Specifically this was toimprove its competitiveness and to comply with lower sulphur gasoline anddiesel specifications. Reficar’s upgrade and expansion will transform it into ahigh conversion refinery with the ability to process cheaper, heavier crude oils.The project completion date is October 2016 and the transaction is the largestand most visible oil and gas deal in the region for 2011, representing one ofColombia’s first steps for its expanding oil and gas industry.

MLAs: BBVA, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, HSBC, SMBC. Borrower: Refineria de Cartagena (Reficar). Amount: $3.5billion ($2.65 billion US Ex-Im direct loan; $440 million commercial facility; $210 million Sace facility; $100 million USEx-Im facility; $100 million EKN Facility). Financial adviser: BNP Paribas. Tenor: 16 years (ECA tranche); 14 years(commercial tranche). ECAs: US Ex-Im, Sace, EKN, SEK. Exporters: Various including Chicago Bridge & Iron, FosterWheeler, Siemens. Sponsor/guarantor: Ecopetrol. Lawyers: Millbank, Tweed Hadley, & McCloy (lenders); Cardenas &Cardenas (lenders); Linklaters (borrowers); Brigard & Urrutia (borrowers).

Winning coordination for PetrobrasPetrobras (US Ex-Im) – ECA financing

Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras), Brazil’s largest energy company is growing everlarger through continuing exploration, production, refining, processing andtransportation of oil and oil products. Its plans for investment in additional off-shore exploration and production promise to make it one of the largest pro-ducers in the world. The company’s relationship with JP Morgan is of longstanding, highlighted by bilateral loans, bond issuances, and for the last 20 years,cash management for Petrobras’ US subsidiary. The strength of the partnershipbetween Petrobras and JP Morgan’s corporate banking team inevitably openedthe door to the arrangement of a US Ex-Im loan facility with JP Morgan’sglobal trade unit. This deal represented a return for Petrobras; JP Morgan’ssolution was the first US Ex-Im guaranteed loan structure implemented by thecompany since March 2003.

MLA: JP Morgan. Borrower: Petrobras. Amount: $300 million guaranteed facility; $700 million US Ex-Im direct loan.Tenor: Maximum 1 plus 7 years. ECA: US Ex-Im. Lawyers: Milbank.



Itau BBA takes the leadPetroserv – ECA-backed financing

There is a history of landmark deals in the Brazilian offshore oil sector, and thisyear the financing of the Carolina drillship stood out as it is the first time aBrazilian bank has acted as sole global coordinator in an international syndi-cated shipping project financing. This deal finances the costs of construction ofa dynamically positioned drillship equipped to operate in water depths of10,000 feet and with a drilling capacity of 40,000 feet. Daewoo Shipbuilding& Marine Engineering was contracted by the Petroserv Group, one of themost experienced companies in the offshore sector in Brazil, under a turnkeyengineering, procurement and construction contract with a fixed price of$759.5 million and a date-certain delivery. Financing is arranged through Car-olina Marine, a special purpose company established to raise financing, ownand charter the drillship Carolina.

Global coordinator: Itau BBA. MLAs: ING, Santander, SG CIB, Standard Chartered, WestLB. Borrower: Petroservthrough SPV Carolina Marine. Amount: $718 million. Tenor: 1 year grace period and 10-year amortisation period. EPC:Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. Charterer: Petrobras. ECAs: Eksportfinans, GIEK, Kexim. Lawyers: Allen &Overy (lenders); Watson, Farley & Williams (borrowers).

Growing inter-regional capital flowsIADB-China Exim co-lending partnership

The Trade Co-lending Partnership (TCLP) between the Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank (IADB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (ChinaExim) leverages unique synergies between two important areas of the worldand between a large public bank and a multilateral development bank. Thepotential to increase commercial capital flows between China and Latin Amer-ica and the Caribbean (LAC) is what makes this a unique Deal of the Year.

Borrower: Pre-approved banks in Latin American and the Caribbean countries. Amount: $200 million (IADB $100million; China Exim $100 million). Partnership: Up to two years. Sub-loan tenors: Up to one year. Lawyers: BlankRome.



A scalable securitised achievementBunge – trade securitisation

Despite their obvious appeal, securitised structures are still relatively rare forlarge traders. Bunge’s $700 million unified, global trade receivables securitisa-tion programme, which closed and funded on 1 June 2011, is a landmark trans-action that has been closely watched by rival traders. Bunge’s deal effectivelyreplaced three local securitisations and five factoring facilities in North Amer-ica and Europe. The programme was structured to AA S&P criteria and fundedby a syndicate of international bank sponsored commercial paper conduits.Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC, and BNP Paribas joined as participants in thedeal.

MLA: Rabobank International. Structuring and administrative agent: Finacity. Borrower: Bunge Limited. Amount: $700 million. Tenor: 5 years. Legal counsel: Mayer Brown (lenders), Reed Smith (sponsor).

Jamaica opts for Belgian busesJamaica Bus – ECA-backed financing

This transaction is the culmination of nearly 20 years of deals between Com-merzbank, the Belgian companies and the Government of Jamaica to helpredevelop its public transport system. Commerzbank arranged the financingfor the purchase of 230 buses as well as the construction of two maintenancework places, and the supply of spare parts and special tools. This a96 milliondeal is the latest transaction of a series of 11 deals completed since 1995between Belgium and Jamaica. The deal has an eight and half-year tenor fromthe signing date which is split between a three-year drawn down and five-yearsrepayment. ONDD is supporting the deal with a 98% guarantee. DominiqueMeesen, head of underwriting ONDD, comments: “This is another importantlandmark in the further modernisation of Jamaica’s public transport system. Asthe Belgian export credit agency, ONDD is proud to have been able to con-tribute to this transaction by providing export finance cover for our Belgianexporter. As promoter of Belgian exports, we are quite pleased that theJamaican authorities continue to turn to Belgian quality equipment for thefurther expansion of their public transport system.”

MLA: Commerzbank. Borrower: Ministry of Finance of Jamaica. Amount: e96 million. Tenor: 8.5 years. ECA: ONDD.Exporters: VDL-Jonckheere Bus & Coach, and Volvo Bus.



ECGD milestone with PetrobrasPetrobras (ECGD) – ECA financing

This is a milestone transaction for ECGD, the UK’s export credit agency, andone which the ECA hopes to repeat. Last year HSBC led a $1 billion line ofcredit with Brazilian oil company Petrobras which is 100% guaranteed byECGD. The loan agreement, which signed on 30 September 2011, is financedby mandated lead arrangers HSBC, Citi, and Santander (each underwriting$266.66 million) and BBVA ($200 million).

MLAs: BBVA, Citi, HSBC and Santander. Borrower: Petrobras Netherlands BV. Amount: $1 billion. Tenor: 12 years. ECA: ECGD.

The added value of export creditVale Shipping – ECA ship financing

Brazilian multinational Vale’s $528 million purchase of seven vessels fromKorean shipyards with K-sure cover is notable as it combines a shipping secu-rity package with elements of a corporate loan. It is also the first ECA shippingfinance deal ever signed by Vale, demonstrating the added value that exportfinance can bring to core corporate in challenging financial markets. Struc-tured as a pre- and post-delivery K-sure-backed shipping mortgage loan, thedeal finances the acquisition of two new built Capesize Bulkers to be con-structed at Sungdong shipyard, Korea, as well as five very large ore carriers(VLOC) ordered at DSME, Korea. The vessels are expected to be deliveredbetween October 2010 and May 2013.

MLAs: Banco Santander, BBVA, BNP Paribas, CA-CIB, Citi, HSBC, Natixis, SG CIB. Borrower: Vale for Vale ShippingEnterprise and Vale Shipping Company. Amount: $528.48 million. Tenor: 15 years (3 years construction, 12 yearsrepayment). ECA: K-sure. Exporter: Sungdong Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, DSME. Insurers: Sul América CiaNacional de Seguros; Steamship Mutual. Reinsurer: Lloyds Underwriters. Insurance Advisor: Marsh. Lawyers: CliffordChance; Yulchon; Pinheiro Neto; Linklaters.



ASIA-PACIFICAll in for Korean steelHyundai Steel 1 &2 – ECA-backed financing

In order to fund the construction of Hyundai Steel’s (HSC) third blast furnaceat its integrated steel plant in Danjin, South Korea, seven international banksand six export credit agencies (ECAs) were brought in for this impressivecross-border transaction. The main $527 million loan was split between eighttranches of both euro and US dollar denominated debt, six of which were cov-ered by export credit agencies (ECAs).

Hyundai Steel 1. MLAs: BoC, BTMU, CACIB, HSBC, ING, LBBW. Borrower: Hyundai Steel. Amount: $526.77million. Tenor: 12 year ECA-backed debt, 5 year commercial debt. ECAs: Euler Hermes, Finnvera, ODL, OeKB,Sinosure. Lawyers: Allen & Overy, Lee & Co. Exporters: ThyssenKrupp, Uhde, Schalke, SMS Siemag, NDT, GEGA, TMT,Loesche, Paul Wurthe, Siemens VAI, ABB, ZPMC, Erzhong, Shengnuo, Sinosteel, ShaanGu.

Hyundai Steel 2. MLAs: BTMU, Mizuho. Borrower: Hyundai Steel. Amount: ¥18 billion ($232 million).Tenor: 7 years. ECA: Kexim. Lawyers: Lee & Co. Exporters: Mitsubishi Corporation, Toshiba, Daiken sekkei, MitsuiEngineering & Shipbuilding.

Powering ahead in VietnamNPTC – ECA-backed financing

This was an impressive long-term transaction that Citi led on behalf of theNational Power Transmission Corporation (NPTC)of Vietnam, the 100%owned subsidiary of Vietnam Electricity (EVN), to finance the construction ofpower transmission projects in Vietnam. The deal also represents the first timeJapan’s Nexi has supported an untied financing for a large-scale transmissionproject in Asia. The $200 million term loan funds the construction of fourpower transmission projects to transmit electricity from power projects insouthern Vietnam to the national electricity network and to key industrialzones in the south of Vietnam, including in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong NaiProvince and Binh Duong province.

MLA: Citi, Development Bank of Japan, SMBC. Borrower: National Power Transmission Corporation (NPTC). Amount:$200 million. Tenor: 13 years. ECA: Nexi.



ITFC boost for Bangladesh energyBPC/ITFC – murabaha financing

The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a member ofthe Islamic Development Bank group (IsDB Group) continues to set innova-tive benchmarks in financing trade with many of the Least Developed Coun-tries (LDCs). And in this transaction, a $420 million syndicated murabaha tradefinancing for the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), arranged tofinance Bangladesh’s vital imports of crude oil and petroleum products, theITFC has set another milestone and provided funds to support the country’sstrategic needs.

MLA: International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC). Borrower: Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).Amount: $420 million. Tenor: 6 months. Type: Syndicated murabaha trade financing.

Chinese banks power ahead for SasanSasan Power – ECA-backed project

This is a remarkable deal by any standards, providing a true watershed forexport credit agency (ECA) backed project financings involving Chineseexporters/contractors arranged by Chinese financial institutions in the Asianmarket on such a scale. The deal sees Bank of China (BoC), China Develop-ment Bank CDB), and the Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim) com-bine as mandated lead arrangers (MLAs) and bookrunners for a mega $1.1 bil-lion plus project finance in the power sector in India. The deal is backed with95% political risk and 50% commercial risk insurance cover from the ChineseECA Sinosure.

MLAs: Bank of China, China Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of China. Borrower: Sasan Power Limited.Amount: $1.109 billion. Tenor: 13.5 years. ECA: Sinosure. Lawyers: Clifford Chance, Singapore. Sponsor: ReliancePower Limited. Exporter: Shanghai Electric Group Company (SEC).



Banks combine for Vietnamese powerDuyen Hai 1 – ECA-backed financing

This important transaction in the Vietnamese power sector, provides $1.084billion in export credit agency (ECA) backed financing to support the EPCcontract granted by Vietnam Electricity (EVN) to China’s Dongfang ElectricCorporation. The facility finances phase one of the construction of a 2 x600MW thermal power plant – the Duyen Hai 1 Project.

MLAs: Bank of China (Sichuan), BNP Paribas, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Société Générale CIB,Export-Import Bank of China (head office & Chengdu branch). Borrower: Vietnam Electricity (EVN). Amount: $1.084billion. Tenor: 14 years. ECA: Sinosure. Guarantor: Vietnam Ministry of Finance. Exporter: Dongfang ElectricCorporation Limited.

Islamic financing solution for IndonesiaAxis – ECA-backed Islamic finance

The $1.2 billion of financing raised for Axis, the Indonesian subsidiary of theSaudi Telecom Company (STC), was one of the most innovative Islamicfinance transactions the market has seen, and included the largest shariah-com-pliant export credit agency (ECA) backed loans to date.

MLA: HSBC. Borrower: PT Natrindo Telefon Seluler (Axis). Amount: $1.2 billion. Tenor: 7.5 years. ECAs: Kexim, K-sure.DFIs: MIGA, CDB, ITFC. Lawyers: Norton Rose, MAQS, Hadriputranto, Hadinoto & Partners, Clifford Chance, HoganLovells (MIGA). Exporters: Ericsson, Huawei.

Testing economies of scale in VietnamVung Ang 1 – ECA-backed financing

In the first half of 2010, Petrovietnam set out to on its largest debt raising exer-cise for a single project. Twelve months later it closed a $904 million facility,which included the largest commercial loan to a Vietnamese borrower to date,to fund the construction of its Vung Ang 1 thermal power plant in the Ha Tinhprovince.

MLAs: HSBC, China Development Bank. Borrower: Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam). Amount: $904 million.Tenor: 13 year Sinosure facility, 15 year Euler Hermes facility, 10 year commercial facility. ECAs: Sinosure, EulerHermes. Lawyers: Norton Rose, Vision & Associates, Global Law Office. Exporters: Dongfang Electric Corporation,Guangdong Electric Design Institute, Fichtner, FL Smidth Wadgassen.



ECA cooperation for Aussie LNGGladstone LNG – ECA-backed financing

Santos’ Gladstone Liquefied Natural Gas (GLNG) in Queensland is a primeexample of how to multisource global export credit agencies in order to crossthe line. Of the $1.2 billion in debt closed on 22 December 2011, state entitiessupported over $1 billion: Canada’s EDC funded $500 million, Italy’s Saceguaranteed $280 million and Australia’s own EFIC covered $250 million.

MLAs: ANZ, Citi, HSBC. Borrower: Santos Finance Limited. Amount: $1.2 billion. Tenor: 13 year Sace and EFICfacilities, 7 year commercial loan. ECAs: EDC, EFIC, Sace. Lawyers: Clifford Chance, Freehills. Exporters: Saipem.

Partnering to fund Chinese receivablesZTE – ECA-backed receivables

This deal marks the success of the relationship between Santander and ChinaConstruction Bank (CCB) to create an innovative factoring programme forChinese telecoms firm ZTE Corporation (ZTE). Santander has structured anddelivered a tailor-made solution for ZTE to finance its receivables under ChinaECA Sinosure coverage. The programme is structured with Santander as theexport factor and documentation bank, while CCB acts as the import factorand Sinosure agent bank.

MLA: Santander, China Construction Bank. Borrower: ZTE Corporation. Amount: $230 million. Tenor: Continuingprogramme. ECA: Sinosure. Lawyers: Eversheds; Jun He Law Firm (lenders).



ANZ and EKF blow in for MacarthurAGL Macarthur – ECA-backed project

Meridian Macarthur – ECA-backed PF

The 420MW Macarthur Wind Farm project in south-west Victoria, Australia,is the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere. The project is beingjointly developed by sponsors AGL Energy and Meridian Energy. It is also thefirst successful underwriting of a greenfield project financing in Australia sincethe global financial crisis (GCF) of 2008. The success of the financing is amajor triumph for arranging bank ANZ, the Danish export credit agency EKF,the Danish wind turbine contractor Vestas, and the sponsors.

AGL Macarthur – ECA-backed project. MLA: ANZ. Borrower: AGL Energy. Amount: A$200million. Tenor: 20 years. ECA: EKF and its funding programme, ELO). Lawyers: AAR and Kromann Reumert (forANZ/EKF); Freehills (for AGL). Exporter: Vestas. Signed: 5 July 2011.

Meridian Macarthur – ECA-backed PF. MLA: ANZ. Borrower: Meridian Wind Macarthur PtyLtd. Amount: A$175 million. Tenor: 18 years + 18 months drawdown. ECA: EKF and its funding programme, ELO.Lawyers: Freehills (for lenders). Exporter: Vestas. Sponsor: Meridian Energy Ltd.

Hot deal for New Zealand energy Te Mihi – ECA-backed financing

Export credit agency (ECA) activity in the emerged markets continue to facil-itate projects and allow financiers to move with comfort in new sectors. AndECAs working in these markets are also invariably providing new options. Inthis particular deal, Japan’s Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (Nexi)has worked on its first mid to long-term transaction in New Zealand, its firstNZ dollar financing, and its first geothermal project. It is a standout deal inevery sense.

MLA: ANZ. Borrower: Contact Energy Ltd (New Zealand). Amount: NZ$105 million ($86.4 million). Tenor: 16.5 years(includes 2 year drawdown period). ECA: Nexi. Lawyers: Norton Rose (lender).



Indonesian agri-financing landmarkApril – PXF financing

Coming in eventually at $600 million, this transaction for pulp and paper pro-ducer April International Group (AIG) is not only one of the largest syndi-cated, structured, pre-export finance (PXF) deals for a producer in Indonesia in2011, but in the whole of South-East Asia.

MLAs: ABN Amro, Santander, China Development Bank, CITIC Bank International, WestLB. Borrower: Gold CrestCapital. Amount: $600 million. Tenor: 5 years. Guarantor: Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd (April). Lawyers: Ashurst.

A winning receivables programmeReliance – receivables programme

This was an impressive deal that saw JP Morgan use its balance sheet to con-struct an extremely flexible and efficient receivables programme for Indian pri-vate sector conglomerate, Reliance Industries’ oil refinery division. JP Morgancreated a $350 million receivables purchase solution through which the firmwould purchase Reliance’s open account receivables from five buyers locatedin Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. The end-to-end solutionwas customised to fit Reliance’s requirements while remaining easily scalableand replicable for additional buyers.

MLA: JP Morgan. Borrower: Reliance Industries. Amount: $350 million.

Indonesian mining leasing successKPC/Liebherr – ECA lease finance

This is an unusual and exciting transaction that saw sole mandated leadarranger Deutsche Bank arrange a complex leasing structure to help Indone-sian coal exporter PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) purchase six mining excava-tors from Liebherr-France. KPC is the largest exporter of thermal coal inIndonesia and supplies major power plants in the Asia-Pacific region. To fuelthe growing demand, KPC entered into a framework agreement with Liebherrto lease and purchase mining equipment.

MLA: Deutsche Bank. Borrower: PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC). Amount: $64.9 million. Tenor: 7 years. Legal counsel:SNR Denton (London and Singapore). ECAs: Coface. Exporters: Liebherr.



Re-opening the door in SingaporeJurong Aromatics – ECA-backed project

The financing for Jurong Aromatics 4.5 million tonnes per annum condensatesplitter and aromatics facility being built on Jurong Island, Singapore, marks thereopening of the market to true project finance deals, rather than the quasi-sovereign or sponsor guaranteed deals that marked recent years.

MLAs: ING, RBS, Intesa Sanpaulo, Korea Development Bank, Standard Chartered, ANZ, BNPP, DnB Nor Bank, Natixis.Borrower: Jurong Aromatics. Amount: $1.55 billion. Tenor: 12 years. ECAs: Kexim, K-sure. Lawyers: Latham & Watkins.EPC contractors: SK E&C, Essar Project.

Optimisation to stay competitiveFoxconn – supply chain finance

Fu Tai Hua (FTH) is a 100% owned subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision IndustryCompany (Foxconn), a manufacturer of electrical components, headquartered inTaiwan. With market share of 43%, Foxconn has grown to become the world’slargest EMS (electronics manufacturing services) provider, and the world exclu-sive EMS supplier for many prestigious brands and cutting-edge products.

MLA: Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Borrower/client: Fu Tai Hua, a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Compay(Foxconn). Amount: $100 million. Tenor: Rollover every 85 days.

Unique structure for Chinese paper millHwagain – ECA-backed financing

In a rare export finance agency-backed transaction into China, this dealinvolves Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), together with its Bei-jing branch, structuring and providing a financing package for the constructionof a paper tissue production plant for Ganzhou Hwagain Paper Company(Hwagain) in south-eastern China. Part of the financing is backed by Austria’sexport credit agency Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (OeKB). The deal is aunique combination of a sole arranger – in this case RBI – utilising its overseasbranches to implement a complex dual commercial renminbi (RMB) andECA-backed credit facility in a ‘first of its kind’ arrangement.

Borrower: Hwagain Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd., HKG. Amount: e45 million ($60 million). Tenor: 5 years. ECA:Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (OeKB), Austria. Guarantors: Guangxi Hwagain Group and Ganzhou Hwagain PaperCompany. Lawyers: King & Wood. Exporter: Andritz, Austria + Italian suppliers.



Hybrid finance for Indonesian miningPTNNT/Batu Hijau – hybrid PF/PXF

This highly structured financing for PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara’s (PTNNT)expansion of the Batu Hijau Copper & Gold Mine in Indonesia is a landmarkin the market, and at $600 million it stands as the largest structured nonrecourse mining deal in Asia. In terms of deal definition we have labelled it asa hybrid project and pre-export financing. It can also be described as a revolv-ing credit facility, with a six-year door-to-door tenor, amortising with anoption for accelerated commitment reduction in case of distribution. Its valuein market financing can not be underestimated as the success of this deal pavesthe way for the structuring of future Indonesian mining transactions.

Borrower: PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara. Original MLAs: BNP Paribas, SMBC, Bank Mandiri. Additional MLAs: CACIB,Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ING, Caterpillar Financial Australia, Bank Negara Indonesia, Goldman Sachs,Natixis, Société Générale CIB. Amount: $600 million. Tenor: 5 years 10 months. Lawyers: Ali Budiardjo, Nugroho,Reksodiputro (Indonesia); Allen & Gledhill; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (lenders). Soemadipradja & Taher;Sullivan & Cromwell (borrower).

