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November 10, 2011
Dear Members and Friends,
You’ll be pleased to read that despite global market turmoil, ATFA’s board is actively preparing for a busy 2012! First, though, please note that our 2011 Annual General Meeting on November 30th will take place at Banco Bradesco’s office at 450 Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan from 6:30 – 8:30pm. All ATFA Members will soon receive formal notices of the AGM as well as voting forms. We encourage you to attend the event – as we hope to see Members proffer lots of ideas – and certainly encourage all Members to cast their votes by proxy if unable to attend.
Among the topics to be discussed, the board intends to present a new president as well as new board members.
Second, it’s quite clear that the proposed Basel III guidelines have ruffled many feathers. Attached is a very succinct “Talking Points” summary of concerns raised by BAFT-IFSA, with a helpful glossary on page 2. To its credit, BAFT-IFSA is petitioning industry associations around the world to make clear to “policy makers and regulators that there is significant opportunity to mitigate the unintended consequences of the Basel framework by further distinguishing the short-term, low-risk nature of trade finance and its criticality to global economic growth.”
At the same time, ATFA insurance member Willis is staging its own Basel III forum in New York next week.
Third, ATFA hopes to have a distinguished guest-speaker enlighten the audience on Basel III (and possibly ‘market pricing/liquidity’) at its 2012 “Winter Cocktail” seminar-reception which we’re aiming to host on Wednesday February 8th. Fingers crossed, the Yale Club of New York will have us back…
A couple of weeks later, Euromoney is set to host its 14th Structured Trade and Export Finance in the Americas Conference at the Biltmore Hotel in Miami (March 1-2, 2012). An impressive list of panelists has already been amassed – see: http://www.euromoneyseminars.com/EventDetails/0/4473/14th-Annual-Structured-Trade-and-Export-Finance-in-the-Americas-Conference.html
Please note that ATFA Members are able to enjoy a 20% discount on the registration fee! Call for details…
And lastly, while much media and market attention has focused on the ‘Eurozone’ lately, Standard Chartered’s latest report on the United States’ “Super-Committee” is worth reviewing (see attached). It seems the 12-person bipartisan group is running out of time to try to resolve differences and agree US$1.5 trillion budget cuts before the November 23rd deadline. If no accord is reached, a second rating downgrade is not out of the question.
As ever, we hope you are well and look forward to seeing many at our AGM on Nov 30th.
Cheers and warm regards,
ATFA Board
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October 24, 2011
Dear Members and Friends,
Despite the arrival of ‘anti-bank protestors’, ATFA still managed to stage a well attended and convivial seminar-reception in Toronto last Monday. Senior figures from both Export Development Canada and Royal Bank of Canada gave enlightening overviews of how Canada has coped (and is coping) with the global financial crisis (since 2008-09) as well as the implications of Basel III.
Attached are copies of the informative presentations and below is a summary of each overview as well as a few snapshots:
- EDC facilitated almost C$85bn of exports in 2010, assisting over 8,200 customers, after an unprecedented collapse in global trade in 2009;
- Accounts receivable insurance constituted the bulk of EDC’s support with over C$60bn – over half of Canadian trade is short-term!;
- EDC is actively partnering (and ‘risk sharing’) with financial institutions, private surety & insurance co.s and entities such as Business Development Bank of Canada;
- Business Credit Availability Program (‘BCAP’) is a successful new initiative;
- Current market uncertainty suggests a ‘flat’ forecast for near-term performance.
- Bank of International Settlements (located in Basel) serves a bank for central banks;
- Basel II “failures”: shortcomings in risk mngt practices, poor due diligence, imperfect disclosure of on/off balance sheet;
- Basel III proposed changes: capital for regulatory purposes & increased min levels of capital, improve capture of on/off balance sheet risk, new min liquidity requirements, and max leverage ratio requirements…
- Basel III probable impacts: Low-risk trade financing will be less attractive, increase long term liquidity requirements (removing $$’s billions of liquidity from the banking system), encouraged to move high-quality trade assets and contingents into non-bank sectors, SMEs and low-income emerging markets will be impacted more…
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From top to bottom: EDC’s Rajesh Sharma explains things from Canada’s viewpoint, BMO’s Pradeep Sendapperuma holds court, Scotia’s Caesar Neves rubs shoulders with RBC’s Mike Watson, and TD’s Cole & Bermeo mingle with BMO.
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- Please note that we have received two written ‘submissions’ from people interested in joining ATFA’s Board of Directors. At the same time, several have advised us they’d like to help ATFA in various ways. If interested in joining our board, please send your ‘expression of interest’ by October 31st. Two seats are set to become available…
- Our Annual General Meeting will take place in New York on Wednesday November 30th – formal notices and voting forms will be sent to all Members shortly.
- Lastly, please pencil February 8, 2012 into your diaries – that’s when we’re aiming to host our “Winter Cocktail 2012” featuring presentations from two ATFA members. Let us know if there are certain topics you’d like to see publicly addressed (eg, onset of Basel III, liquidity/pricing, sovereign debt, etc)…
As ever, we hope you are faring well amidst a lot of uncertainty!
