Advanced Structured Trade & Commodity Finance

2 Part Course | Master the role of structured trade and commodity finance at an advanced level

A view of the Earth from space at night showing the lights of cities and towns

A one-day course presented over two-half days in a virtual class

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Download: Course Outline

Day One

Session 1: The Markets

US election result
US trade policy under a new leadership
A high-level overview of:
- The markets
- Commodities
- The key players
- Producers
- Merchants
- Processors
- Transportation Services
- Insurers
- Banks
- Specialist funders
- General Trade finance overview – including the latest COVID news
Current Trends

Session 2: Global Players

Who are the key players?
The Key sectors:
- Agri & Food
- Oil & Gas
- Power
- Mining & Metals
- The rise of Green commodities
What are the key risks involved?
How do traders make money?
Who are the main providers of finance?
Strategic activities of key merchants?
Commodity Finance Training Case Study: You will consider the rise and fall of a leading commodity trader and establish what risks can be identified with the benefit of hindsight and what lessons can be learned.

Session 3: Financing Techniques

Open Account
Collections
L/C’s
Escrow and advance payments
Receivables and Invoice Discounting
Innovations:
- Reverse factoring
- Buyer centric solutions
- Seller Centric solutions
- Forfaiting
- UPAS
What are the risks?
What are the attractions?
What is a “good” structure and what makes it “good”?
Case study: An example of an emerging market deal

Session 4: Supply & Value Chains

Following the Value chain
Risks, mitigants & controls
Opportunities, strengths & attractions
Upstream, midstream & downstream structures
Pre-financing, pre-payment and tolling structures
Country risks
Counterparty risks
Bank risks
Ownership & Control issues – the value of a trust deed
Licenses, export quotas, currency controls, tariffs and other barriers
Recourse:
- Full
- Part or limited
- Non-recourse
What can go wrong? The signs and the mitigants
The role and value of security
The role and value of insurance solutions
Case study: Real Life Example of a traditional pre-payment structure

Session 5: Risk Management

Using documentation:
- Contracts – Financial & Commercial
- Tri-party agreements
- Liquidated damages
- Transport documents
- MMTD & BoL’s
Understanding price mechanisms
Hedging techniques
Assessing the trading book and its inherent risks
Financing Initial and Variation Margin
Advanced structured trade and commodity finance course case study: Example of an RBL

Day One Wrap-up

Day Two

Session 6: Financing Commodities

Inventory finance
Borrowing Base
Warehouse Finance – the risks in practice
Repurchase agreements – pros & cons
Commodity contracts
Risk analysis of commodity flows
Risk analysis of key parties
Advanced structured trade and commodity course case study: Example of a borrowing Base Facility

Session 7: Due Diligence & Monitoring

The various options
Risk-based approach
Assessing key risks
Considering key risk mitigants:
- Performance risks
- Country risks – confiscation, embargo, currency etc.
- Corporate risks – financials, cash flow, borrower, supplier, logistics etc.
- Payment risks
- Trade instrument risks
- ‘Legal risks – jurisdiction and local law
- Anti-money laundering (AML) risks
- Sanctions risks
Loan origination, appraisal, approval and commitment processes
Syndications, forfeited and other shared facilities
Monitoring and control options
Commodity Finance Training Case study: Major commodities in Indonesia and Europe

Session 8: Innovation

Blockchain
DLT
AI & Machine Learning
What are the advantages?
Game changers or a “flash in the pan”?
What are the risks?
What has happened in practice?
Case study: A block-chain example

Session 9: Non–Bank & Other Specialised Lenders

What are the alternatives?
Commodities Funds
Mezzanine Finance
How can banks work with these lenders?
IFC, World Bank. USAID
ECA’s
Case study: Considering the consequences of pushing innovation to the limit. What went wrong, why and how could it have been spotted/prevented?

Session 10: Mores Specialist Commodities

Protein
Green
Aquaculture
Strengths and Weaknesses
Opportunities and threats
Mitigants
Attraction of participating

Session 11: Price Risks

COVID’s huge influence on oil prices
Price risk management
Traded versus OTC
Cash and futures markets
Contracts to hedge
Bank vs customer requirements/benefits

Session 12: Commodity Finance Online Course Open Forum & Conclusion

Redcliffe’s commodity finance training courses are led by an expert trainer with a distinguished and fast-paced career at Lloyds Bank, where he quickly ascended to a senior management position within the private banking and wealth management division. His exceptional performance led to his recruitment as a main board director at a leading merchant bank. With over 40 years of experience in trade finance, he is a seasoned professional in the field.