China’s AgBC steps up to new levelsJinan Iron and Steel – PXF financing

Although small in value terms at a15 million ($19.9 million), this is a particu-larly significant deal in the Asian market. This award recognises an innovativetransaction for both commodity trader Noble Group and Agriculture Bank ofChina (AgBC). It is the first pre-payment financing project Noble has everachieved with a Chinese bank. More importantly, it marks a premier and suc-cessful transaction for AgBC, a Chinese bank, to enter into a traditional pre-export pre-payment, which has profound influence on helping to promotesubsequent pre-payment financing projects to Chinese banks.

MLA: Agriculture Bank of China, Singapore (AgBC-SG). Borrower: Noble Group. Amount: e15 million ($19.9 million).Tenor: 2 years. Guarantor: Agriculture Bank of China, Shandong (AgBC-SD). Lawyers: Deacons.



Korean first for Vietnam’s largest IPPMong Duong 2 – ECA-backed financing

The first time Korean export credit agencies Kexim and K-sure decided tofinance a project in Vietnam it turned out to be the first independent powerproject (IPP) to reach financial close in Vietnam for nearly a decade. MongDuong 2, which in 2015 will become the largest private sector power plant inVietnam, has certainly set a precedent for future investment in the country.

MLAs: BNPP, CACIB, HSBC, ING, Natixis, SG CIB, SMBC, UniCredit, Mizuho, Standard Chartered. Borrower: MongDuong Power Company. Amount: $1.46 billion. Tenor: 18 years. Lawyers: Latham & Watkins, YKVN, Shearman &Sterling, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. ECAs: Kexim, K-sure. Exporters: Doosan Heavy Industries and DoosanPower.

The 2012 Deals of the Year nominations close on January 14th, 2013 – visitwww.tradefinancemagazine.com for more details.



JanuaryJanuary 29-30 4th Annual Global Export & Agency Finance Conference – Asia Pacific

The Grand Hyatt, Jakarta, Indonesia

FebruaryFebruary 28 – March 1 15th Annual Structured Trade & Export Finance in the Americas Conference

The Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables, Miami, USA

AprilApril 18-19 5th Annual Structured Trade & Export Finance in Russia/CIS Conference

Baltschug-Kempinski, Moscow, Russia

JuneJune 5-6 10th Anniversary Global Commodities Finance Conference

President Wilson Hotel, Geneva, Switzerland

June 10-11 4th Annual Global Agency & Development Finance Conference

St Regis Hotel, Washington, DC, USA

SeptemberSeptember Trade & Export Finance Turkey Conference

Istanbul, Turkey

September 7th Annual Trade & Commodity Finance Brazil Conference

Sao Paulo, Brazil

September 23-24 14th Annual Global Export Finance Conference

Hotel Arts, Barcelona, Spain

OctoberOctober 2nd Annual Export Finance Germany Conference

Berlin, Germany

NovemberNovember 5th Annual Structured Trade & Export Finance in Africa Conference

Johannesburg, South Africa

Forthcoming events in 2013The perfect mix of market insight and networking

Global/EMEA Awards for Excellence 2012: Ahead of the curveOnce again the trade finance world has been thrust to the fore as the euro-zone crisis impacts some of the largest lenders in the business. Trade is fortu-nate as an industry to have many tools at its disposal, many actors to fill roles,and the ability to adapt and moderate as necessary in the face of economicuncertainty.Trade finance is far more than just banks and the Awards for Excellence serves

as a reminder of just how many institutions play a vital part of keeping globaltrade flowing – law firms, insurers, brokers, export credit agencies, multilateralsand development banks, trade services technology providers, collateral man-agers, and specialist trade boutiques.

The Trade Finance Magazine Awards for Excellence set out over thefollowing pages reveal the results of the annual poll conductedthrough the magazine’s website. The Awards for Excellence, now in its15th year, is the longest running, most highly regarded, and most comprehen-sive poll of the global trade finance market. The poll was expanded to coverthe key economies of the Asia-Pacific region in 2006, and the Americas in2010.


AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE


It has to be remembered that this is a poll, and as such some winners willvary from other league tables or peoples’ market knowledge or perception.There may be some unexpected names in certain categories, but that is thenature of such a poll.Votes come from around the world, and some institutions do much better

than others simply because they take the time to let their clients know thatthe poll is open and encourage them to vote through www.tradefinance -magazine.com. Voting this year was open between 1 April and 30 April. Win-ners were notified in early May by our editorial team and asked to providesome comments to go with the write-up for that category won. Write-ups forGlobal and EMEA categories appear in this magazine, while those for theAmericas and Asia-Pacific will be in the July/August issue. Winners receivetheir awards at annual dinners in London and New York in late June and inHong Kong at the beginning of July.Each year Trade Finance Magazine revises the categories as necessary to bet-

ter reflect the somewhat nebulous nature of the trade, commodity, export, andsupply chain finance market. This year we introduced awards specifically forEMEA – in commodities, export finance and supply chain as well as law firmand overall trade bank. In addition, we have added a Best Overall Global TradeFinance Bank category. We have also got rid of the online bank category.Voting patterns remained consistent with previous years, and in the global

and EMEA section the most popular categories were: Best Short-Term TradeFinance Bank, Best Supply Chain Finance Bank, both the Export FinanceArranger and DFI Finance Arranging Bank, Best Trade Bank in MENA, andthe newly launched Best Overall Trade Bank in EMEA, and Best OverallGlobal Trade Finance Bank.As in previous years votes are closely scrutinised for validity. We watch

closely for suspicious voting patterns – the use of automated form fillers isvery easy to spot – and we pay particular attention to voter contact details andthe categories in which they are voting. Needless to say, this is a somewhatarduous process!Changes in position and new categories are highlighted in red on the

accompanying table. On the following pages we also have the results of theAsia-Pacific Awards for Excellence and the Americas Awards for Excellence. Congratulations to all the winners and a big thank you to all those that tookpart in the voting and in the awards write-up process.



Global/EMEA Awards for Excellence 2012

Category Winner Highly commended

Best energy finance bank BNP Paribas Deutsche BankBest metals finance bank Deutsche Bank ING BankBest softs finance bank Rabobank Garanti Bank Intl NVBest structured commodity bank ING Bank Société Générale CIBBest overall commodity bank Société Générale CIB Deutsche BankBest commodity/trade Norton Rose Clifford Chancefinance law firmBest collateral manager Cotecna SGSBest structured trade bank Citi Deutsche BankBest short-term trade bank Citi Deutsche BankBest supply-chain finance bank HSBC CitiBest FI trade servicing bank Wells Fargo Deutsche BankBest forfaiting institution LFC Deutsche BankBest factoring institution HSBC CitiBest trade finance boutique Texel Falcon TradeBest trade finance-tech co Trade Technologies OrbianBest private insurer in trade Zurich Euler HermesBest insurance broker BPL Global AONBest ECA/DFI law firm Pillsbury Clifford ChanceBest export finance arranger Société Générale CIB CitiBest DFI arranging bank Citi HSBCBest global MFI/DFI EBRD IFCBest global ECA Euler Hermes US Ex-ImBest overall global trade bank Citi HSBCBest ECA – Europe Finnvera Euler HermesBest DFI – Middle East ITFC/IsDB OFIDBest ECA – Africa Afreximbank US Ex-ImBest DFI – Africa IFC AfDBBest Islamic TF bank (EMEA) Standard Chartered HSBC AmanahBest trade law firm EMEA SNR Denton Norton RoseBest trade bank – Europe Deutsche Bank CitiBest trade bank – Nordics/Baltics SEB Nordea BankBest trade bank – E Europe/CIS RB International CitiBest trade bank – MENA Standard Chartered HSBCBest trade bank – SS Africa Standard Bank Standard CharteredBest commodity bank EMEA Deutsche Bank BNP ParibasBest export fin arranger EMEA HSBC Deutsche BankBest supply chain fin bank EMEA Citi Standard CharteredBest intl trade bank – Russia HSBC Deutsche BankBest Russian trade bank Sberbank GazprombankBest South African trade bank Nedbank Standard BankBest Nigerian trade bank FBN Bank Zenith BankBest overall TF bank EMEA HSBC CitiNB: red indicates change from 2011 and/or new category



Americas Awards for Excellence 2012The following table is a summary of the results of the Trade Finance MagazineAmericas Awards for Excellence 2012. This is the third year that we have runthe Americas regional awards. Where there have been changes in winning positions, or where we have

introduced new categories these are highlighted in red in the table below. Thisyear we have added six new categories to better reflect specific financing prod-uct sectors, and the leaders in those fields. The new categories are: Best TradeSupply Chain Finance Bank, Best Commodity Finance Bank, and Best ExportFinance Bank, and in each case for both North and Latin America. There arenow 31 categories for the Americas section.The Americas awards voting numbers continue to grow and are now show-

ing signs of better familiarity with readers and visitors to our website. Out ofthe original 25 categories from last year, 10 of those have new winners thisyear. As with the global/EMEA poll, votes are received online and added up to

reach a winner in each category. Voting was open for a period of approximatelyfour weeks through April. A write-up on the awards below will appear in the July/August 2011 issue

of Trade Finance Magazine.It should be noted that the editor of Trade Finance Magazine, Oliver

O’Connell, as well as sales executive Alex Sheriff work out of the Euromoneyoffice in Manhattan. Their contact details can be found on p1.The Americas awards were presented to winners at the Trade FinanceAmer-

icas awards dinner at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York on 26 June. This eventalso incorporated the Americas Deals of The Year.



Americas Awards for Excellence 2012


Best trade bank in the USA Wells Fargo CitiBest trade bank in the USA Wells Fargo CitiBest trade bank in Canada Bank of Montreal Royal Bank of CanadaBest trade bank in Mexico Santander Mexico BanamexBest trade & supply chain bank in North America Deutsche Bank Wells FargoBest trade & supply chain bank in Latin America Citi SantanderBest commodity finance bank in North America Société Générale CIB Wells FargoBest commodity finance bank in Latin America ING Bank Société Générale CIBBest export finance bank in North America Citi Wells FargoBest export finance bank in Latin America HSBC SantanderBest overall trade bank in North America Wells Fargo Bank of MontrealBest overall trade bank in Central America and the Caribbean Citi ScotiabankBest overall trade bank in Latin America Santander CitiBest ECA in the Americas US Export-Import Bank EDCBest DFI in the Americas CABEI IFCBest trade insurer in North America Zurich AceBest trade insurer in Latin America Coface ZurichBest trade law firm in North America Clifford Chance Baker & McKenzieBest trade law firm in South America Baker & McKenzie Feijo Lopes AdvogadosBest trade finance boutique in the Americas INTL Provident Group FinacityBest international trade bank in Brazil Santander CitiBest Brazilian trade bank Itau Banco do BrasilBest international trade bank in Argentina Citi BBVABest Argentinean trade bank Banco Patagonia Banco GaliciaBest international trade bank in Chile Santander CitiBest Chilean trade bank Banco de Chile Banco de Credito e

InversionesBest international trade bank in Colombia Citibank Colombia BBVA Best Colombian trade bank Bancolombia Banco de OccidenteBest international trade bank in Peru Scotiabank CitiBest Peruvian trade bank Banco de Credito del Peru Banco Interamericano de

FinanzasBest international trade bank in Panama Bladex Citibank Panama Best Panamanian trade bank Multibank Global Bank

NB: red indicates change from 2011 and/or new category



Asian Awards for Excellence 2012

The following table is a summary of the results of the Trade Finance MagazineAsia-Pacific Awards for Excellence 2012, with this regional section now in itsseventh year having been introduced back in 2006.Where there have been changes in winning positions, or where we have

introduced new categories these are highlighted in red in the table below. Thisyear we have added three new categories to better reflect specific financingproduct sectors, and the leaders in those fields. The new categories are: BestSupply Chain Finance Bank, Best Commodity Trade Finance Bank, and BestExport Finance Arranger in Asia-Pacific.There are now 38 categories. Out of the original 35 categories, surpris-

ingly this year there have only been four changes in the winner. Last yearthere were 18 changes at the top. As with the global/EMEA poll, votes are received online and added up to

reach a winner in each category. Voting was open for a period of approxi-mately four weeks through April. The Asian awards were presented to winners at the Trade Finance Magazine

Asia-Pacific awards dinner at the Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong on Thursday 5July. This event also incorporated the Asia-Pacific Deals of The Year.



Asian Awards for Excellence 20112


Best international trade bank in China HSBC Deutsche BankBest Chinese trade bank Bank of China ICBCBest international trade bank in India Deutsche Bank CitiBest Indian trade bank State Bank of India HDFCBest international trade bank in Indonesia Deutsche Bank CitiBest Indonesian trade bank Bank Mandiri CIMB NiagaBest international trade bank in Korea Deutsche Bank CitiBest Korean trade bank KB Kookmin Bank Korea Exchange BankBest international trade bank in Malaysia Citi Deutsche BankBest Malaysian trade bank CIMB Bank Berhad Maybank BerhadBest international trade bank in Philippines Citi Deutsche BankBest Philippine trade bank Banco de Oro Bank of the Philippine

IslandsBest international trade bank in Thailand Deutsche Bank Citi Best Thai trade bank CIMB Thai Bangkok BankBest international trade bank in Vietnam ANZ CitiBest Vietnamese trade bank Vietcombank Commercial Bank for

IndustryBest international trade bank in Pakistan Standard Chartered Citi Best Pakistan trade bank Habib Bank United BankBest international trade bank in Taiwan Citi Deutsche BankBest Taiwanese trade bank Mega International Chinatrust Commercial

Commercial Bank BankBest international trade bank in Sri Lanka Citi Standard Chartered Best Sri Lankan trade bank Commercial Bank Hatton National Bank Best international bank in Bangladesh Citi Standard Chartered Best Bangladeshi trade bank Prime Bank Janata BankBest trade bank in Japan SMBC BTMUBest trade bank in Hong Kong Citi HSBCBest trade bank in Singapore Deutsche Bank CIMBBest trade bank in Australasia ANZ National Australia BankBest trade finance boutique in Asia-Pacific Falcon Trade Corportaion EuroFin AsiaBest ECA Asia-Pacific K-sure Korea EximbankBest DFI Asia-Pacific ADB Development Bank of

KoreaBest trade insurer in Asia-Pacific Zurich CofaceBest trade law firm in Asia-Pacific Norton Rose LinklatersBest Islamic trade bank in Asia-Pacific CIMB Islamic Bank Maybank IslamicBest supply chain finance bank in Asia-Pacific Deutsche Bank CitiBest commodity trade finance bank in Asia-Pacific ABN AMRO Deutsche BankBest export finance arranger in Asia-Pacific HSBC CitiBest overall trade finance bank in Asia-Pacific Citi Deutsche Bank

NB: red indicates change from 2011 and/or new category



Contact Dominik Kloiber at

+44 (0)207779 8099 or email

[email protected]

for the media pack.


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2013 OUTLOOK

Ready for a new trade scene

Trade financiers are preparing for a new market reality. In a meeting at Euromoney’sNew York office, six industry specialists discussed the shifting dynamics of trade finance.

This is an abridged version of the discussion, a full transcript can be found atwww.tradefinancemagazine.com.

Tod Burwell, moderator (TB): At the forefront of everyone’s mind at themoment is the eurozone crisis. How do you see this affecting trade on a globalscale?Peter Grills (PG):The retrenchment in Europe has presented us with threedistinct buckets of opportunity. The first is geographic seeing as Europeanbanks increasingly focus on their home markets; the second is the opportunityfor us to provide dollar liquidity to them at very satisfactory returns; and thethird is the opportunity for us to target their corporate client base in theirhome markets and abroad.

TB: Is trade recognised as more important within the bank?PG: Trade is a core contributor to the investment and corporate bankinggroup at BMO, not just because of client reliance, but also in light of thereturns. The yields are good. We recently did intense research into the valuethat trade brings vis-a-vis the other businesses, and as a result we have had avery explicit increase in profile and investment in our business since 2008/09,and it is accelerating even now.

TB:What is trade’s most pressing issue?Bruce Proctor (BP): Regulation. Even a couple of years ago regulationwould not have the centre of the plate position the industry gives it today. BaselIII is fast approaching and banks do not yet have a definitive answer onwhether there will be a reprieve for trade finance.Every time there is a market issue, the strongly populist view of tightened

regulation comes to the fore again. I am worried that trade will get swept up inthe fixes that are intended for other parts of the financial world, whether theycome from Basel, Brussels or Washington.This ties into the impending Basel III regulations in that the financial serv-

ices industry has got to do a better job of informing its corporate customers


NORTH AMERICA TRADE FINANCE ROUNDTABLE

when regulatory or political action is going to affect them. Our clients dependon us to provide them with ongoing financial support. If you look at the capi-tal costs, the liquidity provisions, and the balance sheet treatment of trade going

forward, it is going to get muchmore expensive and may well beless accessible.

TB: What is your sense of theawareness among corporates ofthe impact of changing regula-tions?Joe Weisskopf (JW): AtPrimeRevenue we facilitate theflow of funds between tradepartners via supply chainfinance, and what we are seeingon the corporate side is thatthey are very concerned aboutliquidity availability, pricesgoing up and the overheadsassociated with regulation. The

way this has manifested itself is that they are working hard to support their at-risk suppliers with supply chain finance. Those suppliers are being prioritisedfor the roll out of these solutions.They are also worried about diversity of funding sources. They have already

seen how in 2008/09 some banks withdrew or pared down their credit capac-ity. Through a multibank offering we have been able to offer diversification offunding sources to the corporate which helps promote liquidity sustainability.This actually helps our bank partners too, as their appetite may have declined,but they are able to maintain integrity with the client as the client can accessthe required liquidity through the platform.Supply chain solutions are one option, but they are an important one. US

Ex-Im was not in supply chain finance four years ago. BancoMext in Mexicois now. IFC has a supplier finance programme. So, agencies, developmentfinance institutions, and non-bank financial institutions such as insurers are alsolooking to get involved. Why is this? Because there is opportunity, especially inchallenging markets and situations where banks are retrenching and no longerhave appetite.



Even a couple of years agoregulation would not have thecentre of the plate position theindustry gives it today. Basel III isfast approaching and banks donot yet have a definitive answeron whether there will be a reprievefor trade finance.

TB: Corporates are looking for alternatives to banking channels. Are there anynatural new entrants?Roland Hartley (RH): Institutional investors will play a big role going for-ward. We are distributing over $20 billion of trade assets this year, and tradi-tionally that was to commercial banks. Now it is going to insurance compa-nies, pension funds, and hedge funds. As we have found ways of making the

assets more pristine in terms oftaking just pure buyer risk in thecase of supplier finance pro-grammes, or structuring receiv-ables programmes much morecarefully, that opens the door forother investors to come in.As the market expands it also

makes it easier for new entrants.You did not see supplier financeprogrammes of $1 billion fiveyears ago. In order to keep thoseprogrammes growing and cost-effective you cannot price at themargin – at the price of the lastdollar of investment in the pro-gramme. You have to find a bid

inside of the marginal cost, and that’s where institutional investors can play arole. They need scale to invest, and we need a broader market to supportgrowth. We are approaching institutional investors with opportunities, but theyare also coming to us directly. Steve Lotito (SL): Institutional investors cannot originate by themselves due

to a lack of capability, so they will work with banks that have origination capabil-ity, in addition to working with partners such as PrimeRevenue.JW: And they do not want to get involved on day one. When you have

something sized at $200 million to offer them then they are interested. Theywant to buy existing assets rather than create the programme.RH:Whether we run our own platform or use a third party provider such

as PrimeRevenue, we run aggregation business. We buy receivables and createassets in larger size that we can sell to investors. When an investor decides tobuy corporate commercial paper or supply chain finance assets, they will lookthe same, but you should be able to bid the supply chain finance assets at a pre-mium. That is attractive as money managers are chasing yield.



Investors want to see a constantsupply and the ability tocontinually replace the asset as it rolls off. They do not want $100 million of risk one day andthen go a month with no risk ontheir balance sheet.

SL: Supply chain solutions still is a small part of the busi-ness when you look at the overall trade finance world. Iwould venture to say that if you look at any of our busi-nesses, our book of bank risk is much bigger than our supplychain business. There has been a bit of a bottleneck withrespect to FI limits, and certainly a challenge for some of ourclients to gain access to those FI limits, particularly on thetop end of the spectrum for Chinese bank risk. There is amarket out there for investors looking to generate Asian FIrisk, and certainly looking to take on assets. I think there is amuch bigger opportunity there over anything else.RH:Whether it is FI trade assets or corporate trade assets,

the role for us as trade banks is to assure a continuous supplyand replenishment of these assets. What is great about themis also a problem – they are short-term self-liquidating fromprime issuers. The challenge is that they come in oddamounts on odd dates and they roll over all the time. So ourjob is to aggregate them and distribute them.SL: Investors want to see a constant supply and the ability

to continually replace the asset as it rolls off. They do notwant $100 million of risk one day and then go a month withno risk on their balance sheet.

TB: Are we closer to creating a formal secondary market?RH: There is definitely an opportunity to do that, but Idon’t think anyone has got there yet. Clearly as institutionalinvestors come in there will be a need to normalise it and

standardise some of the terms. We’re on the cusp of that happening.

TB: How do you see South-South trade developing?SL: Emerging markets are going to be much more important than they areeven today going forward. They will continue to lead the growth of tradefinance, especially between Latin America and China, and between Africa andAsia.BP: I see two developments. The first is the possible alteration of the large

buyer/captive supplier channel, in that technology has allowed suppliers to playthe market. We have seen situations where what would have been sound busi-ness practice a decade ago – locking in a long term contract with a large buyer– is now giving way to a more flexible arrangement in which a supplier can



Tod Burwell, seniorvice president, tradeproducts, BAFT-IFSA

Peter Grills,managing directorand head of tradefinance, BMO CapitalMarkets

maximise the ability to respond to volatility in the global markets – particularlyin the commodities sector.This means we as banks have to reorganise ourselves to be able to deal with

this new reality. If our corporate clients are becoming more responsive andflexible, then we need to do so as well. SL: Another element of South-South trade is the alternative currency angle.

Who would have thought five years ago that the renminbi would be on its way tobecoming a major trade currency? We are settling RMB-denominated letters ofcredit for US exporters using deliverable forward contracts. It is another exampleof the increasing flexibility and diversity of the trade market.JW: From a flexibility standpoint, corporates that we talk to around the

world want to be in control, but have the flexibility to be able to work theirsupply chain finance solutions in different geographies, with different suppliers,with different banks, and in different currencies.In terms of trade flows, I still think there is a flight to quality that has been

happening since 2008/09 and given what is happening in the Eurozone we maysee more of it. There is now a big focus on risk and sustainability of suppliers –buyers want fewer suppliers and they want them to be of higher quality, so thereis some consolidation. At the same time they want to minimise volatility by hav-ing back-up suppliers, and diverse sourcing abilities to avoid supply chain dis-ruption.

