Delegates are invited to consider how trade is financed from their client's perspective in the non-textbook real world. This will help delegates understand the way the market works in practice. This holistic approach (which doesn’t ignore or undervalue the key analytics) also helps to better understand the key trading client’s actual funding and other needs and should enable delegates to serve them more efficiently and hopefully profitably.
For example, 85% of global trade by volume is conducted on open account terms which the textbook indicates carries the highest risk for the seller. Most sellers are content to live with this risk – this course explains why and how. Another example is confirmation of L/C’s. Many confirmations are now used to short-circuit the payment cycle rather than only for covering issuing bank risk. Again, the course explains why.
The major challenge to trade finance in recent times has been the impact of Financial Crime Compliance and Sanctions. Whilst credit losses and hence credit risk are low, FCC risk is very high because of the increasing tendency for global trade to pass through more than one country, use different modes of transport, use different currencies and transit through some regions where money laundering controls are not as strong as in others. This makes the audit trail very challenging. Unlike other courses that cover trade finance, this is not a course about FCC. But as trade finance is reckoned to be the main driver for money laundering, it needs to be understood.
COVID 19
At this stage, nobody knows what the medium and long-term impact on global supply chains will be other than severe shortages and large price rises in some areas, especially transport & shipping.
Our advanced trade finance training workshop will take full account of the impact of Covid 19 as the crisis unfolds and the way forward becomes clearer.