Since retiring, he has worked as a freelance trade finance training consultant and served as an external Master Trainer at HSBC, where he has delivered comprehensive trade and structured trade finance training. He has also taught similar programs at the Bank of China.

Renowned for his adaptability and hands-on approach, he is a highly sought-after trade finance trainer who consistently receives excellent feedback from participants. He is adept at training professionals at all levels of seniority and experience, from seasoned experts to beginners. Beyond his specialization in trade and commodity finance, his expertise extends to Commodity Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance, Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) & Anti-Money Laundering (AML), as well as all facets of Corporate, Private, and Retail Banking. Additionally, he is an accomplished soft skills trainer with extensive experience in "train the trainer" assignments.

Commodity training courses at Redcliffe cover the following:

Challenges and risks of managing physical commodities all along the value chain including producers, merchants, processors/consumers as well as the various stakeholders.
Enhance and develop an advanced knowledge of today’s Commodities markets. Participants, lending structures, risks and mitigants, as well as innovation trends.
Options for an appropriate degree of due diligence.
Recognise that the risk profile and the due diligence requirements can be omitted by counterparties, the context, the value chain and the lending structures.
The relative strengths and weaknesses of structured deals (from bilateral transactional to more complex syndicated facilities).
The pros and cons of technology innovations and solutions in STCF: blockchain, DLT, AI and machine learning.
Understand that as a risk mitigant, structured commodity trade finance is all about creating the right balance between risk and reward.

Redcliffe Training is a long-established and leading provider of commodity finance training. We have a highly successful track record stretching back over 20 years.
Redcliffe has earned the appointment by two of the world’s biggest trade finance banks as a preferred supplier with Master Trainer status. This ensures we can keep pace with up-to-date changes in the marketplace.
Redcliffe has also been invited to deliver this advanced structured trade and commodity finance course to both the IFC and the World Bank, G SIBS, ECA’s (including Atradius & Oracle) large, medium and small institutions as well as several state-sponsored development bodies. These clients have widely differing needs and risk appetites so we do know our markets and the specific needs of those that operate within them.
We don’t use academics – all our trainers are hands-on practitioners with vocational experience at a very senior level.
This advanced commodity finance course is designed to help you ‘hit the ground running’ and add value immediately to your role upon completion of the training.
We are always judged by our results and our training feedback has been consistently excellent.
Our structured trade and commodity finance course director has over 40 years of structured trade and trade finance experience and is a hands-on “black belt” who will add value by relating his own experiences.
We have developed highly interactive and enjoyable case studies to enhance the learning points. All delegates report that these are a high point.

We approach our commodity training courses from an advanced level. We consider what structured trade finance means in practice and to what extent it can be applied. Most lenders have only three or four broad client segments; Global and Investment grade clients, large corporates, the rest and SMEs. When it comes to structuring, each sector requires a different approach because risk and reward characteristics vary considerably.

Commodity markets have seen unprecedented price fluctuations in recent times making the sector much more challenging. Several previous market leaders have withdrawn from some sectors completely. This commodity finance course will explore these challenges and ultimately recognise that the whole sector remains inherently riskier than it was.

This highly interactive structured trade and commodity finance training will examine and explain the key concepts involved in structured trade and commodity finance at an advanced level. It is not a suitable workshop for beginners.

Whether you seek a refresher or a detailed overview, we are certain our commodity finance course can help you and will help add value to your skill set.

The trainer was good, informative, knowledgeable and thorough. It covered a very wide array of topics and acted as a good refresher to knowledge. I would recommend it for anyone looking to learn each business in trade finance from the beginning of the working capital cycle to the end.
The trainer is a really nice guy and expresses himself well, always explaining things well.
This is a useful topic on how blockchain and AI are shaping businesses and the need to craft agile solutions to navigate the future, which is now.

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(min. 50 participants)