TB: Clients have been moving towards a more multibank approach to tradefinance. How is that affecting your approach to collaborating and competingwith other financial institutions?RH: I would say that the trade business has always been highly collaborative. Ifyou look at the trade services part of the business there has long been a strongbond between trade banks globally and that has now opened up to a widercommunity of institutions. We have always worked together both on thefinancing side and on the risk sharing side – the DNA of trade really doesembrace collaboration.Whether you have an independent trade platform or a bank proprietary

platform you need to have the ability to reach out to other players. At Citi wehave been very disciplined about distributing a large portion of our assets onan ongoing basis at market rates. This helps our business enormously, this is notjust a good thing to do, it is imperative.PG:Trade by nature is collaborative. What is happening from BMO’s per-

spective is that there is a greater number of partners out there, broadening thenumber of collaborators on trade deals and ways we can serve our clients. An



example of this is the extension of the SWIFT communityto corporates. There is also a growing movement to involvethe institutional investor community which could also per-haps participate in distributing risk and providing liquidity.

TB: Thinking of the example of the SWIFT Trade ServicesUtility (TSU), where can the industry collaborate more suc-cessfully? BP:There are several areas where interesting developmentsare happening. A couple of years ago I would have thoughtthat the TSU would have taken off more widely, because anowner-neutral platform seemed to be the right develop-ment. However, it has spawned the Bank Payment Obliga-tion (BPO) which is gaining more traction, largely becauseof its independence.What is happening now is similar to when banks began to

disaggregate letters of credit (LCs). Many clients movedaway from the LC business because while they wanted theprotection that LCs provide, they didn’t want the paperworkand they didn’t like that the banks made the rules. Thatresulted in banks looking at payments capability, documen-tation capability, certainty of funds, and selling each serviceseparately to better fit a client’s business requirements.That disaggregation is leading a lot of corporate clients to

demand more from banks in terms of supporting their busi-ness with capabilities that they do not want to providethemselves. Corporates don’t want all the trappings, theywant flexibility. We need to be more attuned to what cus-

tomers want, but needs vary by industry and geography.As a group we have not made the leap our cash colleagues made a number

of years ago – there have been multibank platforms on the cash side for years –and we are still very driven by proprietary systems. While providers such asPrimeRevenue exist, there is hesitancy by financial institutions to go downthat road. I do think we will be pushed in that direction by our clients, whoreally see the value on the payments side and wonder why we can’t do thesame on the trade side. We are getting to a point where multibank solutionswill be imperative.JW: Multibank solutions make sense as one institution cannot provide the

required coverage. There are so many different drivers to consider – documen-



Joe Weisskopf, vicepresident of globalsupplier solutions,PrimeRevenue

Bruce Proctor, headof global trade andsupply chain finance,Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch

tation, geographic, regulatory, credit etc. In our niche spaceof supply chain finance, what drove it initially was credit andthe ability to tap into multiple banks. What later becamedrivers were the requirements of certain geographies andinternal requirements. Suppliers come in all different shapesand sizes, one bank probably doesn’t want to take all that on,and it is unlikely that a buyer will want to push everyonethrough the same channel. Multibank allows for flexibility. Our partners have embraced it because it serves them

well, their needs are met, their clients’ relationships andcredit capacity are taken into consideration, so it’s a win-winfor all the constituents – especially the buyers.

TB:Are there new spaces that banks should be looking at todrive collaboration across the supply chain?RH: There are. For example, we are getting involved infreight payments. This is an area which is complex andexpensive and our clients do not like to do it. Traditionally,they outsource this to a variety of different providers, creat-ing credit risk issues. We are marrying our global paymentsand on-boarding capability with the freight audit capabilitiesof Syncada from Visa to create greater efficiencies in pay-ment processing and optimize the eco-system cost of capital.We are hoping to use this as a bridgehead to getting back

into the value exchange process which is the heart of thecredit process. By leveraging the transportation data available

you can provide financing at the right moment and at a cheaper rate to theclient. BP: Banks have yet to make progress on the integration of the physical and

financial supply chains. There are a lot of synergies there and an interestingvalue proposition. Logistics compliance and regulation is an increasingheadache for corporate clients as their business becomes more international.Financial service providers having capabilities in this area could be very impor-tant.A typical client needs to purchase raw materials, manufacture, ship, distribute,

collect payment, and then start the process again by getting its own shippingagent, insurance, and logistics provider. This is a disjointed process and at themoment banks only fit into a small part of that value chain. I believe there is anopportunity for banks to expand their involvement here.



Steve Lotito, seniorvice president andhead of sales, tradeand receivablesfinance, HSBC

Roland Hartley, headof North Americatrade sales, Citi

TB:What do you think the most significant difference in the trade financeindustry will be in 18 months time?PG: Markets that were producers are increasingly becoming consumers, andmarkets that were consumption-oriented are now revisiting their manufactur-ing roots. There is a gradual harmonisation of the flow of trade and balance ofeconomic power. It will serve global banks and those focused on certain geo-graphic markets, and will spur further collaboration. SL:You will also see new markets develop as wage inflation grows in China

and offshoring to Myanmar, Indonesia and other countries as they developtheir infrastructure. There will be a large increase in Southeast Asian trade.PG:We will also likely see a much greater share of world trade denominated

in renminbi. SL: Yes, and while currency and interest-rate arbitrage exists now, it will

make more and more commercial sense to denominate trade finance transac-tions in renminbi. RH:Widening spreads will bring about an institutional investor play for

trade finance assets. It won’t happen in scale right away, but it will be signifi-cant. A tipping point will be reached at some point and the necessary systemswill be developed and comfort can be achieved for investors to ensure that thenew capital can be accessed.BP: The move towards bringing non-traditional players into this business

will only accelerate. One of the main drivers is that most of the world’s centralbanks have essentially said that they will keep interest rates at rock bottom forthe foreseeable future. Pension and investment funds are looking for places toinvest and we need to be more flexible in positioning our asset offerings tomake this happen.JW:To get low cost liquidity into the hands of the companies that need it

we see buyers making suppliers compete for business based on quality, technol-ogy, time of delivery and innovation – not on the basis of their balance sheets.Making suppliers healthier is creating demand for the institutional investors tocome in and buy into this industry. The easier we can make the capital flow thehealthier the industry can be. ■



Basel III: Unintended consequences for the real economy

Matthew L. Ekberg, Senior Director, Public Policy and International GovernmentAffairs, BAFT-IFSA

The financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 created a paradigmshift in the way regulators view both the financial marketsand market participants. Gone are the days of “light touch”regulation, as numerous jurisdictions now unite in the com-mon global goal of creating a stronger, more resilient finan-cial sector through increased supervision and more robustrules. Such a shift in thinking should be applauded, when theend goal is to ensure a repeat of the disastrous economic col-lapse is avoided. A well functioning, safe and secure intercon-nected financial system is in the best interest of all global cit-izens. However, as we slowly move out of the doldrums ofeconomic stagnation, an eye to how the “new normal” offinancial regulation is impacting growth in the real economyis critically important to ensure prosperity and opportunityis available to all.

Policymakers have recently said that we are currently in the throes of a “reg-ulation spring”, where governments, led by the G-20, have thrown aside oldideas and embraced the need for tighter controls on the financial system andincreased global cooperation. At the same time, the G-20 have emphasized theneed to “…work collectively to strengthen global demand and restore confi-dence with a view to support growth” The dichotomy in these two viewsbecomes apparent when the financial regulations propagated penalize elementsof the market that did not contribute to the financial collapse and, instead, arean integral part of the effort to foster the expansion needed to bring abouteconomic recovery. In no area of financial regulation is this example moresalient than in the implementation of Basel III and its impact on the tradefinance market. Basel III is a unique and important example of regulators


BAFT-IFSA – BASEL III

Matthew L. Ekberg,Senior Director,Public Policy andInternationalGovernment Affairs,BAFT-IFSA

agreeing to work together on an international scale in an attempt to obviatethe possibility of another market collapse. Unfortunately, through the swiftagreement of such sweeping reforms to bank capital and liquidity require-ments, important financial products supporting real economy business, liketrade finance, are penalized and afforded an onerous regulatory treatment thatdoes not take into account their intrinsically safe nature or their importance tojob creation and economic growth.

Trade finance is a driving force for the development of economic prosperitythrough international trade, as trade relies upon accessible financing for import

and export transactions. Tradefinance, as a transaction bankingproduct, is a core banking busi-ness serving companies thatemploy millions around theworld. Small and medium-sizedenterprises are particularlyreliant on trade finance to selltheir products overseas. As thesecompanies are squeezed by eco-nomic conditions, they mustlook to new markets to replaceold customers. Increasingly,those markets will be found inthe international arena.

Basel III, however, has theunintended consequence ofinhibiting the financing thesecompanies need to grow byusing a broad brush approach toregulation that does not differ-

entiate the capital and liquidity requirements for trade finance from those ofhigher risk financial products. Through the implementation of the Basel IIIleverage ratio, the application of the Basel Asset Value Correlation (AVC) andthe requirements of the liquidity coverage ratio, pricing on trade financeinstruments could increase by as much as forty percent, driving some banks toeither pass that cost on to the end user or reevaluate their own position as aprovider of trade finance services. Either way, the business community willultimately experience a contraction in the affordable trade finance on offer,which is a situation that will harm international competitiveness and inhibit



Trade finance, as a transactionbanking product, is a core bankingbusiness serving companies thatemploy millions around the world.Small and medium-sizedenterprises are particularly relianton trade finance to sell theirproducts overseas.

the success of the growth agenda that is now being embraced by leaders allover the world.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)recently said that the European recession brought on by the crisis in the Euro-zone is slowing the global economy, with developed economies estimated togrow at only 0.3 percent in the third quarter of 2012. The knock on effect ofthis contraction is being experienced in international trade markets as well,

with merchandise trade slowingin all major economies in thesecond quarter of 2012. WithBasel III implementation loom-ing for the first quarter of 2013,the impact of this regulation ontrade finance will likely furtherdiminish a return to healthytrade in goods and servicesglobally.

Governments across theworld, including the UnitedStates, China and the UnitedKingdom, have put an emphasison growing their economiesthrough exports. Basel III couldhave the unintended conse-quence of hindering that agendaand impeding the creation ofgood, high quality jobs throughtrade. There is however still timeto correct the imbalances inBasel III. Currently, jurisdictionsof the Basel Committee areworking to implement the rules

into national law. Each jurisdiction has the ability to examine how the rules fortrade finance will impact their own business sector and work collectively atBasel Committee level to harmonize changes that will ensure affordable tradefinance is available to support growth. International trade, driven by tradefinance, will help put the global economy back on track. A more rationalapproach to Basel III implementation in this area will help to bring about amore robust and timely worldwide recovery. ■



Governments across the world,including the United States, Chinaand the United Kingdom, have putan emphasis on growing theireconomies through exports. Basel III could have theunintended consequence ofhindering that agenda andimpeding the creation of good,high quality jobs through trade.There is however still time to correct the imbalances in Basel III.

Asia comes of ageChina’s growing consumer population combined with the maturing of the Asian marketas a whole is creating new dynamics for trade finance. Shivkumar Seerapu, DeutscheBank’s Regional Head – Trade & Supply Chain, Asia Pacific, discusses the latestdevelopments in this area

In recent decades, Asia has been the flag-bearer of rapideconomic growth. Though this pace has now decelerated,the Asian markets continue to evolve in ways of interest totrade financiers. The most notable example is China. Com-ing from a predominantly manufacturing-based economy,the country is increasingly becoming a consumer-drivenmarket. This change is fuelling an increase in intra-Asiantrade, which in turn is contributing to the development ofthe region’s smaller economies.Unsurprisingly, these developments are having a marked

impact on the business needs of trading entities and, byextension, the demands placed on Asian trade finance. Suc-cessful trade finance providers will adapt to these changesand support their clients during the region’s transformation

towards consumer-driven markets. For instance, there is a strong demand formore advanced trade instruments.In addition, with the changes in the Chinese economy, the region has now

reached a turning point. China has long been the region’s economic power-house, largely due to its manufacturing strength and strong export relation-ships in Asia and beyond. However, the growing wealth of its populationmeans that it is no longer an export-driven economy. China’s trade flows areevolving accordingly, with the once predominant one-way flow of exportsbecoming a two-way exchange of exports and imports.China also maintains a strong competitive edge as a trade participant. The

steady journey of the Renminbi (RMB), going from a local to an increasinglyinternationalised currency, combined with the growing presence of largeChinese corporates on the global stage, means that China remains at the fore-front of trade competition. Its strength is particularly evident in the telecom-munications and construction sectors, where Chinese firms are findingincreasing success in securing overseas contracts.China is not the only Asian economy to become increasingly competitive

in the trade space. With the export market in mind, India, Bangladesh and Sri


DEUTSCHE BANK – ASIAN TRADE FINANCE

Shivkumar Seerapu,Deutsche Bank’sRegional Head –Trade & Supply Chain,Asia Pacific

Lanka have dramatically stepped up their rates of production, particularly ingarments and textiles. Equally, Indonesia and Vietnam have also increased theiroutput. This is undoubtedly a positive development for the broader Asianmarket, as well as domestic trade entities. It also marks a significant develop-ment for non-Asian corporates – a larger number of their suppliers will belocated across Asia, which will create a need for different trade finance solu-tions that can support and facilitate this development.It must be noted, however, that the effects of such trade expansion are not

restricted to overseas buyers. The region-wide rise in production is representa-tive of an equally important trend – the remarkable increase in intra-Asia trade.Statistics from the World Trade Organisation show that in 2010, Asian

exports rose by 22% (led by India and China) and 53% of these increasedexport flows were directed to other Asian countries. As Chinese consumerdemand grows and trade flows increase between the smaller Asian markets,this figure is likely to rise even more significantly.

Tools of the tradeThe rise of intra-regional trade combined with the growing sophistication oflocal corporates is having a profound effect on trade finance. As intra-regionaltrade is, for the most part, technically “south-south” trade, i.e. between twoemerging economies, there has been a noticeable shift towards more tradi-tional forms of trade finance. This does not, however, constitute a regression intrade finance. Corporates trading with new (and unfamiliar) counterparties inan expanding number of countries will be understandably cautious in con-ducting business. As a result, they are relying on traditional instruments such asLetters of Credit (LCs) in order to benefit from the risk mitigation and pay-ment assurance that such instruments provide.However, while corporates may be reverting to the use of more traditional

documentary instruments, they are not returning to paper-based LCs. Instead,they favour electronic transfers and processing via SWIFT, which offers thesame level of risk mitigation and payment assurance, but without theincreased cost and decreased efficiency of paper-based trade documentation.Indeed, in this new environment, electronic capability is key to both suppli-

ers in smaller Asian economies and those in China. Asian-based suppliers look-ing to expand their overseas business are as reliant on the speed and ease ofelectronic processing as are their Western counterparts – particularly those thatare now dealing with suppliers spread throughout Asia. Furthermore, the mar-ket volatility and liquidity constraints of the past four years have increased theneed for transparency and accuracy. As a result, electronic platforms must now



be an integral feature of anyprovider’s trade finance offering.

Acting local, thinking globalAt Deutsche Bank, we havelong recognised the importanceand value-add of technology;our ability to automate theend-to-end supply chain worksto the advantage of all ourclients throughout Asia andacross the globe. Indeed, global capabilities and

reach are essential. For example,large Asian corporates winningcontracts in Europe and the US

will require trade finance tools that can bridge the gap between US dollars,pound sterling, euro and the RMB for efficient and effective operations. Like-wise, European corporates faced with an expanding overseas supplier base willseek solutions capable of addressing and streamlining the economic, legal andcultural differences between the various links in the supply chain.For many corporates, this is a critical need, although one far from easy to

source. Ongoing post-crisis uncertainty has caused many banks to shrink theirinternational exposure in order to concentrate on their home market.Deutsche Bank, meanwhile, has taken the opposite view and remains com-mitted to addressing evolving client needs globally by further leveraging itsglobal reach and capabilities, as well as its local market expertise.Given the diverse nature of the Asian markets, a deep understanding of the

local markets is paramount. A uniform approach to the region’s varyingeconomies would fail to cope with numerous local currencies and differentregulatory environments. As such, we recognise the value of maintaining anon-the-ground presence (operating branches in 14 countries throughout theAsia Pacific region) to produce highly customised solutions.As the Asian markets further develop, and financial storms continue to trou-

ble the global markets, corporates’ trade finance requirements are likely tobecome increasingly complex. Trade finance providers must therefore addressthis challenge by taking steps to truly understand the evolving businessrequirements of their clients and the demands of local markets, and driveinnovation accordingly. ■



Given the diverse nature of theAsian markets, a deepunderstanding of the localmarkets is paramount. A uniformapproach to the region’s varyingeconomies would fail to cope withnumerous local currencies anddifferent regulatory environments.

Trade industry gets together in Osaka andMexico to prepare UR BPO roll-out in 2013

Last milestone completed in Mexico before new payment term for open account trade isrolled out next year by the International Chamber of Commerce and SWIFT

La Hulpe, December 10th 2012Developed by André CastermanHead of Corporate and Supply Chain Markets – SWIFTOfficer of ICC Banking Commission’s Executive CommitteeCo-chair BPO Project, ICC

Fall 2012 has been an extensive travelling time for sometrade finance bankers including ICC Banking CommissionChair’s Kah Chye TAN and some of his Vice-Chairs.Between end October and mid November 2012, the ICC

and SWIFT teams have been growing awareness of the newBank Payment Obligation (BPO) rules at two flagshipevents: Sibos in Osaka and ICC Banking Commission meet-ing in Mexico City. Such events illustrate how effectivelybanks, corporates, ICC and SWIFT work together in sup-port of the further development of the trade industry.Open account trade represents 90% of global trade flows.

An open account transaction means that the goods, along with all the necessarydocuments, are shipped and delivered before payment is due, usually within atimeframe of 30 to 90 days. Obviously, this is the most advantageous option tothe importer in cash flow and cost terms, but it is consequently the highest riskoption for an exporter as the buyer could default on payment obligation aftershipment of the goods.As announced in September 2011 at SWIFT’s annual conference (Sibos), the

International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and SWIFT have set themselvesan ambitious goal to introduce an innovative way for trading counterparties tosecure and finance their open account trade transactions via their bankingpartners. The new instrument called “Bank of Payment Obligation” (BPO)will enable importers and exporters to involve their preferred banking partnersin their trade transactions and obtain just-in-time risk and financing services.Based on standardised messaging and advanced transaction matching operated


SIBOS AND ICC BANKING COMMISSION MEETING

André Casterman

by SWIFT, the new instrument will pick up the pace of the financial supplychain in support of ever accelerating physical supply chains.The ICC recently gathered trade industry executives and policymakers dur-

ing at a first ever Banking Commission meeting in Latin America. The event,hosted by ICC Mexico, aimed to review the detailed specifications of the newBPO instrument which is to be used by buyers and sellers as a new paymentterm. Kah Chye TAN, Chair of the ICC Banking Commission and GlobalHead of Trade and Working Capital at Barclays explains the drivers for thetrade industry: “It is our ambition to help banks support the expected growthof trade by better engaging in open account transactions. The BPO enables on-demand risk mitigation as well as pre/post-shipment finance and will extendbanks’ supply chain finance offerings”. Dan Taylor, Vice-Chair of the ICCBanking Commission and Managing Director at J.P.Morgan who co-chairsthe BPO Project at the Commission confirms the rationale for ICC andSWIFT to work together: “Combining the ICC rules and arbitration role withSWIFT’s correspondent banking network and matching technologies offersthe required legal and technology foundations for banks to secure and financeopen account trade transactions in a standardised multi-bank environment”.During the ICC Banking Commission meeting, Gary Collyer, Senior Tech-

nical Advisor, ICC Banking Commission who chairs the BPO Legal DraftingGroup presented the Draft 2 of the Uniform Rules for Bank Payment Obliga-tion (UR BPO) with David Meynell, Director, Trade Finance Product Man-agement, Financial Institutions, Deutsche Bank and Robert Marchal, PrincipalStandards Specialist, SWIFT. Collyer is enthusiastic about the progress of thegroup: “We have been drafting the UR BPO rules since July 2011 and are ontrack for presenting a draft for adoption at our next meeting in April 2013”.Yesica González Pérez, Secretary General, ICC Mexico is gearing up efforts todrive BPO adoption: “We see the BPO as a major product innovation for thetrade market and have set up a special project within ICC Mexico to helpMexican corporates and banks adopt the new instrument”.At Sibos in Osaka which took place late October, Yumiko Hoshino, Execu-

tive Officer, Overseas Department at Ito-Yokado, the 7&I Holdings Groupsuperstore operator which is the first importer to use the BPO, explained howthe new instrument would be an integral part of doing business in Asia.“Exporters want faster payment and less paper, so our suppliers who are usingthis love it,” she said. Ito-Yokado has benefited from the BPO for over a yearthanks to leadership of Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ. Shigeki Kawabata, Gen-eral Manager, Transaction Banking Division, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ,who has been an advocate of the BPO from the outset agreed: “Leadership will



be a significant success factor to drive change and we are happy to be first onthe Asian market with the BPO”. Ashutosh Kumar, Global Head, CorporateCash and Trade, Standard Chartered Bank confirms the interest from the cor-porate market: “So far, interest in the BPO has been from large corporates, but,it should also be a useful mechanism for SMEs to obtain supply chain fundingmore easily. SMEs are often good at what they do, but don’t have strong bal-ance sheets”.The BPO demonstrates how bank led innovation can be delivered effi-

ciently at industry level when banks work with the right standardisation bod-ies, i.e. the ICC and SWIFT.At SWIFT, we are very much keen to innovate in our core markets such as

correspondent banking is a strategic priority. The BPO enables banks to enrichtheir correspondent banking practices in support of their competitive transac-tion banking services.The next challenge for early adopter banks (see below list of 16 banks) is to

engage with additional corporate users in order to deliver on the promises ofthis innovation to the corporate world. The ICC and SWIFT teams will there-fore focus on growing adoption and acceptance of this new instrument atindustry level. The next ICC Banking Commission meeting will be hosted byICC Portugal in Lisbon in April 2013. It will be a key milestone to establishthe new UR BPO rules on the market. The National Committees have a keyrole to play in this global roll-out and I look forward to the strong support ofthe National Committees during the voting session on UR BPO that will takeplace there.