Cheers and warm regards,
ATFA Board
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September 27, 2011
Dear Members and Friends,
Market volatility, SIBOS and IMF/World Bank meetings were on the minds of many (most) last week... Funding costs continue to climb while long-lasting ‘solutions’ are short in supply!! At the same time, ATFA has the following ‘good news’ to share:
- Two more newcomers have joined ATFA:
Alex Stewart (CMA) Brazil is a Collateral Management Agreement specialist that analyzes, inspects, consults and certifies soft commodities, metals and minerals. It is part of a UK-based global group that spans almost 40 countries. The Brazilian subsidiary is located in Sao Paulo but has ‘strategic points all over the country’. See www.alexstewartinternational.com for more details.
XL Group is a global insurance and reinsurance company providing property, casualty and specialty products to enterprises of all descriptions on a worldwide basis. It boasts more than 60 offices in over 20 countries, is listed on both the NYSE (“XL”) and Bermuda Stock Exchange, and enjoys an ‘A’ credit rating from all the key agencies. It also has a team specializing in supporting structured trade finance, among other things. See www.xlgroup.com for more details.
…both parties are most welcome and continue to add depth and breadth to our growing family!!
- Put simply, our “Summer Cocktail” was terrific!! Over 130 attended (despite the gridlocked traffic in midtown), the presentations from both Finacity Corp and The Receivables Exchange were enlightening & engaging, and the overall atmosphere was vibrant (in spite of market conditions)! Pleasingly, both Finacity and TRE have agreed to share their presentations – see our presentations page.
Here’s a snapshot of the event…
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…we’re conducting a survey of last week’s attendees asking for thoughts on what topics should be addressed in future seminar-receptions.
- All being well, you should have received an invitation yesterday to our inaugural Canadian reception in Toronto on October 17th. The event is taking place at the RBC Centre from 6-9pm, will feature presentations from both Royal Bank of Canada (on Basel III) and Export Development Canada (on Canada’s trade performance and EDC’s initiatives), is open to all parties interested in financing trade, and admission is free. All we that ask is for you to register: http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1015378
…please let us know if you have trouble registering for the event.
- As previously mentioned, we’re turning our attention to May 2012 and next year’s Annual Conference – where would you like ATFA to go ??...
- And lastly, let us know (in writing) if you’d like to join ATFA’s board – 2 seats are set to become available – our AGM is scheduled for November 30th. Growing as we are, we’d like the board to continue reflecting its membership and their/your activities.
As ever, we hope you are well and surviving the turmoil!
Cheers and warm regards,
ATFA Board
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September 16, 2011
Dear Members and Friends,
Coordinated central bank action across the globe was needed this week to inject (short-term) US$ liquidity into ‘the market’ as dollar shortages were widely reported in Europe and ‘cost of funds’ jumped from Taiwan to Mexico. Only time will tell if such market intervention restores calms to the interbank markets.
Meanwhile, ATFA has more ‘good news’ to share:
- The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, NY Branch has joined our association!! Following Mizuho’s accession last month, BTMU is the third of Japan’s ‘big 3’ to join ATFA. It is, in fact, the largest bank in Japan, rated ‘A+’ (by S&P), and boasts an impressive branch network around the world. In the Americas, BTMU is very active in supporting a variety of trade and capital markets projects from Canada to Chile. See http://www.bk.mufg.jp/english/index.html for more details.
- At the same time, National Bank of Pakistan, NY Branch has re-joined ATFA. This is wonderful as NBP adds great variety to our membership and excels in facilitating trade to and from the subcontinent. See http://www.nbp.com.pk for more details.
…as you can see, we are still welcoming old and new ‘faces’ to ATFA – membership has been lowered to US$400 for the remainder of 2011. If interested in joining, please submit a duly completed application form (attached) and secure ‘sponsorship’ from 2 existing members.
- Turning to next week’s “Summer Cocktail” at the Yale Club of New York on September 21st (6-9pm), featuring ‘receivables presentations’ from both Finacity Corp and The Receivables Exchange, we are expecting a record turnout!! Another 50 have registered since last week’s bulletin – bringing the total to around 115 registrants – and so, if you’ve not already done so, we ask that you click on the following weblink and register today: https://www.regonline.com/atfareceivablespresentationsandsummercocktail2011
…as a quick reminder, each ATFA Member Institution may send 3 attendees for free; additional persons (from the Member Institution) and non-Members are to pay US$100 per person. We will not be accepting ‘walk-ins’ for this event.
- Invitations to our inaugural Canadian reception in Toronto on October 17th will be sent on Monday.
- Please pencil October 24th and November 30th into your diaries – these are the probable dates for our networking seminar/reception in Sao Paulo and Annual General Meeting in New York.
- While May 2012 seems an eon from now, we would like to know where you’d like ATFA to stage its 2012 Annual Conference ??...
…this year’s event was in Miami and a great success; last year we visited Houston and San Diego the year before that. We’ll poll all suggestions and decide in coming weeks…
- Lastly, while the world watches and waits for Europe’s leaders to (re)solve their debt problems, several Middle East economies have shown remarkable resilience and actually ‘outperformed’ most EM sovereign benchmarks. In its latest ‘Middle East Focus’ (attached), Standard Chartered examines in some detail how the ‘Gulf Co-operation Council’ countries have been impacted by global turmoil and yet buoyed by oil prices above US$80 p/b.
As ever, we hope you are well and look forward to seeing many on Sept 21st!!
Cheers and warm regards,
ATFA Board
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