See you in Lisbon!

Live BPO Banks (4)Bank of China Bank of Tokyo MitsubishiKorean Exchange Bank Standard Chartered Bank

Banks ready for live use of BPO (12)Bank al Etihad (Jordan) BarclaysByblos Bank (Lebanon) Commercial Bank of Dubai (UAE)Commerzbank Deutsche BankHua Nan Bank (Taiwan) J.P. MorganKasikornbank (Thailand) Siam Commercial Bank (Thailand)Standard Bank of South Africa Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation



Sailing the trade winds of change

Trade Finance Magazine spoke to John Ahearn, Global Head of Trade at Citi Trans-action Services, about the fundamental changes that are shaping the trade finance sectorat this crucial time for all financial institutions involved in trade finance and services.

In the two years since global banking regulators formalisedthe requirements of Basel III, the financial industry is stillmulling over the implications for the global trade business.John Ahearn, says there are myriad forces at work that willforce a fundamental revision of trade businesses by manyfinancial institutions.A revision of certain aspects of the Basel I and Basel II

frameworks, Basel III set a new key minimum commonequity capital ratio of 4.5%, more than double the previouslevel of 2%; a further capital conservation buffer of 2.5% wasalso added. The rules will be phased in from January 2013until January 2019.The Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) under Basel III is

designed to ensure that banks have the necessary assets on hand to surviveshort-term liquidity disruptions such as a counterparty default. Financial insti-tutions will be required to hold an amount of highly-liquid assets, such as cashor G7-type sovereign bonds, equal to or greater than their net cash outflowover a 30-day period. A full 100% minimum ratio will be enforced in 2015.“We know Basel III will fundamentally change the business; what we don’t

know is exactly how it will change,” says Ahearn.

Levels of liquidityAt the end of 2011 and into the first quarter of 2012, a lack of liquidity droveprices up in the trade business, with historically high spreads recorded. The USFederal Reserve and the European Central Bank stepped in; the ECB injectingsubstantial euro liquidity into the system and the Fed opening an unlimitedswap line with the ECB, enabling European banks to swap euros for dollars ata better price point. “This brought the spreads back down and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

But Citi’s view is that a massive deleveraging has to occur under Basel III andit is starting now,” says Ahearn. It is unlikely that most European banks will


CITI – TRANSFORMING TRADE

John Ahearn, GlobalHead of Trade at CitiTransaction Servicesin New York

meet their capital ratio requirements, he adds, pointing out that these institu-tions will have to significantly reduce their balance sheets. “This will forcemany institutions out of the trade business and they will have to find otherproviders who can supply the necessary credit. But they will be paying a higher

cost for this than they do today.”Ahearn also cites a “potential

mismatch” in the LCR that willhave an impact on banks’ trademodels. Approximately 75%-85% of world trade is transactedin dollars and there is a hugeneed for the currency in theEuropean banking sector. “Thedanger with the LCR is thatthere is a big potential that the

dollar deposits that non-US banks keep with US banks won’t have value any-more because they will be viewed as ‘hot money’. This will change the corre-spondent banking relationship quite significantly,” comments Ahearn.In the past, a correspondent banks provided services for its client in return

for balance, which was subsequently calculated into the correspondent’s corebalances, helping to provide funding. Under Basel III and the LCR, however,those balances cannot be added to the correspondent’s core balance. This willmean the client balances will no longer have as much value to the correspon-dent bank, says Ahearn, and the clients will no longer be able to offset fees forbalance as they have in the past. “The pricing discipline associated with correspondent banking will change

because of Basel III. Balances that were once valuable will no longer be and thatwill cause financial institutions to find alternative funding, thus increasing prices.”

Asset Value CorrelationThe Asset Value Correlation (AVC) within the Basel III framework is also apotential game changer. This requires a multiplier to be applied to the AVC ofexposures to regulated financial firms with assets of at least $100 billion and toall exposures to unregulated financial firms, regardless of size. The AVCamounts to an added 25% charge on loans because of the correlation betweenfinancial downturns and flights of funds, says Ahearn. “This will increase thecost of funding to a foreign bank, which will then pass this increase on to itsdownstream clients.”Referring to the AVC, international banking industry association BAFT-



“We know Basel III willfundamentally change thebusiness; what we don’t know isexactly how it will change.”

IFSA, in a statement, Key Concerns Regarding Trade Finance and TransactionBanking, says: “Defaults on trade finance obligations are generally minimal, evenduring stress situations.” It backed this by pointing out that data from the Inter-national Chamber of Commerce and Asian Development Bank Trade FinanceDefault Register study confirmed that trade finance had historically low defaultrates, even during the financial crisis. “The AVC proposals recommended by theBasel Committee could increase the cost of providing credit for trade transac-tions and limit their availability, particularly in emerging markets that rely onsustained and affordable access to trade finance to support commercial activi-ties,” the association says.

Who will remain in and who will be out?Global trade is a very fragmented business – the top five trade banks havebetween them approximately 20% market share; the remaining thousands ofbanks involved in trade have less than 2% market share each, most well under1%. “We have many banks involved in trade, and some are very tight on capi-tal. It is these banks that will have to make a critical decision about the businesslines they are in and out of when the Basel III framework is in place,” saysAhearn. “They will have to consider whether it is worthwhile to continue to place

much more capital against the business than they have historically been in,knowing that they may never be a top five player nor have scale economies.They may decide to focus on areas of domestic activity where they are strong,such as automobile financing or mortgage provision,” he adds.Such banks will not exit the trade arena because of operational or cost rea-

sons, but because they cannot afford to have the capital requirements associatedwith trade consolidated on their balance sheets.Other service providers will have to step in, allowing the banks to continue

to provide services for their clients, but at the same time without the capitalconsolidated on their balance sheets. There are challenges to overcome, how-ever, as service providers will have to pay particular attention to Know YourCustomer and Anti-Money Laundering requirements because a client’s clientsare not necessarily clients of the service provider.“There are big questions about capital that banks now have to consider,” says

Ahearn. “If there is a wholesale exit from the global trade business, that willhave a very negative impact on economies. There is a need for trade finance,particularly as global trade continues to grow despite relatively flat GDPgrowth globally. The opportunity for service providers to step in and pick upthe trade finance challenge will be significant going forward.” ■



Rethinking Basel III and trade finance

Robert Piller* explores a new approach to Basel III and the leverage ratio, and arguesthe need for a different case to be put forward for trade finance ‘exceptionalism’.

Trade finance professionals have long argued that the Basel II/III frameworkhas not treated trade finance fairly given its historically low-loss experience.The introduction of Basel III, and in particular the leverage ratio, has galvanisedthe trade finance community to present its case for trade finance’s ‘exception-alism’ before the Basel Committee. Trade finance has a counter-intuitive point to prove. While practitioners

know that it is a relatively safe venture, the fact is that trade finance immersesitself in much emerging market risk where country ratings are BB or worse.Hence, the message is that ‘we have a sterling loss record even though we oper-ate in high risk places.’ Given the trauma banks have produced for regulators, itis understandable that the Basel Committee would not accept such a statementat face value. Two fundamental issues have hindered the making of this argument. The

first is that until the creation of the ICC Trade Finance Register there hasnever been publicly available data to substantiate the claims of trade financepractitioners. One of the real impacts of Basel II was its stringent requirementsfor data that banks must compile in order to be allowed to do their own calcu-lations of probabilities of default (PD) and loss given default (LGD). Tradefinance’s Achilles heel was not being part of the publicly-rated debt world asthe bond market and project finance are. The second is that a good part of the trade finance community still does not

understand the implications of the Basel II/III regime, in particular the lever-age ratio.

Basel II/III treatment of trade financeThe central part of Basel II is its Pillar 1, which sets out the risk-weighted assetsmethodology (RWA method) for determining minimum regulatory capital byusing PD and LGD data. Pillar I deals with trade finance in a peripheral wayand does not even mention the term trade finance. As trade finance has neverposed any significant systemic risk to the financial system, it was never a con-cern of the Basel Committee when drafting the regulations.


TRADE REGULATION – A NEW LOOK AT BASEL III

Basel III, introduced as a reaction to the financial crisis, does not replaceBasel II, but rather introduces new elements. The Basel Committee identifiedfour key contributors to the banking crisis as below (Table 1).The new measures – the leverage ratio, the liquidity coverage ratio and the

net stable funding ratio – in effect create a scorecard of measures, along withthe RWA method. The question for any particular bank will be: which meas-ure will be the bank’s constraint?While most laymen associate trade finance with letters of credit (LCs), trade

finance includes import and export loans to corporates and banks, as well asperformance, bid and advance payment bonds in the form of standby letters ofcredit. The real crux of trade finance is managing emerging market risk byemploying risk mitigation techniques, such as the pledging of physical collat-eral or the assignment of receivables. The Basel II/III provisions affecting trade finance involve the following: l Under the RWA method, explicit mention of documentary and standby

letters of credit (SBLCs) in the context of off-balance sheet items and thecredit conversion factor (CCF) they incur – 20% and 50% respectively.

l Definition of ‘commodities finance’ as one of the five forms of spe-cialised lending, the definition being: Commodities finance refers to



Table 1

Ailment Basel III Response Effect

Lack of Tier 1 Increase in core capital and capital buffers Raise capital requirements and costs capital across all bank business lines and

products

Excessive Introduction of leverage ratio A simple, non-risk based measure to leverage restrict bank over-leveraging

Tier 1 Capital = 3% of on- and non-cancellable off-balance exposures

Liquidity Introduction of two liquidity ratios:constraints

Liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) To better withstand a severe 30-day stress scenario

Net stable funding requirement (NSFR) To limit funding longer term assets with short-term financing

Counter-party Increased capital for CCR in the trading book Increase capital requirements and credit risk costs for trading books(CCR) in the trading book

structured short-term lending to finance reserves, inventories, or receiv-ables of exchange-traded commodities (eg crude oil, metals, or crops),where the exposure will be repaid from the proceeds of the sale of thecommodity and the borrower has no independent capacity to repay theexposure. The exposure’s rating reflects its self-liquidating nature and thelender’s skill in structuring the transaction, rather than the credit qualityof the borrower.The assigned risk weights for specialised lending are to be used by

banks that cannot satisfy its regulator that it can calculate PD for spe-cialised lending.

l Credit risk mitigation provisions dealing with physical collateral andreceivables as eligible collateral.

l Under the leverage ratio, a 100% CCF for off-balance sheet letters ofcredit.

l The October 2011 document on the Treatment of trade finance under theBasel Capital Framework.

The RWA method for sovereign, bank and corporate exposures remainsuntouched and fully in force. Thus, national regulators must combine theuntouched elements of Basel II with the new elements of Basel III. For the

European Union, this will be theCapital Requirements DirectiveIV (CRD IV), which is now beingconsidered by the European Par-liament.

The ICC Trade RegisterThe ICC published its report onGlobal Risk – Trade Finance 2011(the ICC report) in October 2011,which summarises the data of theICC Trade Finance Register.Eighteen trade finance banksreported 11.8 million transactionssince 2006 for the following prod-ucts: The ICC report summary table

below (Table 3) focuses on 4.8million transactions with anaggregate volume of $2.25 trillion



Table 2: Products in the ICC Trade Finance Register

1 Export confirmed LCs – payable at sight

2 Export confirmed LCs – usance (payable at afuture date, not payable at sight)

3 Import LCs issued – payable at sight

4 Import LCs issued – usance (payable at a futuredate, not payable at sight)

5 Performance guarantees and performance standbyLCs issued

6 Performance standby LCs confirmed

7 Loans for export – bank risk

8 Loans for export – corporate risk

9 Loans for import – bank risk

10 Loans for import – corporate risk

11 Shipping guarantees

Source: ‘Global Risks—Trade Finance 2011’, ICC, October 2011

over the period of the financial crisis from 2007 – 2010 to illustrate the low-loss frequency.We can use the data to calculate implied LGDs by product in percentage

terms (loss % divided by default %) as laid out in Table 4:Several points become apparent:l Four of the six products show implied LGDs ranging from 5% to 9%,

indicating a high recovery rate. The ICC report does not include data onthe effect of realising collateral, be it the pledging of inventory or theassignment of receivables, on loss rates. Certainly the hypothesis must bethat the proceeds realised from collateral lead to such low LGDs.

l While the data shows that on a transactional basis certain products arelow-loss, this does not hold for all products as there are two interestingoutliers:– Import loans – corporate risk: The implied LGD of 117% indicatesthat there are in effect no recoveries and the loss is greater than thedefaulted amount (most likely due to legal costs, time, value of money,etc). This figure compares unfavourably to the Basel II prescribed LGDfor the foundation internal ratings-based (IRB) approach of 45%. Thisbegs the questions: (1) what percentage of these loans were unsecured?(2) If there was collateral, what accounts for its apparent failure inachieving a better LGD? This category needs to be examined more toexplain this result.

– Export confirmed LCs: The implied LGD, at 38%, is many timeshigher than the lowest LGDs and approaches the Basel II-prescribedLGD of 45%. The exposures are likely to be direct on the issuing bankand not secured by physical collateral or receivables. This result comes



Table 3: Summary table of key findings for the period reported

Product Transactions $ in 000s Default % Loss %

Loans for export – bank risk (2008-2010) 955,201 355,073,525 0.1733 0.0127

Loans for export – corp risk (2008-2010) 1,009,922 234,398,914 0.2918 0.0167

Loans for import – corp risk (2008-2010) 655,199 389,796,641 0.0597 0.0697

Import LCs (2007-2010) 1,438,291 727,012,390 0.0673 0.0061

Export confirmed LCs (2008-2010) 389,129 195,664,331 0.0907 0.0349

Performance guarantees/standby LCs (2009-2010) 396,059 347,828,425 0.0135 0.0007

Source: ICC Trade Finance Register data

at the height of the financial crisis and thus could be a good perform-ance. It would be interesting to see how the LGD compares to calmerperiods of the economic cycle.

The leverage ratio and trade financeIn articles, discussions and presentations, the leverage ratio emerges as tradefinance’s bogeyman. This ratio, more than any other Basel provision, has ironi-cally spurred the trade finance community to launch the ICC Trade Register.The irony lies in the fact that the leverage ratio is misunderstood. The misunderstanding comes from the fact that people have mixed the

leverage ratio with the RWA method because both apply CCFs to off-balancesheet items (for documentary LCs, 100% and 20% respectively). Many arguethat the leverage ratio will increase capital charges five-fold, as the risk weightis increased five-fold. This argument has been made by BAFT-IFSA and can befound in a presentation that is available on the internet. Such statements are erroneous and wrong on two counts:l They confuse the RWA method with the leverage ratio, which are sepa-

rate measures.l They assume that the leverage ratio, which is a global measure at the bank

group level, is applied at a business unit, product or even transactionallevel. But this ratio is not relevant to a transaction’s risk weight.

For the trade finance community to better argue its case, it needs to under-stand the true implication of the leverage ratio and, as argued herein, to ignoreit for documentary LCs and to focus on more relevant issues. Basel III says the following about the leverage ratio:l It is equal to Tier 1 capital being 3% of on-balance and off-balance sheet

(converted at a prescribed CCF; for LCs this is 100%) exposures.



Table 4

Implied LGD Product Loss % Default % (Loss/Default)

Export loans – bank risk 0.0127 0.1733 7.3%

Export loans – corporate risk 0.0167 0.2918 5.7%

Import loans – corporate risk 0.0697 0.0597 116.8%

Import LCs 0.0061 0.0673 9.1%

Export confirmed LCs 0.0349 0.0907 38.5%

Performance guarantees 0.0007 0.0135 5.2%

l It is a simple, transparent, non-risk based ratio that is to be a supplemen-tary measure to the RWA method.

l It is intended to constrain a build-up of leverage.As mentioned above, the RWA method has not been changed. As the lever-

age ratio is not a risk measurement, it has no effect on the risk weight. If therisk weight is 25% under Basel II, the risk weight will be 25% under BaselII/III.The key thing to remember is that the RWA method is a bottom-up

approach to calculating capital, ie, capital is built up on a transaction-by-trans-action basis. The leverage ratio is a balance sheet management tool, ie, a globalratio applied to a bank’s total exposure. Banks report this ratio only at thegroup level. There is nothing in Basel III that applies it to business units, prod-ucts or transactions. In fact, it is not logical to apply such a ratio on a transac-tional basis. If a bank falls below the 3% threshold, it has two options: (1)



Table 5: Theoretical product exposure based on ICC data

Years Annualised Avg.of Aggregate Volume tenor Exposure

Product data US$'000 US$'000 days US$'000

Loans for export–bank risk 3 355,073,525 118,357,842 16% 121 39,236,435 10%(2008-2010)

Loans for export–corp risk 3 234,398,914 78,132,971 10% 137 29,326,622 8%(2008-2010)

Loans for import–corp risk 3 389,796,641 129,932,214 17% 86 30,614,165 8%(2008-2010)

Import LCs (2007-2010) 4 727,012,390 181,753,098 24% 98 48,799,462 13%

Import LCs (2007-2010): Usance 4 363,506,195 90,876,549 12% 126 31,371,083 8%

Import LCs (2007-2010): Sight 4 363,506,195 90,876,549 12% 75 18,673,263 5%

Export confirmed LCs (2008-2010) 3 195,664,331 65,221,444 9% 92 16,439,378 4%

Export confirmed LCs 3 97,832,166 32,610,722 4% 120 10,721,333 3%(2008-2010): Usance

Export confirmed LCs 3 97,832,166 32,610,722 4% 60 5,360,667 1%(2008-2010): Sight

Performance guarantees/ 2 347,828,425 173,914,213 23% 451 214,891,260 57%SBLCs (2009-2010)

747,311,780 100% 380,194,828 100%

Source: ICC and Aupres Consult

increase capital; or (2) reduce exposures. As there is no regulatory requirementthat business units should meet the leverage ratio, any impact on a particularbusiness would be a managerial decision and not a regulatory matter. The leverage ratio asks the question: what is the likelihood for an off-balance

sheet exposure to come on-balance. Is it within the bank’s power to uncondi-tionally cancel the commitment? For both documentary and standby LCs, theanswer must ‘no’; the bank does not have a right to cancel its commitment. Thecommitment may not be executed given the contingent nature of LCs, but thisis not the question that the Basel Committee is asking. In an attempt to address the Basel Committee’s question, the ICC report

makes the following argument; that documentary LCs frequently do not goon-balance sheet: ‘In the case of import LCs…an average of 70% of document sets presented to banks

to make drawings under import LCs contained discrepancies on first presentation.. thebank has no obligation to waive the documentary discrepancies and make payment unlessit receives reimbursement or unless the discrepancies are corrected within the validityperiod of the LC.’While this statement accurately portrays the state of affairs with import LCs,

it is still quite a curious argument to make. Essentially, this asks the Basel Com-mittee to grant a better CCF based on the fact that import LCs, which exist tohelp assure payment to exporters, do not work very well. This hardly seems tobe a point that would impress regulators, and I would recommend not pursingthis line. A stronger case would appear to exist for standby letters of credit used as

performance, bid and advance payment bonds. The expectation would be thatvery few are actually drawn, but the ICC report does not give data on this. Iwould recommend that the ICC and banks focus on this area. The table below (Table 5) takes the ICC’s summary data and [1] annualises

the volumes, and [2] using the tenors reported for each product, calculates anexposure for that product (assuming a 50/50 split between sight and usanceLCs). Given that the data covers 4.8 million transactions with an aggregate vol-ume of $2.25 trillion, this should produce a reasonably representative tradefinance portfolio. Table 5 shows that performance guarantees (SBLCs) are the statistical out-

lier, as they have an average tenor of 451 days. This causes them to be over-weighted as a percentage of exposure, representing 23% of annualised volumebut 57% of exposure. If this is truly representative of trade finance portfolios,the trade finance community should focus its efforts to have the CCF reducedunder both the RWA method and the leverage ratio.



It also shows that documentatry LCs account for 17% of the exposure, sug-gesting that promoting a weak argument in relation to the CCFs may not bethe best strategy with the Basel Committee.

Liquidity ratiosFor the 30-day liquidity coverage ratio, inflows from corporates count for only50%. For the net stable funding ratio, the required stable funding factor forLCs, and other trade finance instruments, have been left to the discretion ofnational supervisors.

Treatment of trade finance under the Basel capital frameworkThe Basel Committee established a Trade Finance Group in response to theG20 Seoul summit (November 2010) call: “to monitor and assess trade finance pro-



Table 6

Proposition Decision Reason Effect

Leverage ratio: to Rejected LC commitments might No change to proposed reduce the CCF from be contingent but they rules100% to 20% for are not cancellable by documentary LCs the bank

Reduce the CCF under Rejected The data presented were No change from existing the RWA method risk based and did not rulesfrom 20% address the likelihood of

conversion from off- to on-balance sheet

Waive the one-year Accepted for issued The ICC Register convinced Calculation to be based on maturity floor in the and confirmed the Basel Committee that the effective maturity of IRB risk-weighted letters of credit the average tenor of a tranaction; Reduces capital assets formula trade finance transactions requirements for banks

is well under one year using the advanced IRB approach

In the standardised Accepted This helps banks in low Relevant for banks using the approach, waive the income countries standardised approachsovereign risk weight floor (eg, for unrated low income countries the risk weight cannot be below 100%) for claims of confirming banks on issuing banks (20% for short-term tenors)

grammes in support of developing countries, in particular their coverage and impact onlow income countries, and to evaluate the impact of regulatory regimes on trade finance.”After engaging in consultations with the World Bank, the WTO and the

ICC, the Basel Committee published its Treatment of trade finance under the BaselCapital Framework in October 2011, which considered four issues presentedbelow in Table 6.While the one-year waiver applies only to LCs, the ‘Treatment of trade

finance’ gives discretion to national supervisors to apply the waiver to othershort-term trade finance products such as import and export loans.

CRD IV Trade finance has a good ally in the EU, which has made several favourableamendments in the CRD IV, as follows: l Minimum one day maturity for self-liquidating short-term trade financ-

ing transactions defined as:(i) LCs issued or confirmed, and related undertakings and financing;(ii) pre-shipment financing and post-shipment acceptances and/or

financing;(iii) trade loans;(iv) performance guarantees, bid bonds and other guarantees, including

standby letters of credit, that do not have the characteristics of acredit substitute.

l CCF under the leverage ratio of 20% for documentary LCs and 50% forSBLCs.

l Recognition of 100% of inflows from trade loans to corporates under theliquidity coverage ratio.

Given that the Basel regulations represent minimum standards, the EU willappear to have to convince the Basel Committee to accept the leverage ratioand liquidity proposals.



Table 7

Standardised Foundation IRB Advanced IRB

Physical collateral Not eligible With permission of the Eligiblebank’s regulator

Receivables Not eligible Eligible Eligible

Eligible collateralAs the G20 and the Basel Committee are concerned with the welfare of lowincome countries, a different set of under-recognised Basel II/III issues relatingto the use of collateral arises. As noted above, trade finance routinely uses phys-ical collateral and receivables to secure transactions. Therefore one area wherethe World Bank, the WTO and the ICC can promote trade finance in lowincome countries is to review Basel II provisions for recognising physical col-lateral and receivables. These provisions are summarised in Table 7:South-South trade is expanding and there are expectations that local and

regional banks will increasingly become more involved in trade finance. Theseare institutions that are more likely to use the standardised and foundation IRBapproaches and therefore might not be able to recognise key forms of collat-eral, thereby raising the capital requirements for trade finance. Interested insti-tutions such as the World Bank and the WTO should focus on this issue.

Conclusion/recommendationsTrade finance has excellent arguments to promote its exceptionalism under theregulatory regime. Here are my recommendations for the way forward.1. Do not confuse the leverage ratio with the RWA method. Do not waste

Basel Committee energy and time arguing the demerits of the leverageratio based on a flawed understanding of how it works.

2. Do not worry about the leverage ratio for documentary LCs.3. Make the case to reduce the CCFs for SBLCs under both the RWA

method and the leverage ratio; 4. Argue trade finance exceptionalism to affect favourable treatment for credit

risk mitigation under the standardised and foundation internal ratings-based (IRB) approaches.

5. Get national regulators to waive the IRB one-year maturity floor for tradeloans (as the EU will do);

6. Understand how national regulators will apply the required stable fundingfactor for trade instruments.

*Robert Piller is a director at Aupres Consult



Global Export Finance 2012 – the industrylooks ahead

Trade Finance Magazine and Euromoney Seminars’ 13th Annual Global ExportFinance Conference in Barcelona attracts over 470 delegates.

Innovation was the theme for day one of Trade Finance Magazine andEuromoney Seminars’ 13th Annual Global Export Finance Conference at theHotel Arts in Barcelona on 1-2 October, as banks, corporates and ECAs alikeexamined ways of accessing finance to compete in the ever-changing exportfinance market.Some 470 delegates from export credit agencies (ECAs), banks, insurers and

corporates representing 226 companies came together to discuss issues rang-ing from renewable energy financing to the covered bond market. Of the del-egates some 31% were corporates – manufacturers, producers,exporters/importers etc. The event, the largest global event ever specifically

for the export credit industry, wassponsored by 19 banks active in theexport credit sector.Michaela Marcussen, CFA managing

director, global head of economics forSociété Générale CIB (SG CIB), gavethe keynote speech to the conference,providing a detailed overview into thechanges facing the global exportfinance market.Looking at Europe, Marcussen con-

sidered the exit of Greece from theeuro as a possibility, but stated this issomething that it is well advised to beavoided. She emphasised that one keyaspect to consider in the recovery is thehuman dimension to economics, not-


GEF 2012 – BARCELONA

ing that unless the ‘animal spirit’ inpeople can be lifted to boost their con-fidence, it will be a long time beforethe economic growth can return.A move towards innovation was the

key theme of the panel discussions,with both the exporters and theNordic agencies panels suggesting thatlooking for different ways of financingexports is vital to access the fundingneeded.Alejandra Hidalgo, head of export

finance with ABB, explained that busi-ness models have changed, with thefocus now coming from the Americasand Asia. She noted that the greatestcompetition is coming from the loca-

tions with the ability to rapidly innovate.Considering the importance of having a local bank involved in a transac-

tion, Patrick Achtman, director, project and structured finance at Volvo Con-struction Equipment AB International, explained that from his perspective asa corporate, there is actually very little difference to how a transaction is com-pleted if there is any local involvement or not. A lack of support along thechain and under-utilisation of the resources available were two points noted asaffecting how well exporters can do business.The impact of Basel III was hotly debated topic for the panel moderated by

Martin Knott, head of trade, global treasury solutions EMEA, Bank of MerrillLynch. Marc Auboin, counsellor for the World Trade Organisation, suggeststhere could be some difficultly for some players adapting to changes for thedeadline of 2017 as they have only just fully initiated Basel II.The need to innovate and find new ways for all parties involved in a trans-

action to work together was an important feature in the afternoon’s globalheads panel, which also indicated how different the bank’s experiences aredepending on their geographic location.The global heads panel was comprised of: Sebastian Romero Evans, San-

tander; Sandra Nolasco, BBVA; Denis Stas-de-Richelle, SG CIB; PeterLuketa, HSBC; Olivier Paul, BNP Paribas; Eli Hassine, SMBC; Toru Masu-tani, BTMU; and, Valentino Gallo, Citi.While representatives from the European institutions noted the difficulties



they are facing in terms of liquidity and the eurozone crisis, Asian institutionswere seeing fewer restrictions through trading in their own strong currenciesand dealing with growing local markets.Toru Masutani, head of ECA, commodities and trade finance with BTMU,

explained that in the Japanese market, the bank has not had to adapt the wayit lends to clients, and has liquidity through some exposure to the US dollar.Looking for alternative sources of funding has become more common for

HSBC, with Peter Luketa, global head of export credit and global specialisedfinance, explaining pension funds and insurance companies are now alsobeing approached.Questions posed to the audience provided a wide view of what is being

experienced in the market, as 41% of respondents stated the bond marketwould become essential to export credit going forward. When asked about theregion seeing the most growth in the present time, a majority of 22% statedLatin America, an interesting finding compared with the 25% top scorereceived by Russia and the CIS at last year’s conference.The final sessions of the day saw Kazushige Isobuchi of SMBC discussing

the capacity and the role of the Asian banks and ECAs in the export financemarket with Satoru Koyama of Nexi’s Paris office. A fascinating debate onhow export finance banks can utilise the growing demand for local currencyfinancing drew the day’s discussions to a close.

Barcelona – day 2Liquidity was the buzzword of the sec-ond day of the Global Export Finance2012 Conference in Barcelona. Themorning session kicked off with theannual ECA panel, which convened toanalyse the way in which ECAs areevolving in an era of scarce bank liq-uidity. BBVA’s Holger Caspar chairedthe panel of ECA representatives.Karin Apelman, director general ofEKN, emphasised the need to helpstruggling small and medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs) adapt to the newlandscape. The ECGD’s Ali Sherwanialso stated the need for changes toOECD regulation, pointing to the



counterintuitive nature of the 30%limit on local content cover.This was followed by a panel debate

on the usage of export finance mecha-nisms as risk mitigation in renewableenergy deals. The OECD’s Jean LeCocguic moderated a panel of banks,financial institutions and renewableenergy suppliers. The renewable energysuppliers, Vestas’s Karin Clausen andJinko Solar’s Arturo Herrero, stated theneed for banks to speed up and makeeasier the project financing process andagreed that OECD regulationsremained too rigid and need to beadapted; Clausen maintained that theydo not reflect the reality of the sourcing

and optimising of contemporary project financing, and Herrero also lamentedthe lack of clarity in the local content definition. On a more optimistic note,Georges Romano observed encouraging signs of innovation in the LatinAmerican renewables financing market over the past year; pointing to the firstbond financing for a wind farm project in the region, issued in Mexico thisyear.The conference assembled after a refreshments break to discuss the SME

sector. Matthias Wiettbrock, managing director of Northstar Europe, gave apresentation on the opportunities in the market for financiers in the under-funded small and medium-sized enterprise market. Wiettbrock stressed theneed for banks to provide further funding for SMEs, despite the small size ofthe facilities, and to stay true to the process of doing so – carrying the duediligence, credit checks, and the KYC that they would normally with largertransactions.Following that, Ralph Lerch of Commerzbank and a panel of bank repre-

sentatives gathered to examine innovative funding solutions in the eurozone;particularly those of irrevocable guarantees, central bank access and the cov-ered bond markets. He was joined by Henri d’Ambrieres of the EuropeanBanking Federation, Ignacio Romero of Deutsche Bank and Ron Hansen ofING. D’Ambrieres raised the idea of creating a vehicle of covered bonds thatwould be owned by several banks, thus dividing the risk. And ING’s Hansencame under fire during the question and answer session, as a few delegates



raised queries over the Dutch system; including the issue of how performancerisk of banks gets incorporated into the calculation of price.After the lunch break, Makoto Kobayashi, global head of structured finance

at BTMU, gave a presentation on the growing importance of Asian banks andECAs in helping corporates expand into Europe, the Middle East and Africa.The talk evidenced the rapidly increasing presence of Asian banks and ECAsin export financing deals in the EMEA region, and he highlighted certain-deals in OECD markets.This was followed by a presentation conducted by David Albagli and Alvaro

Ortiz Vidal-Abarca from BBVA concerning export finance opportunities inTurkey. Ortiz, BBVA’s chief economist for emerging markets, explained thatdespite having a high current account deficit because of low private savings,there is, at present, strong growth in Turkish capital goods exports as itswitches its focus from Europe to the Middle East. In regards to sector oppor-tunities, Ortiz told delegates that Turkey’s services and manufacturing areleading the way in the country. He then went on to estimate that there wouldbe approximately $100 billion in investments in Turkey over the course of thenext five years.Before the afternoon break HSBC’s Richard Hodder hosted a panel of

bank representatives, convening to discuss export finance opportunities insub-Saharan Africa. Hodder started the discussion by voicing an evidentlycommon felt opinion that sub-Saharan Africa is an under-used market at the

moment; acknowledging the particu-larly fast-developing countries ofAngola, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, andSouth Africa. Nedbank’s Philna Pot-geiter then identified the mining sectoras a key development area in theregion, and found agreement in therest of the panel in her assertion that, atpresent in sub-Saharan Africa, it is tak-ing too long for an investment to gofrom drawing board to realisation. BothHodder and Potgeiter then emphasisedthe need for ECAs and DFIs todevelop relationships with regionalbanks in the area and to advance localcurrency financing, in order to furthercultivate the region.



After a short refreshments break, the next issue on the agenda was a presen-tation by Colin George, a director for trade, commodity and agribusinessfinance at EFIC on the securing of exports and projects within the agri-sec-tor with the use of export credits and ECA cover. George relayed the signifi-cantly increasing global food demand to the audience and the need for foodsecurity. Stating that production needs to step up to meet demand, he layedout the crucial role ECAs can play in that process. He then looked at threecase studies.The last talk of the day was on the financing of imports into and exports

out of Russia. A panel of bank and ECA representatives met to discuss theissue. Alfabank’s Dina Merkulova and Dagmar Dvorakova, of CeskoslovenskaObchodni Banka, evidenced the recently increasing demand for exportfinancing in the area. Mikhail Karyakin of the new Russian ECA, Exiar,pointed out that until Exiar’s inception last year, there was no institution inRussia that provided funding for export financing, and thus the situation forexporters in the country is improving accordingly.Conference chairperson, Jonathan Bell, then imparted the closing remarks

as he called to a close the 13th annual Global Export Finance conference; par-ticularly noting the increased role of the capital markets in the ECA-backedsector and the much bigger role that ECAs and DFIs have played in exportfinancing over the course of the last year. ■

Join us for Global Export Finance 2013 on September 23-24 back at the Hotel ArtsBarcelona.



Delegates at the GEF 2012 – Barcelona conference

Drier times for commodity bankers

Jonathan Bell talks with global heads of commodity finance about the state of market.This roundtable first appeared in the May 2012 issue of Trade Finance Magazine.

Karel Valken (KV), global head TCF agri/global head grains andoilseeds, Rabobank

Jean Francois Lambert (JFL), global head of structured and com-modity finance, HSBC

Matthieu Lacaze (ML), deputy global head of energy and com-modity finance, BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking

Thomas Oehl (TO), global head of commodity finance, WestLB[now known as Portigon AG]

Rick Torken (RT), managing director, global head agriculturalcommodities, ABN AMRO

Rogier Schulpen (RS), global head of structured trade and com-modity finance, Santander

Trade Finance Magazine (TFM): Given the deleveraging that has takenplace by some banks, and the present economic situation, how do you see thecommodity finance market overall at the present time? How do you see your andother banks’ appetites and do you see ‘new kids on the block’?

Karel Valken (KV): The commodity finance market is facing some head-wind indeed due to deleveraging of certain banks (mostly French). The pres-ent economic situation is causing companies to review their risk managementpolicies and adjust trading accordingly (shorter tenors eg hand-to-mouthtrading) which is resulting in margin erosion. Liquidity premiums for US dol-lar funding is becoming a major hurdle especially for the non-US dollardenominated banks. This favours US banks although the latter are hardlyactive in commodities.


COMMODITY FINANCE ROUNDTABLE

Having said this commodity finance is less effected by the liquidity premi-ums (compared to project finance) due to the shorter tenors and oftensecured nature.We are cautiously bullish for the near term future. Bullish due to the still

strong fundamentals in the various commodity markets, cautious as compa-nies while profitable are facing more headwind. In our view there is still suf-ficient liquidity in the market despite the deleveraging. There are no specific‘new kids on the block’ other than the Asian banks continue to be active. Theliquid Brazilian and US banks are not expanding out of their own territoryyet. Trade and commodity finance (TCF) has become a core activity forRabobank International for which reason the allocation of capital wasincreased and selectively more staff added.

Jean Francois Lambert (JFL): The market has gone through a shake-up,notably through some European banks where deleveraging requirements haveforced them to reduce their exposures and make some strategic decisions ontheir positioning towards commodity finance (exit certain markets, downsiz-ing teams, refocus). Whilst this has not affected the major commodity mer-chants, its effect will be felt on smaller players and producers. The question isif markets get into a contango position, will there be enough financing avail-able to play the curve?Our appetite is unabated and financing trade flows is at the core of our

strategy. Other players seem to be more open, notably US banks, but itremains to be seen what their corporate risk appetite is going to be so farfrom their core markets.

Matthieu Lacaze (ML): The commodity sector is facing a new challengelinked to its financing. On the one hand, the financing needs of the commod-ity sector are growing fast due to larger commodity volumes required by themarket (increasing demographics, higher consumption per capita etc) multi-plied by higher commodity prices. On the other hand, banks are facing newconstraints, financing that have both a structural element – the implementa-tion of Basel III, and an element related to the current economic climate;namely, US money market funds have drastically reduced their exposure tothe European banking sector since mid-2011.The commodity sector includes industrial players (producers, refiners,

smelters, etc) all of whom have access to various sources of financing fromcapital markets to bank loans, as well as the trading companies mainlyfinanced by the banking sector and particularly European banks (a limited



number of European banks representing collectively largeworldwide market share). This sector is heavily dollarised,and so there is indeed a challenge for the industry.Our answer to this challenge is to pursue the origination

and structuring of deals and to develop more actively thedistribution of assets, particularly outside the banking sec-tor.The requirements of the new banking regulation (capital,

funding etc) as well as the involvement of non-bankingplayers in those deals with return expectations higher thanlending banks, will impact upwards the cost of financing forborrowers. This market trend has started already a fewmonths ago and will most probably continue for the nextfew months until all banks have readjusted their pricinggrid to the new environment.

Thomas Oehl (TO): The markets have been relativelyquite this year so far, apart from the financing of tradinghouses – due to high working capital requirements trig-gered by high commodity prices and high price volatility –and commodity financings in the Brazilian market. Thecommodity finance market has not really been tested yetthis year. So the deleveraging exercise of the European, in

particular the French banks, could be absorbed relatively smoothly so far.However, you can not help to notice a stronger presence of Asian banks –Japanese, Chinese and Singaporean- and more sporadically, American banks incommodity finance.In lieu of WestLB’s specific situation, transformation into a pure service and

portfolio management provider/bank, WestLB – also given its strong pedigreein commodity finance – has still been relatively active in 1H 2012. This willcome to an end thereafter. ‘New kids on the block’ are mainly Chinese andSingaporean banks which are more visibly active in the market: ICBC, BoC,and DBS. We will have to see to which extent this is/will be sustainable.

Rick Torken (RT): The commodities markets have two distinct cycles thatwe are experiencing. One is the short-term cycle that for example in 2008was severely influenced by the lack of liquidity with banks. That cycle may beeffected if liquidity problems with some of the more traditional commodityfinancing banks is restricted. The long-term commodity cycle which is fol-



Karel Valken atRabobank in Utrecht

Jean FrancoisLambert at HSBC in London

lowing fundamentals has not really changed in my view: increased popula-tions, increased wealth and the incorporation of large parts of the world pop-ulation in the global economy mean that the long-term view for commodi-ties remains strong.

Rogier Schulpen (RS): We have seen a strong shift in the commodityfinance market, where some traditional commodity banks have been drasti-cally reducing their exposure on the sector. These banks have not onlyreduced the origination of new transactions, but have also been offloadingpart of their existing assets on the secondary market. We have been offeredwhole portfolios of commodity finance assets from other banks over the pastsix months, but only deploy our capital to directly support our clients.The main beneficiaries have been by the local banks in emerging countries,

which are less affected by the crisis and have sufficient access to cheap liquidity.

TFM: Have you changed the way you organise your teams, activity and focus?Are you using insurance on your deals and what sort of cover do you tend toseek – and how is this done (through brokers or direct)?

KV: There is clearly an increased focus on risk so more investments have beenmade in supporting risk, additional HR and recalibrating procedures captur-ing the different environment. This includes tightening of structures in certainhemispheres and seeking ongoing alternatives for risk distribution. As well asincreased pricing. Insurance as such did not increase persé.

JFL: We are consistently building our commodity and structured financeteams where we believe there is value to add to our customers’ supply chains(Asia, Europe, Latin America inter alia). The question seems to infer that risk isthe issue around the deleveraging of some banks. I believe the issue has beenliquidity, not risk deterioration. As far as we are concerned we have on thecontrary been building our commodity business. Insurance is part of our toolbox when we believe we need to manage exposures, of course. However, I donot see a bank booking and systematically insuring a big portion of its risk.This is simply not sustainable from a profitability perspective.

ML: Yes, for almost close to 20 years we have been using the insurance mar-ket to manage our exposure. We are seeking political and also credit risk coverdepending on the nature of the transaction. We are approaching our insurance



partners via brokers but have also developed more recentlya direct approach to complement the via-broker way.

TO: No, as the current organisational set-up is designed tofully cater for our clients’ needs and requirements. We douse the insurance product, for commodity finance solely ona comprehensive cover basis and through dedicated brokers.

RT: We have not changed the way we are organised thatmuch. We run a global model which has functioned wellover the years. We have used all sorts of risk mitigants in ourtransactions but also in that sense no real changes have takenplace.

RS: We changed the origination of the traditional tradebusiness towards more short-term and un/self funded busi-ness and focused less on long-term pre-export finance. Fur-thermore we have been increasing our activities in productsthat provide risk and balance sheet benefits to our clients.These products compete less with the local banks and aretherefore less price sensitive.

TFM: How have deals changed over the course of the lastnine months? Are we seeing more syndicated than club deals

– and where will this go? How do you view the bond market versus the bankdebt market for natural resource producers etc?

KV: Basel III, deleveraging of banks, liquidity premiums etc are catalysing theobjective for corporates to diversify funding to make them less dependent onbanks. This includes securitisation, US private placements, investments by sov-ereign wealth funds (SWFs) and loans from multilateral development banks(MDBs) like IFC, FMO, EBRD etc.We have not seen an increase in syndicated loans as such, but the normal

flow of refinancings. However, there is a clear tendency for more committedvs uncommitted deals, despite the higher liquidity premiums. Most deals wesee are in US dollars.



Matthieu Lacaze atBNP Paribas CIB in Paris

Thomas Oehl atPortigon in London

JFL: Commodity finance is relatively unchanged if only closer to trade flowsto be as transactional as possible. Structured deals are definitely lookingshorter and better structured. The bank syndication market is not functioningwell even for good transactions. More deals are arranged through clubs. Themarket is not dead but there has been a clear ‘flight to quality’ and this is goodnews. Where long-term maturity is required – producer finance – the sense isthat banks will have less appetite and that other markets or players will have tohelp, hence multilateral institutions getting more involved in commoditybusiness.The interest of the bond markets for such deals seems to grow, but actual

appetite and depth has yet to be demonstrated.

ML: The bond market is an attractive source of financing for the industrialplayers of the commodity chain such as producers and transformers (refiners,smelters, steel mills etc). But because of their specificities, commodity trading

companies do not have suchaccess to the bond marketexcept for some few largeglobal multi-commodity trad-ing firms.We are indeed seeing more

syndication and club deals, andinterestingly, participation isincluding some banks whichwere not active in the com-modity sector until now.

TO: The significant develop-ment is that the deal flow hassubstantially gone down and hasbecome a trickle. We see moreand more a tendency towards

club deals as the markets get tighter and less liquid.Bond markets will be playing more of a role in the financing of commod-

ity producers – they are already quite an important source of funding in themetals and mining project finance space – to make up for the decreasing roleof financial institutions in the intermediation of capital supply and demand.

RT: The commodity finance market has been a club-deal market for some



We are indeed seeing moresyndication and club deals, andinterestingly, participation isincluding some banks which werenot active in the commoditysector until now.

time and I think it will remain so. All banks know eachother very well and the underwriting market has still notcompletely returned. Of course, some deals have beenunderwritten and then syndicated but it is more the excep-tion than the rule.

TFM: Are you concerned about the slowdown in the Chinesemarket and is this affecting deal-flow? There has also been aslowdown in deal-flow in Russia/CIS so far this year – doyou have any views on why this is happening and how youare making up for any deal loss?

KV: While the GDP growth declined in China the FXreserves are immense and are typically used to supportinternal growth (to compensate for the decreased exportmarkets) so we have not seen, as of yet, really a smaller deal-flow.

JFL: China is still the growth engine of the world and thekey to most commodity markets. We do not anticipate aslowdown of China but witness a very smart managementof the Chinese economy to bring down the pace of growthto more sustainable levels. Our level of activity in this partof the world is strong.

ML: The deal flow in China has been quite calm during the first quarter ofthis year. This followed a change of economic priorities of the Chinese gov-ernment aimed at adapting the Chinese economy to the new environment asillustrated by the Chinese prime minister announcing a limitation of GDPgrowth in 2012 to 7.5% to avoid any risk of overheating of the Chinese econ-omy. April started more actively because inventories were quite low at the endof Q1 and domestic prices peaked.Concerning Russia and CIS, the deal flow is still quite active in the petro-

leum and agri sector and is slightly less active in the steel sector.

TO: While you have to carefully watch and analyse the Chinese market dueto its importance for the global commodity trade, I am currently not too concerned as this development is more a balancing of the economy into asteady state, and normal growth path.



Rick Torken at ABN AMRO inAmsterdam

Rogier Schulpen atSantander in Madrid

In Russia/CIS this is mainly due to the relatively strong commodity priceswhich reduce the financing needs of commodity producers more and more toevent-driven financings. Working capital requirements can be largely coveredby own cash flow or if need be pure corporate facilities/bonds. We might seea stronger demand for financings in 2H 2012 depending on the commodityprice development and the perceived liquidity in the banking market. In par-ticular the still buoyant Brazilian market has been partially offsetting the lackof deals in the CIS.

TFM: Has the demand of traders/producers changed in any way, and if so howare you helping to accommodate their requirements?

JFL: We anticipated that producers would require more support from tradersand are happy to support such requirements if any. So far though with theexception of Brazil, where new regulatory requirements are inducing produc-ers to seek finance from their offtakers rather than from banks, we have yet tosee a significant surge of such demand. HSBC is supporting the commoditysupply chains in key trade corridors and is keen to provide financing solutionsaround customers’ interactions (producers and traders).

ML: Yes, we noticed an evolution of financing demands from commodityplayers. We are developing solutions and making a lot of effort to assist themin optimising the use of their lines of credit such as adjusting payment termsto the economic cycle of the underlying commodity, minimising permanentinventory, and better monitoring of the funded/unfunded utilisation of theirlines.

RT: The developments of the last few years have led to more consolidation inthe market. Traders are becoming bigger and more vertical integration is tak-ing place. I feel this will continue in the coming years. Every crisis, morevolatility and increased prices lead to more consolidation.

TFM: How do you see the commodity finance market overall going forward?What challenges do you see ahead in terms of risk perspective and actual risk,Basel III, bank/trader competition/cooperation/consolidation? How do yousee pricing/tenor in short- to medium-term?

JFL: Commodity finance markets are, by and large, driven by commodityprices and their volatility. Whilst the world economy has been slower, it is still



growing, thanks notably to emerging economies dynamism. Oil prices are stillvery strong and current geopolitical uncertainties, coupled with the cost ofproduction of the newly discovered reserves (deep sea and shale) are such thatthey will remain high.Longer term, we know that food will be in higher demand thanks to the

growth rate of the world population. This bodes well for commodity financeactivities but this means that requirements are bound to grow as well. Banks

have a social responsibility tofinance such critical trade flows.Challenges are no more for

commodity finance than for therest of the banking activities. Weneed to make sure regulationssurrounding the banking sectorare not losing perspective onthe fact that banks have to keeplending to sustain worldgrowth. As it stands the focus isnot on this but on ensuring thebanking sector will never col-lapse. The Basel III guidelinesmay achieve the latter. Couldthey threaten the former? Thereis a thin red line and practition-ers will need to be vigilant andmobilised to make sure trade

finance receives the regulatory treatment it deserves. As it stands this is not thecase.Risk management both from banks and traders will remain the key aspect.

So long as banks keep financing trade flows they should be able to generatethe required risk return and therefore provide a proper use of their capitalthrough this activity. So long as traders focus on physical trading and considercapital markets as tool providers to optimise their primary mission and not thereverse, they will find support and partners among the banking industry.

TO: While Basel III increases the overall liquidity and capital requirementsfor all forms of financings it will on a comparative basis put, in particular,short-term structured and secured (commodity and trade) financings at anadvantage. This is also a reflection of the very favourable default and loss sta-



Risk management both frombanks and traders will remain thekey aspect. So long as banks keepfinancing trade flows they shouldbe able to generate the requiredrisk return and therefore providea proper use of their capitalthrough this activity.

tistics of trade and commodity finance instruments as evidenced by the ICCTrade Finance Register.Pricing in the short- to medium-term will have to go up to reflect overall

higher capital and regulatory costs.

RT: In a way, commodity finance markets are very similar to other financialmarkets; the main influence at the moment comes from the macro-economiccircumstances like the European situation, Chinese growth or reduced growth

etc. Certain commodities mar-kets may be better protected(like food) since reduced con-sumption is less likely. However,agri products of course are sus-ceptible to price variationsbecause of climatic circum-stances.If the European situation gets

resolved, the US economyreally seems to be returning togrowth and Asia keeps up itsperformance, the world couldbe going back to boom com-modity markets very soon. Incase of serious problems inEurope or a prolonged slow

growth period and a reduction in Chinese growth, the world looks definitelyless pretty. The fact is that liquidity, particularly longer tenors has got a priceand this will be there for some time to come. Basel III will require higher cap-ital for banks which will reduce their lending capacity.

RS: The coming years will be challenging for the commodity finance mar-ket. Less companies are willing to provide structures just to mitigate risks forthe banks, there is increased competition from the DCM market in emergingcountries and local banks are getting stronger.However, there are also opportunities – commodity producers are getting

more sophisticated and are looking for ways to speed up their cash flow andmanage their risk profile. We believe that banks who can provide these bene-fits have an opportunity to obtain attractive margins while obtaining areduced capital consumption for its transactions. ■



If the European situation getsresolved, the US economy reallyseems to be returning to growthand Asia keeps up itsperformance, the world could begoing back to boom commoditymarkets very soon.

Can partnerships save trade finance?

Oliver O'Connell sat down with the platinum sponsors of the 5th Annual IFC BankPartners Meeting in Dubai at the beginning of October, to discuss the state of the tradefinance market and the crucial role played by the IFC.

Bonnie Galat, global head business development, global banks, IFC (BG)

Angela Martins, executive director, international division, Banco Pine(AM)

Sema Zeyneloglu, global head of financial institutions emerging markets,Rabobank (SZ)

Norm Buchbinder, senior vice president and head of international riskmitigation & export credit agency finance group, Wells Fargo (NB)

Banjo Adegbohungbe, general manager, global trade and payments,Access Bank (BA)

Daniel Cotti, global trade executive, JP Morgan (DC)

Trade Finance Magazine (TFM): Are the cumulative impacts of thechanged banking environment a threat or an opportunity for the trade financeindustry?

AM: For us, as a regional Brazilian bank, it is an opportunity and we are seiz-ing it. We noticed the retraction of the European banks from the market andwe are on a growth path – in the past year our trade finance portfolio grew110%. Not just on the short-term side, but also through our partnership withGerman development bank DEG on the longer-term side.

SZ: There are threats for global banks in terms of the changed regulatoryenvironment, and how liquidity is not flowing into the financial markets theway it did in the past. On the other hand we have seen enormous growth in


IFC BANK PARTNERS MEETING – DUBAI REPORT

trade finance, which is helped by being a niche bankfocused on food and agribusiness. There are a lot of oppor-tunities out there for banks that allocate their resourcesjudiciously.We have the appetite to finance our clients and be cre-

ative, for example with how we work with IFC, and whenit comes to capacity, using different tools for distribution.There are challenges in doing this, but we have seen thebusiness continue to grow.

NB: I would say that there is an opportunity to form part-nerships where we didn’t before – US banks have tradition-ally had a tendency to go it alone, but that is changing. Ithink there is also an opportunity to partner to develop newstrategies to collectively address challenges such as risk,KYC and pricing. If we put our heads together as an indus-try we will come out of this stronger. This is an opportunityto redefine the direction in which we are headed.

DC: This is both an opportunity and a challenge. Theopportunity for us is to capture a larger market share fromour selected clients and conduct more business with themoutside of the US. We are building up our corporate fran-chise in Asia, Europe and Latin America, building new rela-tionships and businesses, extending credit, and we seegrowth.On the other hand, the challenges of regulation are real.

The biggest impact will be the balance sheet compositionof each bank and the leverage capital ratio which will ulti-mately drive each banks strategy. There are only two ways

out for banks that do not have the liquidity – either they increase their depositbase or they reduce their assets – it is simple arithmetic. The only viableoption for most banks is to reduce the asset base by deleveraging, and so farwe have only seen the tip of the deleveraging iceberg. This could easily trig-ger another liquidity crisis in the industry, which will then create opportuni-ties for certain players.From the point of view of an importer or exporter, they will most likely

have less choice. All banks will continue to serve their clients, which does notmean we continue to serve the whole market – there's a difference.



Bonnie Galat, globalhead businessdevelopment, globalbanks, IFC

Norm Buchbinder,senior vice presidentand head ofinternational riskmitigation & exportcredit agency financegroup, Wells Fargo

TFM: Local and regional banks are said to be stepping up tofill the gaps left by the European banks – Banco Pine is a goodexample of this – what challenges do they face?

AM: There is a resurgence of regional banks, and they dealdirectly with each other. Pre-crisis, regional banks wouldhave relationships with the global banks and wouldn’t speakto each other. I have established direct relationships withIndian banks, Chinese banks, Australian banks. In today’smarket environment we have trade finance being done byregional and local banks under traditional trade linesfinanced by funding brought in from the capital markets,and not just a reliance on deposits and FI lending.It is so important to have counterparts all over the world

rather than relationships with the big global players. This is abig change, and other banks are open to that – even here inthe Middle East where it was previously difficult to establishrelationships.

NB: In some more challenging markets it is not as easy forbanks to access funding from new sources in the way thatperhaps a Brazilian bank can raise it from the capital mar-kets, and that is where initiatives such as the IFC’s globaltrade finance programme (GTFP) are critical.

AM: Many of the banks that Banco Pine has relationshipswith around the world started through the GTFP. It reallyopens doors.

BG: Brazil – and Latin America generally – attracts a lot of attention andinvestment, but many markets are in a more difficult position. For example,much of Central America, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

DC: Outside of North America we have a very selective client policy – tierone banks and corporates only. In order to capture additional trade flows, ourstrategy is to work closely with the IFC who is able to guarantee the tradeactivities of the local and regional banks. We then finance them and indirectlyhelp the economies and small and medium-sized firms. A good example is theMiddle East where we don't have the credit appetite to work directly with



Angela Martins,executive director,internationaldivision, Banco Pine

BanjoAdegbohungbe,general manager,global trade and payments,Access Bank

corporates that are not our target clients, but we do businesswith them in that we work with them through our FIclients, they route the LCs or promissory notes through usthen we use our liquidity to finance that. We will be doingeven more of this going forward.

TFM: How can the trade finance industry and institutionssuch as IFC unlock the potential of these frontier markets?

BA: For markets in Africa, IFC and the GTFP is vital toaccess credit that would otherwise be unavailable. In moredeveloped economies with better access to credit, such asNigeria and Ghana, there is still a role for IFC in workingwith the smaller banks and in helping finance the hugeinfrastructure deficit.

NB: We have used the IFC in challenging markets wherewe already have relationships. Where we struggle is whenwe don’t have existing credit relationships and the need toget the compliance and KYC in place, which many timescan be very challenging.

DC: Programmes that the IFC has should be ten or twentytimes the size they are, and there should be more regionalspecific or sector-oriented initiatives to have more impacton the economies and markets. This is not the time to think

in hundreds of millions, but in billions. Going into specific sectors, and pool-ing the resources of banks that specialise in that sector should happen more.

BG: Which is the thinking behind what we are doing with the CriticalCommodity Finance Programme (CCFP) to make sure financing can reachcommodity producers in the poorest of countries.

TFM: For banks trade finance is often seen as a gateway product for broaden-ing a relationship with a client. For IFC the GTFP has been a gateway prod-uct to developing other trade-related initiatives.

SZ: GTFP has been a great product for trade finance, and CCFP has providedthe opportunity to finance not just other FIs, but also corporate clients like



Sema Zeyneloglu,global head offinancial institutionsemerging markets,Rabobank

Daniel Cotti, globaltrade executive, JP Morgan

traders and offtakers involved in trade finance. This extends the process down-stream to the end users of the funds. The utilisation is not as high as GTFP atthe moment, but we see great potential going forward. We are reaching out tothose that structure deals in these challenging countries and they see howthey can benefit. Ultimately it will benefit our core food and agribusiness seg-ment. Our activities in Africa especially show potential; through our partner-ship with IFC we are certainly giving it more attention.

TFM: IFC has also launched warehouse financing and supplier finance initia-tives – should IFC be looking at other areas to these?

BA: Infrastructure is an area that IFC should look at – while some banks havepulled back, you see China playing a very proactive role in infrastructuredevelopment across the continent. The issue is really the tenor of these proj-ects, as well as the liquidity required.In Africa end-users will pay to use reliable infrastructure – just look at the

mobile telecommunications boom and think of the potential for toll roadsand bridges, and larger projectssuch as airports in which areturn can be built into thefinancing structure. This couldgenerate appetite within theregion to provide the financing.While this is longer tenor

and requires coverage for proj-ect finance risk, it is the sameproblem of getting liquidity forinvestment into challengingmarkets.

BG: Which plays to IFC’s tra-ditional product set. We arelooking for more medium andlong-term investment opportu-nities, and this year Africa and

infrastructure in Africa are the priorities for IFC. In the initial crisis of 2008/9a lot of projects were held up or were unable to find the capital to proceed.There is really a desire internally to build up the longer-term investment.



Infrastructure is an area that IFCshould look at – while somebanks have pulled back, you seeChina playing a very proactive rolein infrastructure developmentacross the continent. The issue isreally the tenor of these projects,as well as the liquidity required.

TFM: With multilaterals, development banks, and export credit agencies verymuch at the centre of the trade finance world at the moment, will they remainthere?

NB: Yes, but what is needed is more cooperation between multilaterals andECAs. There is still a gap. While we don’t yet know what the full impact of theBasel III rules will be, there must be ways in which the multilaterals and theECAs can work together to meet this challenge.

DC: To help the industry and the private sector, these agencies have a muchbigger role to play. They need to be better capitalised to do more, becauseeven with the flat short term economic outlook, the projected trade growthover the next 20 years is huge and cannot be absorbed by the private sectoralone. We need the participation of governments and multilateral agencies likethe IFC.

NB: This help from agencies should not just be in the form of guarantees, thisis a moment for co-lending as well.

AM: We have seen a version of this play out in Brazil when regulatory changediscontinued the export prepayment product. It was good that we have thispartnership with DEG that allowed us to refer long term deals to them. Weare now doing a similar partnership with Proparco. They are also investing inagribusiness, formally financed with export prepayments, now done withlong-term funding. So it is already a reality, there is great potential for this tobe replicated in other markets.

NB: So long as the focus remains on partnerships, there is a lot of room foreveryone to work together for mutual benefit.

BG: Thematically we are all about mobilisation – the new normal for us isleveraging our own resources, because the demand is so great. There is a lot ofroom for great partnerships. ■



For more information contact Cezar Rozmus on +44 (0) 207 779 8032 or email [email protected]

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Directory

Contents

ANZ 116

Belarusbank 119

BHF-BANK 120

Bibby Financial Services 121

BMO Capital Markets 124

Cotecna Trade Services 125

Deutsche Bank 126

FIMBank 127

Garanti Bank 128

HSBC 129

International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) 130

Isbank 131

Northstar 132

Rabobank 134

Ramos, Zuanon e Manassero Advogados 136

Santos Neto & Montgomery Advogados 137

Scotiabank 138

SNR Denton 141

Société Générale 146

Uralsib Bank 148

Winsch International 149


DIRECTORY


DIRECTORY

ANZ100 Queen StreetMelbourne 3000, Australia

www.anz.com

ANZ is a key partner for organisations engaging in domestic and cross-bordertrade. Our offering includes a full range of traditional trade products as well asmore complex bespoke solutions structured to meet our clients’ unique needs. Wecombine global scale with local expertise across key financial markets in Australia,New Zealand, Asia, the Pacific, Europe and the United States. ANZ’s globalnetwork spans 32 countries, our extensive regional capabilities enable us to workwith clients at both ends of the transaction, providing relevant market insights,seamless execution and support through our on-the-ground specialists.

Our team of Trade and Specialised Finance professionals have a proven track-record and specialist knowledge in specific industry segments allowing them totailor the most appropriate solution for each of our clients’ business requirements.Our extensive offering includes traditional Trade and Supply Chain products,which provide access to working capital, cash flow enhancement, riskmanagement and trade flow efficiency, as well as our structured export financecapability, which provides superior finance solutions incorporating Export CreditAgency support for customers' capital goods or investment flows.

Products and servicesl Export and import trade finance solutions enabling clients to effectively meettheir financing and cashflow requirements whilst managing cross-border riskvia great end-to-end visibility of transactions.

l Structured trade finance dedicated to the financing of high-value commodityflows between producers and end-users with transactions reflecting the supplychain and underlying commercial terms.

l Supply chain solutions to unlock financial efficiencies within the workingcapital cycle.

l Support for cross border trade of capital goods, services and foreigninvestment.

lMobilising support from Export Credit Agencies and third party creditenhancers and financiers to maximise and diversify funding sources, whilst alsoextending tenors.

l Financing natural resources projects with foreign equity involvement and off-take arrangements.

l Providing insightful knowledge on buyer markets and clients and financingsolutions to support the sale of major capital goods and services for exporterclients.

Partner with ANZ and access an award winning business with the connectivity to help you take advantage of rapidly growing Asia trade flows. By the end of 2012, the value pool of trade flows between Asia and the rest of the world will have reached USD$10 trillion2.

With dedicated representation in 15 markets in Asia, and on-the-ground presence in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, ANZ has the reach to help you do business anywhere in the world. Our product offering is extensive and ranges from traditional trade products to more complex solutions structured with Export Credit Agency support for capital goods or investment flows.

Recently awarded Best Trade Bank in Australasia3 for the fourth year in a row3 and as one of the

leading arrangers of Export Finance in Asia4, ANZ is recognised for our client-centric approach, innovative trade solutions and strong partnerships with Export Credit Agencies. Our Trade and Export Finance specialists have the experience, insight, and in-depth industry knowledge to seamlessly deliver the best financial solution tailored to each of our clients’ needs.

Partner for success, contact ANZ.

Mark Evans Global Head of Trade & Supply Chain [email protected] Tel: +61 2 9226 6903

Paul Richards Global Head of Structured Export Finance [email protected] Tel: +61 2 92271473

1,2World Integrated Trade Solutions – World Bank, 32009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Excellence awards Trade Finance Magazine, 4Trade Finance annual reader’s poll/Awards for Excellence 2012. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) ABN 11 005 357 522. Australian Credit Licence Number 234527. ANZ’s colour blue is a trade mark of ANZ. Item No. 86851 08.2012 W296672

anz.com

The value of Asia’s trade with the world in 2012 is nearly four times the

value a decade ago1.


DIRECTORY

ANZ100 Queen StreetMelbourne 3000, Australia

www.anz.com

Contacts

Contact Australia Mark Evans Global Head of Trade & Supply Chain [email protected]: +61 2 9226 6903

Alan Huse Head of Trade & Supply Chain, Australia [email protected]: +61 3 8655 4768

Paul Richards Global Head of Structured Export Finance [email protected]: +61 2 92271473

Contact New Zealand Gavin Haworth Head of Trade & Supply Chain, New Zealand [email protected]: +64 9 252 3458

Contact Asia Michael Lim Global Head of Structured Trade Finance [email protected]: +65 6681 2137

Vivek Gupta Head of Trade & Supply Chain, Asia [email protected]: +852 3918 2628

Simon Jones Head of Structured Export Finance, Asia [email protected]: +65 6681 2002

Contact Pacific Iain Leech Head of Transaction Banking, Pacific [email protected]: +61 3 8654 0173

Contact UK & Europe Peter Sargent Head of Transaction Banking, UK & Europe [email protected]: +44 20 3229 2508

Mark Paton Regional Head of Structured ExportFinance, Europe & America [email protected]: +44 20 3229 2689

Contact United States William Evans Head of Transaction Banking, US [email protected]: +1 212 801 9832


DIRECTORY

BelarusbankInternational Projects Department18 Dzerzhinski avenueMinsk, [email protected]

www.belarusbank.by

Company ProfileAs of today, Belarusbank is the largest, most experienced and client-oriented bankin the Republic of Belarus. Servicing approximately one-third of the country’sturnover, Belarusbank is a reliable partner offering a complete range ofinternational trade finance products to its customers:

l issuance and attendance of documentary letters of credit, bank guarantees;l medium-and long-term financing of the import of machinery andequipment under the insurance coverage provided by foreign ExportCredit Agencies (ECA);

l implementation of forfeiting schemes;l financing of import of non-residents under the insurance coverageprovided by RUE “Beleksimgarant” (Belarusian Export and ImportInsurance Agency).

If you are looking for a reliable and professional banking partner in Belarus,Belarusbank is your best choice.

Contacts

Vladimir MetelskiDirector of International ProjectsDepartment+375 17 309 06 [email protected]

Mikhail KulichkouDeputy Director of International ProjectsDepartment+375 17 309 07 [email protected]

Elena TrafimovichHead of International CooperationDevelopment+375 17 309 06 [email protected]

Sergej GiratschDeputy Head of International CooperationDevelopment+375 17 309 11 [email protected]

Dzmitry KuliashouHead of Project Appraisal+375 17 309 07 [email protected]


DIRECTORY

BHF-BANK60302 Frankfurt am MainGermany

www.bhf-bank.com

BHF-BANK is a modern private bank for entrepreneurs and their families,companies and institutional clients, it is dedicated to tailoring comprehensivesolutions to the needs of a discerning clientele.

Besides private banking and asset management, the bank’s activities comprisebusiness with corporates, particularly in the areas of corporate finance and tradeand export finance.

For decades now, we have been one of the leading German foreign tradefinanciers with profound know-how and competence in international business.We enjoy comprehensive business relationships and cooperate closely withpartners in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Benefit from our wealth of expertise when it comes to trade and exportfinancings incorporating ECA cover, foreign payments and collections, letters ofcredit, forfaiting, commodity trade and structured commodity financings.

In trade and export finance, the bank has won Trade Finance Magazine’s “Deal ofthe Year Award” on numerous occasions

Contacts

Birgitta HeinzeHead of Structured Export FinanceD - 60302 Frankfurt am MainE-mail: [email protected]: + 49 69 718-3082

Andrej RempelTeam Head Structured Export Finance Eastern Europe and AsiaD - 60302 Frankfurt am MainE-mail: [email protected]: + 49 69 718-2464

Sylvia SedlacekStructured Export Finance Sub-Saharan AfricaD - 60302 Frankfurt am MainE-mail: [email protected]: + 49 69 718-3932

Thomas SchroederTeam Head Structured Export Finance Middle East and North Africa, South AmericaD - 60302 Frankfurt am MainE-mail: [email protected]: + 49 69 718-2267

Stephan SchneiderTeam Head Syndications, Financial Institutions& Structured FinanceD - 60302 Frankfurt am MainE-mail: [email protected]: + 49 69 718-2245

Hans-Guenter WiesenackHead of Structured Trade and CommodityFinanceD - 60302 Frankfurt am MainE-mail: [email protected]: + 49 69 718-2645


DIRECTORY

Bibby Financial ServicesEndeavour HouseNoral WayBanburyOxfordshire OX16 2SBUnited Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1295 661900

www.bibbyfinancialservices.com

With a global network of 46 locations across 15 countries, Bibby FinancialServices is one of the leading independent providers of international trade financesolutions to help businesses succeed. Our global coverage, combined with localmarket knowledge, enable us to provide flexible and integrated funding.

With international trade offering wider opportunities for growth, diversificationof revenue streams and a source of competitive edge, we can support companiesacross all stages of the global trade cycle. Our business model means we haveexperienced and knowledgeable decision makers in all our locations, ensuring thedelivery of a fast and effective service.

Client service is absolutely our primary focus. We develop long-term relationshipswith clients to understand their business and finance requirements. Clients benefitfrom a strong, personal relationship with their local Bibby Financial Services teamwho utilise our global network to ensure all international needs are met.

Our multi-lingual credit control services speed up the payment processes and ourmulti-currency facilities ease the impact of fluctuating exchange rates.

We offer a comprehensive range of funding solutions, including Export Factoringand Purchase Funding. To find out more about the range of international servicesoffered by Bibby Financial Services, please contact our International TradeFinance team on +44 (0)1295 661900.


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Bibby Financial Services – International Trade Finance Key Contacts:

UNITED KINGDOMBibby Financial ServicesEndeavour HouseNoral WayBanburyOxfordshire OX16 2SBUnited Kingdom

Key Contact: Simon DaviesHead of International Trade [email protected]: +44 (0)1295 661900

GERMANYBibby Financial Services GmbHHansaallee 24940549 DüsseldorfGermany

Key Contact: Jörg FreialdenhovenManaging [email protected]: +49 (211) 52 06 53 0

HONG KONGBibby Financial Services (Asia) LimitedUnit 2302, 23/F, Jubilee Centre18 Fenwick StreetWanchaiHong Kong

Key Contact: Jack ChuManaging [email protected]: + 852 3759 0306

SINGAPOREBibby Financial Services Singapore Pte Ltd6 Shenton Way# 18-08A, Tower 2Singapore 068809

Key Contact: Kheng Leong LeeManaging [email protected]: +65 69225038

USABibby International Trade Finance 250 Chastain Road, Suite 150Kennesaw, GA 30144

Key Contact: Ian VarleyManaging [email protected]+1 678 385 9667

Supporting the global supply chain

With a global network of 46 companies across 4 continents, Bibby Financial Services is dedicated to providing flexible and integrated international funding solutions to SMEs.

Our global coverage, combined with local market expertise, enables us to deliver seamless supply chain support to businesses trading internationally.

Clients benefit from personalised expert advice and a product portfolio designed to meet every requiredment.

Get in touch to find out more.

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DIRECTORY

BMO Capital Markets Trade Finance1 First Canadian PlaceToronto, ONM5X 1A1

Tel: +1 416 867 6413

www.bmocm.com/tradefinance

BMO Capital Markets is a leading, full-service North American financial servicesprovider offering corporate, institutional and government clients access to acomplete range of products and services. With over 2,300 professionals in officesin 29 locations around the world, including 16 in North America, BMO CapitalMarkets works proactively with clients to provide innovative and integratedfinancial solutions.

Our award-winning trade finance specialists have extensive experience helpingimporters and exporters throughout North America execute their strategies inAsia, Latin America and Europe. We provide full trade finance capabilities – fromtraditional import and export documentary letters of credit, documentarycollection, standby letters of credit and guarantees, to trade receivables, payablesprocessing and supply chain finance, to structured trade finance.

Over the years we have made the necessary investments to create the products,services and technology infrastructure required to help our clients build andmaintain competitive advantage. We have imaginative, effective solutions for yourmost complex financing challenges.

BMO Capital Markets and Chicago-based BMO Harris are members of BMOFinancial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO), one of the largest diversified financialservices providers in North America with US$526 billion total assets and 46,200+employees as at October 31, 2012.

ContactsCraig TravelsteadDirector Trade Finance Sales, North AmericaChicago, Illinois, USATel: 312 461 3345Fax: 312 293 [email protected]

John StocktonDirector, Working Capital & Structured Solutions SalesChicago, Illinois, USATel: 312 461 7413Fax: 312 293 [email protected]


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Cotecna Trade Services SA58, rue de la Terrassière1207 GenevaSwitzerland

Tel: +41 22 849 69 00Fax: +41 22 849 69 49

Email : [email protected]

Company profileCotecna is one of the world’s leading trade inspection, testing and certificationcompanies, and provides Trade Finance Support services.

Our mission is to assist borrowers and lenders in setting-up cost-effective, yet solidand Basel II/III-compliant financing structures. We achieve this by physicallymonitoring for lenders to ensure that disbursements are applied in conformitywith the purpose of the credit. Enhancing lenders’ control over their transactionsresults in more favourable loan classifications, and in easier and/or cheaperfinancing because Cotecna provides, in Basel II terms, the “knowledge of thetrade process” through its on-site verifications.

Cotecna’s Trade Finance package addresses other key Basel II&III requirements:

• Realization of the collateral’s value in a “reasonable time frame” (§ 509),facilitated by the timely knowledge of any covenant breach with regards tothe security;

• “Physical inspection” requirements (§ 522);

• Insurance (§ 510): a key complement to the security package.

Best Collateral

Manager


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Deutsche Bankwww.gtb.db.com/[email protected]

International trade is highly complex and involves a range of risks. Deutsche Bank deliversfast, efficient, reliable and comprehensive solutions for every stage of a client's trade valuechain to support their foreign trade activities.

With a fully integrated global network and state-of-the-art transaction processing technology,Deutsche Bank’s Trade Finance teams deliver unparalleled services, innovative solutions andsuperior trade expertise that enable clients manage risks and other issues associated with theirimport and export and domestic trade transactions, including international trade products,financial supply chain management, custom-made and performance-risk finance solutions forstructured trade finance and commodity trade finance.

Additionally, Deutsche Bank’s expertise in the world’s financial markets give its tradefinance clients access to capital markets and a powerful distribution platform for primaryand secondary markets.

Recent accolades:t Best Metals Finance Bankt Best Trade Bank in Europet Best Commodity Finance Bank EMEAt Best Trade & Supply Chain Bank in North Americat Best Supply Chain Bank in Asia-Pacifict Best International Trade Bank in Indiat Best International Trade Bank in Indonesiat Best International Trade Bank in Koreat Best International Trade Bank in Thailandt Best Trade Bank in Singapore

Trade Finance magazine Awards for Excellence 2012, June 2012

ContactsKees HovingHead of Trade Finance and Cash ManagementCorporates [email protected]

Peter KnodtGlobal Head of Trade Finance Financial [email protected]

John MacNamaraGlobal Head of Structured Commodity Trade [email protected]

Shahrokh MoinianHead of Trade Finance and Cash ManagementCorporates [email protected]

Daniel SchmandHead of Trade Finance and Cash ManagementCorporates EMEA (ex Germany)[email protected]

Kaushik ShapariaHead of Trade Finance and Cash ManagementCorporates [email protected]


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FIMBank Group – A Global Force in Trade FinanceFIMBank is an international trade finance specialist with an established reputation as adynamic and customer-driven provider of trade finance solutions to corporates, banksand individuals worldwide.Through its offices in Malta, United Kingdom, USA,Brazil,Turkey, Lebanon, Russia, Singapore, Egypt, India and Dubai the Bank offers aunique and flexible environment in which trade finance opportunities are identified,innovatively structured and successfully executed.

FIMBank provides a wide range of trade finance and support banking services including:• Letters of credit • Currency accounts and term deposits• Bridging finance facilities • Bonds and guarantees• Ship scrapping finance • Payments/Wire transfers• Syndication/risk participations • Foreign Exchange• Counter/barter trade facilities • Factoring

Forfaiting services are provided through the Bank’s fully owned subsidiary LondonForfaiting Company Limited - www.forfaiting.com

International Factoring Joint Venture StrategyFIMBank actively pursues a strategy of establishing factoring joint ventures withprominent institutions in selected emerging markets.The international network ofFactoring Joint Ventures currently includes MenaFactors in Dubai, Levant Factors inLebanon, Egypt Factors in Egypt, FactorRus in Russia, India Factoring in India,BrasilFactors in Brazil and a strategic alliance with RomFactors in Romania.

FIMBank plcMercury TowerThe Exchange Financial& Business CentreElia Zammit StreetSt. Julian’s STJ 3155Malta

Tel: +356 2132 2100 Fax: +356 2132 2122

www.fimbank.com

Margrith Lü[email protected]

Armin EckermannDeputy PresidentHead of Banking [email protected]

S I N G A P O R E S Ã O P A U L O N E W Y O R K M U M B A I M O S C O W M A L T A L O N D O N I S T A N B U L D U B A I C A I R O B E I R U T

A Global Force in Trade Finance


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Garanti BankNispetiye Mah. Aytar Cad. 2Levent BesiktasIstanbul – 34330TurkeyTel:+90 212 318 18 18Fax:+90 212 318 18 88

www.garanti.com.tr

Garanti Bank, with an established history of 66 years, today is Turkey’s secondlargest private bank having a total consolidated asset size of US$ 98 billion.

Garanti operates in every segment of the banking sector including corporate,commercial, SME, retail, private and investment banking. Garanti is an integratedfinancial services group together with its eight financial subsidiaries providingservices in pension and life, leasing, factoring, securities, and asset management aswell as international subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Russia and Romania.

Garanti provides a wide range of financial services to its more than 11 millioncustomers through an extensive distribution network of 921 domestic branches; 7 foreign branches in Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta; 3 internationalrepresentative offices in, London, Düsseldorf and Shanghai; over 3,500 ATMs; anaward-winning Call Center; and the state-of-the-art internet and mobile bankingplatforms built on cutting-edge technological infrastructure.

Garanti commands a pioneering position in all lines of business through theprofitable and sustainable growth strategy it pursued since the day of itsestablishment. Its competent and dynamic human resources, unique technologicalinfrastructure, customer-centric service approach, innovative products andservices offered with strict adherence to quality carry Garanti to a leading positionin the Turkish banking sector.

Contacts

Taliye Türker Supervisor, Trade FinanceTel: +90 212 318 17 [email protected]

ShanghaiNoyan RonaRepresentativeTel: +86 21 5879 [email protected]

London Nihan Turgay Representative+44 20 7761 [email protected]

Dusseldorf Fahri BirinciogluRepresentativeTel: +49 211 86222 [email protected]


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HSBC 8 Canada Square London E14 5HQ United Kingdom

www.hsbc.com/commercialbanking

The HSBC Group has played a key role in international trade since 1865, whenwe were established in Hong Kong and Shanghai to finance and facilitate thegrowing trade between China, Europe and the US.

Today, we are one of the leading providers of international trade and supply chainwith a network of around 7,200 offices in 80 countries and territories worldwide.We believe in working in partnership with our customers.

By drawing on a unique blend of local knowledge and award-winninginternational trade expertise, our teams of trade specialists provide effectivesolutions and trade advice for businesses large and small. They are supported by acomprehensive suite of trade products covering import and export financing,trade risk mitigation, documentary processing, electronic trade products,structured trade finance and supply chain solutions.

To find out how we can help your business, contact your local HSBC Trade andSupply Chain office, or visit www.hsbc.com/commercialbanking

Contact GlobalJames EmmettGlobal Head of Trade and Receivables [email protected]

Contact Asia PacificSimon ConstantinidesHead of Global Trade and Receivables Finance, Asia [email protected]

Contact EuropeSteve BoxHead of Global Trade and Receivables Finance, [email protected]

Contact North AmericaMichael McDonoughHead of Product Management, Global Trade andReceivables Finance, North [email protected]

Contact Latin AmericaMagnus MontanHead of Global Trade and Receivables Finance, Latin [email protected]

Contact Middle EastTim EvansHead of Global Trade and Receivables Finance, Middle [email protected]


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International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC)Building 1 – Islamic Development Bank (IDB) GroupKing Khalid RoadP.O Box 55335, Jeddah 21534Saudi Arabia

Tel: +966 2 646 8320Fax: +966 2 637 1064Email: [email protected]

www.itfc-idb.org

The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) was established in2005 and commenced business operations in 2008 with an Authorized Capital of $3billion, as an autonomous and dedicated trade finance entity of the IslamicDevelopment Bank (IDB) Group. ITFC inherited the pioneering mantle of tradefinance expertise and its application of innovative Islamic finance instrumentsdeveloped over a period of more than 30 years when it was undertaken by variousdepartments in IDB.

This rich heritage and the savoir-faire position ITFC at the forefront of internationaltrade to foster socio-economic development, setting new benchmarks in ethical tradefinancing and developing innovative Shariah-compliant solutions. In addition, ITFCsupports the development of markets and trading capacities of its member countriesof the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in order to promote the IDBGroup’s strategic developmental objectives.

Operating to world-class standards, the ITFC’s mission is clear from its mandate to bea catalyst for the development of trade among OIC Member Countries and with therest of the world .ITFC aspires to be a recognized provider of trade solutions for theOIC Member Countries’ needs; in order to fulfill its brand promise of ‘AdvancingTrade & Improving Lives’.

Contacts

Eng. Hani Salem SonbolDeputy Chief Executive [email protected]: +966 2 646 8282

Nazeem NoordaliGeneral Manager Corporate &Structured [email protected]: +966 2 646 8286

Nasser M. Al-ThekairAssistant General ManagerCorporate & Structured Finance,MENA [email protected]: +966 2 646 8287

Lamin SannehAssistant General ManagerCorporate & Structured Finance,Sub-Saharan Africa [email protected]: +966 2 646 8279

Ramzi Suhayl UthmanAssistant General ManagerCorporate & Structured Finance,Asia & CIS [email protected]: +966 2 646 8288

Mamadou DiopHead of Structured Trade [email protected]: +966 2 646 8278

Mahanna Sobieh FoudahGeneral Manager Treasury(Resource Mobilization)[email protected]: +966 2 646 8419

Ahmed M JanAssistant GM Treasury (ResourceMobilization)[email protected]: +966 2 646 8418


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Isbank

Türkiye Is Bankası A.S. (Isbank)Head Office, Is Kuleleri, Kule 134330 Levent, Istanbul, TurkeyTel: 90 212 316 00 00Fax: 90 212 316 04 04SWIFT: ISBKTRIS

www.isbank.com.tr

Isbank is the largest bank in Turkey by total assets, total loans, shareholders’ equityand the largest private bank by total deposits. Isbank’s been chosen “Turkey’s BestBank” by Euromoney and granted “Innovation in Banking Technology Award” byThe Banker Magazine while also ranked 115th in “Top 1000 World Banks” list.

Isbank brand connotes high reputation and confidence both in local andinternational markets, maintaining a wide correspondent banks covering 127countries.

Besides 14 branches in Northern Cyprus, Isbank has foreign branches in Manama,Arbil, Batumi, London, rep-offices in Shanghai&Cairo; subsidiaries Isbank AG inGermany with 16 branches throughout Europe and CJSC Isbank with 15 branchesin Russia. Isbank also closely watches expansion opportunities in the neighbouringregion with a selective strategy.

Isbank is a major player in trade finance, payments, cash management, projectfinance, loro-vostro account services which make it a perfect partner in Turkey forinternational banking business.

Contact

Ms. Ayse GülençTuna Ms. Sule AkalınHead of International Banking Division Structured Finance Unit ManagerTel: +90 212 316 28 02 Tel:+90 212 316 28 19 Fax: +90 212 316 09 28 Fax:+90 212 316 08 [email protected] [email protected]

Ms. Tülin İnhan Mr. Hüseyin Emre YılmazCorrespondent Banking Unit Manager Overseas Banking Unit ManagerTel: +90 212 316 28 50 Tel:+90 212 316 28 04 Fax: +90 212 316 09 28 Fax:+90 212 316 09 28tulin.inhan@ isbank.com.tr [email protected]


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Northstar Trade FinanceSuite 833, 595 Burrard StreetThree Bentall CentrePO Box 49058Vancouver, B.C. V7X 1C4Canada

Tel: +1 (604) 664 5828Fax: +1 (604) 664 5838Web: www.nstfglobal.com

Northstar Europe S.A.1, rue du Saint-EspritL-1475 LuxembourgLuxembourg

Tel: +352 (26) 47 66 1Fax: +352 (26) 47 66 99Web: www.northstareurope.eu

Company profileNorthstar Trade Finance is a world-class provider of trade finance solutions,focused primarily on small and medium enterprises engaged in internationaltrade. Whether you require trade finance, or whether we can provide an effective,timely and competitive solution to your buyer or supplier, consider the advantagesof dealing with a company that understands your unique situation in theinternational marketplace.

Since our founding in Canada in 1994, we have remained focused onfundamentals of sound credit and risk management, effective and timely dealanalysis and an unwavering commitment to support our clients under the mostchallenging market conditions. Our success in developing and maintainingstrategic partnerships with financial institutions, export credit agencies andinsurers and other major providers in the trade and export finance market, allowsus to provide a highly effective blend of financing solutions to valued clients acrossthe globe.

At Northstar Trade Finance, we have earned a reputation for excellence. Let’sdiscuss how Northstar’s unique approach to trade finance can support yoursuccess in international markets.


DIRECTORY

Northstar Trade Finance

Contacts

Northstar Europe S.A.

Contacts

Craig MacKenzieManaging Director, North AmericaTorontoTel: +1 (416) 861 [email protected]

Mark MischnickSenior Vice President and Head, U.S.A.TexasTel: +1 (936) 689 [email protected]

Francisco GarciaVice President Business Development,Latin AmericaVancouverTel: +1 (604) 664 [email protected]

Christian SieglExecutive Director, U.K.LondonTel: +44 (0) 207 581 [email protected]

Steven MetcalfBusiness Development Manager, U.K.BirminghamTel: +44 (0) 845 417 [email protected]

Matthias WietbrockManaging DirectorLuxembourgTel: +352 (26) 47 66 [email protected]

Reynaldo VallarinoBusiness Development OfficerLuxembourgTel: +352 (26) 47 66 [email protected]

Elke ValilaBusiness Development OfficerLuxembourgTel: +352 (26) 47 66 [email protected]


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Rabobank InternationalCroeselaan 183521 CB UtrechtThe Netherlands

www.rabobank.com

Rabobank Group is an international financial services provider operating on the basis of cooperative principles. It offers retail banking, wholesalebanking, asset management, leasing, real estate and insurance services. Focus ison broad financial services provision in the Netherlands and primarily on thefood and agribusiness internationally. Rabobank Group is comprised ofindependent local Rabobanks plus Rabobank Nederland, their umbrellaorganisation and a number of specialist subsidiaries. Overall, Rabobank Grouphas approximately 60,000 employees, who serve around 10 million customers in 48 countries.

Rabobank has the highest credit rating of all privately owned banks in theworld, awarded by the well-known international rating agencies Moody’s,Standard & Poor’s, Fitch and DBRS.

The Trade & Commodity Finance (TCF) business unit brings togetherRabobank’s long term expertise in agricultural commodities, export finance aswell as energy and metals commodity finance. TCF’s aim is to be a one-stoptrade flow solution provider. Rabobank offers in depth product knowledge,embedded in a global branch network and professional support for allinternational trade transactions. A range of specialized products can be tailor-made to suite the individual needs of our clients.


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Rabobank International

www.rabobank.com

Contacts

Diane BoogaardGlobal Head Trade & Commodity FinanceUtrechtTel: +31 (0)30 71 [email protected]

Karel ValkenGlobal Head, Agri CommoditiesUtrechtTel: +31 (0)30 71 [email protected]

Walter VollebregtGlobal Head, Metals & MineralsUtrechtTel: +31 (0)30 71 [email protected]

Stephan JansmaGlobal Head, Energy and Head ofProfessional Products LondonLondonTel: +44 (0)20 7809 [email protected]

Sema ZeynelogluGlobal Head, Financial InstitutionsEmerging MarketsUtrechtTel: +31 (0)30 71 [email protected]

Harry WeinandsGlobal Head, Export FinanceUtrechtTel: +31 (0)30 71 [email protected]

Walter VollebregtRegional Head TCF Americas ad interimNew YorkTel: +1 212 916 [email protected]

Kenny WeiRegional Head TCF Asia/PacificHong KongTel: +852 210 [email protected]

David CormackHead TCF AustraliaSydneyTel: +61 2 8115 [email protected]


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Ramos, Zuanon e Manassero AdvogadosRua São Tomé, 8611º andar04551-080São Paulo-SPBrasil

Tel: +55 (11) 2599-9001Fax: +55 (11) 3848-9449

www.rzmadvogados.com.br

Ramos, Zuanon e Manassero Advogados is a law firm specialized in thestructuring of financial and corporate transactions, including mergers andacquisitions, banking, project finance, capital markets, advice to foreign investors,as well as arbitration and litigation related to corporate, financial and commercialtransactions.

We combine accurate legal skills with relevant market experience in thedevelopment of solutions for complex and challenging legal issues, all utilized torepresent some of the most active and dynamic Brazilian and internationalfinancial institutions, investment funds and corporations doing business in Brazil.

In 2011, RZM Advogados was granted the award of “Best Trade Law Firm inCentral and South America” by the Trade Finance Magazine, which was based ona research conducted with clients in several countries.

We strongly believe that the awards received by RZM and the accolades grantedto our lawyers in publications of international prestige reflect the quality andeffort of our team of professionals, who are always prepared to assist clients in theirmost challenging and important legal demands.

Contacts

Christian de Lima [email protected]

Fábio Pascual [email protected]

Jose Eduardo [email protected]

Bruno Alexandre de Oliveira [email protected]

Eduardo A. Salgado [email protected]

Lilian Toscani [email protected]


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SANTOS NETO & MONTGOMERY ADVOGADOSRua Fidêncio Ramos, 195 I 11º andar I São Paulo-SPBrazilT + 55 11 3124 3070F + 55 11 3045 2269

www.snmlaw.com.br

Company profileFounded in 1992, Santos Neto & Montgomery Advogados (“SNM”) is dedicatedmostly to the areas of Banking & Finance Law, Corporate Finance and ForeignTrade, with a renowned presence in agribusiness-related matters. SNM expandedaround this core and offers today also a multidisciplinary and multiculturalcorporate commercial practice, in a whole new concept of lawyering called “leanfull service”, where each lawyer offers specialty services in two or three areas oflaw, to keep legal teams lean and efficient. In this context, SNM is also driven tofully understanding the client’s business needs with whom we aim to build closeand strong relationships.

With head offices located in the City of São Paulo, Brazil and a branch office inNew York, USA. Our professionals are fluent in Portuguese and at least one otherof the following languages: English, French, Spanish, German and Italian.

Contacts

Domicio dos Santos [email protected]: +55 11 3124 3071Practice Areas:Banking and FinanceTrade FinanceCorporate RestructuringForeign Investments in BrazilCorporate and Contracts

Ana Paula Gambogi [email protected]: +1 212 461 2258

Practice Areas:Banking and FinanceTrade FinanceCorporate RestructuringForeign Investments in Brazil

Ranked in:Chambers:Agribusiness; Banking & Finance.

Análise Advocacia: Export and Import


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Scotiabank44 King Street WestToronto, Ontario M5H 1H1CanadaTel. +1 416 866 6161Fax. +1 416 866 3750

www.scotiabank.com

We turn borders into bridgesAs a successful business, you have trading partners across the globe. With over 180years of experience in international trade finance, Scotiabank can be your end-to-end supply chain financing partner. We provide the stability you demand, turningmore borders into highways of opportunity by ensuring simple, seamless andstreamlined global transactions for your business.

Our trade finance products and services include:

• Import/export and standby letters of credit

• Cross-border guarantees

• Buyer credits

• Receivables purchase agreement

• International subsidiary financing

• Reverse factoring

Through our 81,000 employees, Scotiabank serves approximately 19 millioncustomers in more than 55 countries around the world.

For more information, visit scotiabank.com or contact a Scotiabankrepresentative.

With the face of trade changing and business continuing to globalize, you need a trusted partner that can deliver creative solutions for your increasingly complex needs.

As an international bank, Scotiabank offers on-the-ground expertise in more than 55 countries. We draw on over 180 years of experience to provide you with seamless domestic and cross-border trade �nance and correspondent banking solutions such as buyer credits and subsidiary �nancing. We can also be your end-to-end supply chain �nancing partner, helping you to manage your working capital to increase ef�ciencies and reduce costs.

Count on us to meet your needs in the markets where you do business.

TM Trademark of The Bank of Nova Scotia. Used under license, where applicable.

gtb.scotiabank.com

As the world gets smaller, your trade needs grow.


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AMERICAS Contact USA, Canada and WesternEuropeMike PughVice-President, GTB [email protected] Tel.: +1 416 933 1551

Paul Molinaro Vice-President, GTB [email protected] Tel.: +1 416 933 8768

Contact Latin America and Mexico Salvador Cruz Vice-President, GTB Latam & Mexico [email protected] Tel.: +52 55 5123 2775

Contact Caribbean Tyrone Wong Director, Caribbean [email protected] Tel.: +1 416 866 5798

Contact Americas Yanzhi Chen Vice-President, Financial Institutions - Americas and Caribbean [email protected] Tel.: +1 416 866 6721

ASIA PACIFIC Contact Asia Pacific Fedza Kusturica Vice-President, Corporate Trade Finance &Financial Institutions - Asia/[email protected] Tel.: +852 2861 4848

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICAContact Europe, Middle East & AfricaNihal OlenikVice-President, Financial Institutions [email protected].: +44 207 826 5787

COMMODITY TRADE FINANCEContact Commodity Trade FinanceWilfrid KlingDirector, Commodity Trade [email protected].: +1 204 985 3024

Global Transaction Banking (GTB)

Commercial & Corporate Sales / Financial Institutions


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SNR DentonOne Fleet PlaceLondon EC4M 7WSUnited Kingdom

T +44 (0)20 7242 1212F +44 (0)20 7246 7777DX242

Company ProfileSNR Denton is a client-focused international legal practice delivering quality andvalue. We serve clients in key business and financial centers from more than 60locations worldwide, through offices, associate firms and special alliances acrossthe US, the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Russia and the CIS, Asia Pacific andAfrica, making us a top 25 legal services provider by lawyers and professionals.Joining the complementary top tier practices of its founding firms –Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP and Denton Wilde Sapte LLP – SNRDenton offers business, government and institutional clients premier service and adisciplined focus to meet evolving needs in eight key industry sectors: Energy,Transport and Infrastructure; Financial Institutions and Funds; Government;Health and Life Sciences; Insurance; Manufacturing; Real Estate, Retail andHotels; and Technology, Media and Telecommunications. Please seesnrdenton.com for more information and Legal Notices.

On November 28, 2012, the partners of SNR Denton voted to combine withinternational law firm Salans and Canadian law firm Fraser Milner Casgrain(FMC) to create Dentons – a new Top 10 international law firm with more than2,500 lawyers and professionals in 79 locations in 52 countries – to provide clientsa competitive edge in an increasingly complex, interconnected and competitivemarketplace. The new firm will launch first quarter of 2013. For moreinformation, visit dentonscombination.com.

Main Trade Finance Contacts

Geoffrey Wynne Head of Trade and Export Finance PracticeLondonT +44 (0)20 7246 [email protected]

Veronika Koroleva Partner LondonT +44 (0)20 7320 [email protected]

Jonathan Solomon PartnerLondonT +44 (0)20 7246 [email protected]

Matthew Cox Partner SingaporeT +65 6532 [email protected]

Simon Cook Partner LondonT +44 (0)20 7246 [email protected]


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International Contacts

Paul Jarvis Partner Abu DhabiT +971 2612 [email protected]

Joel Benjamin Partner Almaty (Kazakhstan)T +7 727 258 [email protected]

Safwan MoubaydeenSafwan Moubaydeen Law Firm inassociation with SNR Denton Amman (associate office)T +974 4459 [email protected]

Marla Valdez Partner Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) and Tashkent(Uzbekistan)T +7 727 258 [email protected]

Elias ChedidChedid Law Offices Beirut (associate firm) T +961 161 [email protected]

Michael Lacey Partner Cairo (SNR Denton office)T +202 2735 [email protected]

Martin Brown PartnerDohaT +974 4459 [email protected]

Udayan MukherjeePartnerDubai T +971 4 405 [email protected]

Anthony ChanBrandt Chan & Partners Hong KongT +852 2533 [email protected]

Alexander Barmin Partner MoscowT +7 (495) 229 2333/916 [email protected]

Paul Sheridan PartnerMuscatT +968 2457 [email protected]

E. Lee Smith Partner New YorkT +1 212 768 [email protected]


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International Contacts continued

Aimee Cummo PartnerNew YorkT +1 212 768 [email protected]

Jean-Norbert PontierAvocat au Barreau de ParisParis T +33 (0) 1 53 05 16 [email protected]

Amgad HuseinThe Law Firm of Wael A. Alissa inassociation with SNR DentonRiyadh (associate office)T +966 1 200 [email protected]

Egor NoskovDuvernoix Legal (associate firm)St PetersburgT +7 812 702 [email protected]

Trade-related SNR Denton Contacts

Nigel Barnett PartnerRestructuring & Insolvency LondonT +44 (0)20 7320 [email protected]

Jeremy Cape Partner TaxLondonT +44 (0)20 7320 [email protected]

Trade-related SNR Denton Contactscontinued

Rosali Pretorius Partner Financial Services and MarketsRegulation LondonT +44 (0)20 7246 [email protected]

Marian Boyle PartnerInsuranceLondonT +44 (0)20 7320 [email protected]

Richard de Belder PartnerIslamic FinanceLondonT +44 (0)20 7246 [email protected]

Richard Caird Partner Financial Markets Disputes Practice LondonT +44 (0)20 7246 [email protected]

Tom EldridgePartnerProject FinanceLondonT +44 (0)20 7246 [email protected]


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African associate firms

Hadj-Hamou/DjouadiAlgeria (Algiers)T +213 21 239 [email protected]

MC&A in association with Mota VeigaAdvogadosAngola (Luanda) T +244 222 331 [email protected]

Mkono & CoBurundi (Bujumbura) T +257 22 256 [email protected]

Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa & AnkomahGhana (Accra)T + 233 302 221 [email protected]

MC&A in association with ArnaldoSilva & AssociadosCape Verde (Santiago)T +239 260 04 [email protected]

MC&A in association with ArmandoMango & AssociadosGuinea Bissau (Bissau) T +245 660 76 [email protected]

Hamilton Harrison & Mathews Kenya (Nairobi)T +254 20 325 [email protected]

Tumi Law FirmLibya (Tripoli) T +218 (21) 333 [email protected]

Cabinet BouhoubeyniMauritania (Nouakchott) T +222 4658 [email protected]

Benoit ChambersMauritius (Port Louis) T +230 403 [email protected]

Cabinet LoudghiriMorocco (Casablanca) T +212 522 27 60 [email protected]

MC&A in association withFernanda Lopes & AssociadosMozambique (Maputo)T + 258 82 8892 [email protected]

Ellis Shilengudwa Inc.Namibia (Windhoek) T +264 61 [email protected]

Udo Udoma & Belo-OsagieNigeria (Lagos) T +234 1 [email protected]


DIRECTORY

African associate firmscontinued

Trust Law ChambersRwanda (Kigali) T +250 503 [email protected]

MC&A in association with Posser daCosta & AssociadosSão Tomé e Principe (São Tomé)T +239 222 [email protected]

KapdiTwala ChambersSouth Africa (Cape Town)T +27 (0) 21 685 8075

Glyn Marais Inc.South Africa (Cape Town)T +27 (0) 21 417 [email protected]

Glyn Marais Inc.South Africa (Johannesburg) T +27 11 286 [email protected]

Mkono & CoTanzania (Dar es Salaam)T +255 22 211 [email protected]

Kampala Associated AdvocatesUganda (Kampala) T +256 41 344 123 [email protected]

Corpus Legal PractitionersZambia (Lusaka) T +260 21 123 [email protected]

Please refer to www.snrdenton.com for further information and updates.


DIRECTORY

Société GénéraleTours Société Générale 17, cours valmy,La défense 7 92800 PuteauxFrance

www.sgcib.com

At the core of Société Générale’s universal banking business model, the Corporate& Investment Bank is a well-diversified and leading player with nearly 12, 000professionals present in 33 countries across Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific.

Standing by its clients across sectors, the Corporate & Investment Bank tailorssolutions for them by capitalising on its worldwide expertise in investmentbanking, global finance, and global markets.

Natural Resources & Energy FinanceThe Natural Resources & Energy Financing Group provides a full range offinance and advisory services for producers, traders, processors and end-users ofenergy, metals and soft commodities through three key platforms:

• Energy Group: financing and advisory services for energy projectsworldwide as well as structured financings and reserve based lending forenergy players

• Metals & Mining Finance: structured financing and advisory services formetals & minerals sector players as well as financing of large anddiversified mining companies

• Traders, Commodity Finance & Agribusiness: financing of traders andcommodity players/processors as well as trade finance to cover traders andcommodity players against non-payment risk.

Export FinanceThe Export Finance Group delivers solutions, risk covers and advisory servicesrelated to import or export contracts of which underlying assets are capital goods,equipment and/or services.

SG CIB is able to offer tailored solutions to governments, companies and financialinstitutions around the world. Best Export Finance Arranger for the eleventhconsecutive year, SG CIB has continued to provide support to export and importbusinesses for over 20 years. Our aim is to help you with your strategicdevelopment, taking advantage of our extensive expertise and innovative approach.


DIRECTORY

Worldwide Leadership (Trade Finance Magazine, March and June 2012)• Best Export Finance Arranger

• Best Overall Commodity Finance Bank

• Best Commodity Finance Bank in North America

• Highly Commended Best Structured Commodity Bank

• Highly Commended Best Commodity Finance Bank in Latin America

Several Trade Finance Magazine 2011 Deals of the Year

Contacts:

Federico TureganoGlobal Head of Natural Resources &Energy [email protected]: +33 1 57 29 11 28

Dominique BerettiDeputy Global Head of NaturalResources & Energy [email protected]: +44 207 762 4217

Jerome JacquesDeputy Global Head of NaturalResources & Energy [email protected]: +33 1 58 98 56 84

Denis Stas de RichelleGlobal Head of Export [email protected]: +33 1 42 14 31 95

Mark HowardDeputy Global Head of Export [email protected]: +33 1 42 14 14 59

• Aperam – Luxembourg

• Cotunav – Tunisia

• Istanbul Metro – Turkey

• Tupras – Turkey

• EPSSN – Venezuela

• Carolina Marine/Petroserv – Brazil

• Vale Shipping – Brazil

• Votorantim – Brazil

• PTNNT – Batu Hijau – Indonesia

• Duyen Hai 1 –Vietnam

• Mong-Duong 2 Power – Vietnam

• Ferrexpo – Russia

• Metalloinvest – Russia

• Norilsk Nickel – Russia

• Rusal – Russia

• Taneco – Russia

• VSMPO – Russia


DIRECTORY

Uralsib Bank8 Efremova StreetMoscowRussia119048

Tel. +7 (495) 705-90-39

www.uralsib.com

Uralsib Bank is the core company of Financial Corporation URALSIB(www.uralsib.com) - one of the largest Russian private financial groups, offering awide range of financial services including retail and corporate banking, investmentbanking, leasing, brokerage, custody services, asset and wealth management, etc.

Uralsib Bank was one of the pioneers that have been offering trade financeservices to clients in Russia in a post-Soviet era, since early 1990s. The experienceand wide foreign partner base that we gained since then do help us very much inmaintaining a stable quality of the products that we offer and efficiently meetclients requirements. Experienced team and strong reputation were the key factorsthat let Uralsib Bank win the 2008 Trade FinanceMagazine Best Export FinancingDeal award for the a40 million Finnvera-backed 5-year export-finance facilityarranged in December 2008.

Contacts

Eldar Valiev Head of Short Term Trade Finance International Business Department Tel.: +7 (495) 705-90-39 (ext. 2596) Fax: +7 (495) 705-90-60 [email protected]

Dmitri Lebedev Senior Vice-President,Head of Trade FinanceInternational Business DepartmentTel: +7 (495) 788 6165Fax: +7 (495) 705 [email protected]

Marina PolyanskayaHead Medium-Term Trade FinanceInternational Business DepartmentOJSC BANK URALSIBTel: +7 (495) 705-90-39 ext. [email protected]


DIRECTORY

Whatever their size, companies have to evolve in today’s fast-changing, complexand uncertain international environment. As a result, the importance of creditmanagement, risk mitigation and financing issues has steadily increased to becomea central theme for every professional executive and/or entrepreneur.

Winsch International acts as one of the leading teams of specialists in Switzerlandfocusing exclusively on the following areas:

• Credit Insurance (Trade Credit Insurance)• Political Risks• Surety Bonds• Trade Finance• Factoring• Business Information• Debt Collection

Our customers, whether producers, retailers, commodity traders or even banks, ofall sizes and present in a variety of business sectors, are benefiting from WinschInternational’s expertise, impartiality and commitment.

Working with a large network of partners and service providers, we offer ourcustomers precise, clear and competitive solutions to all challenges.

Whether you need a sound analysis of solutions already in place in your companyor wish to find the offer best matching your needs, just contact us to learn moreabout our services.

Our team of professionals is looking forward to support you.

Headquarters: Agency Romandie:Rue de Romont 1 Rte des Chaffeises 3CH-1700 Fribourg CH-1092 Belmont-sur-Lausanne

Christian Gabriel Stéphane ChavySkype: +41 44 585 35 95/chris4credit Phone: +41 21 881 63 75Mobile: +41 79 221 55 61 Mobile: +41 79 535 02 [email protected] [email protected]

Winsch is a company registered by Swiss authorities regulating financial markets (FINMA 26566) andapproved by the Lloyd’s as an Open Market Correspondent in Switzerland (Reference no: 176862).

JanuaryJanuary 14 DEADLINE for Trade Finance Deals of the Year 2012

January 23-27 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013 Davos-Klosters, Switzerland

January 28-30 BAFT-IFSA 2013 Europe Bank-to-Bank Forum Intercontinental Hotel, Frankfurt, Germany

January 29-30 Trade Finance & Euromoney Seminars’ 4th Annual Global The Grand Hyatt, Jakarta, IndonesiaExport & Agency Finance Conference – Asia Pacific

FebruaryFebruary 13th Association of Trade & Forfaiting in the Americas Yale Club, New York, NY, USA

Winter Cocktail reception

February 18-20 International Petroleum Week London, UK

February 28 – Trade Finance & Euromoney Seminars’ 15th Annual The Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables, March 1 Structured Trade & Export Finance in the Miami, USA

Americas Conference

MarchMarch 5 Swift Operations Forum America New York, NY, USA

March 13-17 Inter-American Development Bank Annual Meeting Panama City, Panama

March 21 Association of Trade & Forfaiting in the Americas Panama City, PanamaPanama seminar-reception

March 21-22 15th Annual Syndicated Loans Conference Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel, London, UK

March 27-28 6th Annual Turkey Energy and Infrastructure Mövenpick Hotel, Istanbul, Turkey Finance Conference


EVENTS CALENDAR 2013

EVENTS CALENDAR 2013Trade Finance Magazine and selected industry events in 2013* –

check www.tradefinancemagazine.com for updates.

AprilApril 3 9th Annual IFC Trade & Supply Chain Seminar IFC Headquarters,

Washington, DC, USA

April 4-5 US Ex-Im Annual Conference 2013 The Omni Shoreham, Washington, DC, USA

April 8 Swift Business Forum Canada Toronto, Canada

April 15-19 ICC Banking Commission Spring Meeting Lisbon, Portugal

April 18-19 Trade Finance & Euromoney Seminars’ 5th Annual Baltschug-Kempinski, Structured Trade & Export Finance in Russia/CIS Moscow, RussiaConference

April 19-21 2013 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and Washington, DC, USAthe International Monetary Fund

April 22 ICC World Trade Agenda Summit/ World Doha, QatarChambers Congress

April 23-25 World Economic Forum on Latin America 2013 Lima, Peru

MayMay Trade Finance Awards for Excellence 2013

May 2-5 46th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank New Delhi, India

May 8-10 World Economic Forum on Africa 2013 Cape Town, South Africa

May 9 EBRD Trade Finance Conference/ Annual Meeting Istanbul, Turkey

May 22-24 Association of Trade & Forfaiting in the Americas Miami, FL, USAAnnual Conference

May 24-26 World Economic Forum on the Middle East and Dead Sea, JordanNorth Africa 2013

JuneJune 5-6 Trade Finance & Euromoney Seminars’ 10th Anniversary President Wilson Hotel,

Global Commodities Finance Conference Geneva, Switzerland

June 5-7 World Economic Forum on East Asia 2013 Myanmar

June 9-11 XXIX Congreso LatinAmericano de Comerico Exterior Panama City, Panama

June 10-11 Trade Finance & Euromoney Seminars’ 4th Annual St Regis Hotel, Washington, DC, USAGlobal Agency & Development Finance Conference

June Trade Finance Global/EMEA and Americas Awards Dinners (London and New York)

JulyJuly Trade Finance Asia Pacific Awards Dinner (Singapore)



SeptemberSeptember Trade Finance & Euromoney Seminars’ Trade & Export

Finance Turkey Conference Istanbul, Turkey

September Trade Finance & Euromoney Seminars’ 7th Annual Sao Paulo, BrazilTrade & Commodity Finance Brazil Conference

September International Forfaiting Association AGM & Conference Malta

September 16-19 Sibos 2013 Dubai, UAE

September 18 Association of Trade & Forfaiting in the Americas New York, NY, USASummer Cocktail reception

September 23-24 Trade Finance & Euromoney Seminars’ 14th Annual Hotel Arts, Barcelona, SpainGlobal Export Finance Conference

OctoberOctober Trade Finance & Euromoney Seminars’ 2nd Annual Berlin, Germany

Export Finance Germany Conference

October Berne Union Annual Meeting

October IFC Annual Bank Partners Meeting

October 7 LME Week Metals Seminar London, UK

October 8 LME Week Dinner London, UK

October 11-13 2013 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and Washington, DC, USAthe International Monetary Fund

October 16 Association of Trade & Forfaiting in the Americas Toronto, CanadaCanada seminar-reception

October 21-25 ICC Banking Commission Autumn Meeting Vienna, Austria

NovemberNovember World Economic Forum on India 2013

November Trade Finance & Euromoney Seminars’ 5th Annual Johannesburg, South AfricaStructured Trade & Export Finance in Africa Conference

November 6 2nd Annual ICC Supply Chain Financing Conference Paris, France

November 17-19 Felaban Annual Assembly 2013 Miami, FL, USA

DecemberDecember 4 Association of Trade & Forfaiting in the Americas AGM New York, NY, USA

*All information correct at the time of going to press – some event dates may be subject to change.

To stay up-to-date with all Trade Finance and Euromoney Seminars events, follow us onTwitter @TradeFinance and @EMSeminars



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TRADE ON OUR EXPERTISEBest Trade Law Firm EMEA 2012

We are the leading law firm for trade finance advice, with a large team of dedicated experts in trade and export transactions delivering innovative services in all jurisdictions.

Our international network allows us to provide on-the-ground advice in the Middle East, CIS, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the US. We also have extensive experience of working in the emerging markets of Latin America.

Combination In Spring 2013, SNR Denton will combine with Salans and FMC to create a new law

firm Dentons.

With more than 2,500 lawyers and professionals, Dentons will be the 7th largest firm in the world measured by number of lawyers and professionals.

Dentons will have offices in 79 locations in 52 countries across Europe, Canada, the UK, the US, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Central and East Asia, and Africa, including a network of 22 associated offices in Africa.

SNR Denton is proud to be a foundational partner in Dentons, a new firm driven to give our clients the edge in a competitive world.

LOCATIONS OF NEW FIRM

Talk to us:Geoffrey Wynne Head of Trade and Export Finance LondonT +44 (0)20 7246 7050 [email protected] www.snrdenton.com

6 7244 (0)20 7T +4

ynneGeoffrey W Wynnealk to us:TTalk to us:

[email protected] geoffrey0 056 7

rade and Export Finance Head of T

[email protected]

Londonrade and Export Finance

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