The director of collapsed commodity trader Vincom has been ordered to pay US$13.3mn to UBS, after a London court ruled he fabricated transactions and unjustifiably wrote off debts from a company controlled by a relative.  Zürich-headquartered UBS had extended trade finance facilities to Vincom from 2014 onwards, but was left out of pocket when the company was wound up in November 2017.   In a trial that began in March, the bank took issue with eight back-to-back nickel trades Vincom entered into between 2014 and 2017. Rather than taking payment from the buyer, Donald McArthy Tra ..read more

Trade finance banks must grow their use of collateral registries, digital solutions and alternative forms of funding for women-owned businesses, a new study claims, as such firms are disproportionately shunned by the market. In a study published this week, which canvasses the views of dozens of entrepreneurs in Kenya, Nigeria and Brazil, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) finds women-owned companies are far more likely than their male-led counterparts to suffer from trade finance access issues. Globally, the trade finance gap – the difference between demand and supply from banks, non ..read more

Trade finance technology firm Mitigram has named Pedram Tadayon as chief executive officer (CEO), effective immediately. Based in Stockholm, Tadayon is tasked with scaling Mitigram’s position in the trade finance market and expanding the firm’s network of partners across the industry. The Swedish company, founded in 2014, provides digital trade solutions to financial institutions and corporates, and has secured tens of millions of dollars from Nordic institutional investors including Moor Holding. Last year, Mitigram named Malin Bäcklund, Moor Holding’s CEO, as interim CEO, after Milena Torcia ..read more

ING Switzerland announced in February a reshuffle of its trade and commodity finance (TCF) business, splitting its portfolio into two distinct groups. Its global merchants group serves global commodity traders with a multi-location and multi-product strategy, while its transactional commodity finance unit targets smaller and mid-sized specialist traders.  In this GTR Trade Leaders Interview, Gregory Lambillon (pictured), chief executive and country manager at ING Switzerland, discusses the changes in the commodity trading and finance landscape that led to that decision, and how the sector ..read more

Swiss commodity finance bank TradeXBank has been given the all-clear to engage in US dollar transactions, after US authorities removed sanctions on its predecessor, a subsidiary of Russian lender Sberbank.  TradeXBank was formed in 2022 following extensive US and European restrictions on Russian financial institutions including Sberbank, introduced as a means of weakening the Kremlin’s revenues after the invasion of Ukraine.  Geneva-based real estate and finance company m3 Groupe revealed in September that year it had acquired Sberbank Switzerland for an undisclosed fee, retaining it ..read more

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has sealed its first transaction facilitating oil and gas decommissioning, issuing a US$7.5mn guarantee for exports of equipment for removing cables and pipelines from Brazilian offshore rigs.  The guarantee covers financing provided by ABC International Bank to Brazilian firm Ocyan, which the company used to purchase goods from Maritime Developments Ltd (MDL), an energy and infrastructure equipment provider and consultancy based in Aberdeen, Scotland.  Ocyan initially ordered equipment from MDL in 2022, and has since removed hundreds of kilometres of subsea ..read more

A new trade credit insurance facility should help boost trade between South Africa and Zimbabwe, the insurance firms behind the project say. South African companies exporting goods to Zimbabwe will be able to purchase trade credit policies under a facility set up by Invent Multiple Agents and Actuaries, a Zimbabwean insurance firm, alongside Asset Finance Insurance South Africa (AFI) and Fachs Reinsurance Brokers. The cover will protect the exporters from non-payment by Zimbabwean importers. While the two countries are neighbours and have close economic links, Zimbabwe has long suffered from r ..read more

The GTR Leaders in Trade awards highlight excellence in the trade, commodity, supply chain and export finance and fintech markets. The winners in each category are based on submissions sent to GTR and, where relevant, Best Deals signed in 2023 were referenced as further substantiation for GTR’s decisions. GTR revealed the shortlist for the Leaders in Trade awards in February, and the winners were revealed for the first time at the GTR Charity Awards Dinner on May 1. Congratulations to the winners! A full write-up on their achievements will be published in GTR ..read more

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has vowed to support 1,000 SMEs per year before the end of the decade, a big jump on current levels. The export credit agency (ECA) unveiled the target in its 2024-29 business plan this week. The plan also includes pledges to enable £12.5bn of export contracts and provide £10bn of “clean growth” financing by 2029. UKEF’s support for SMEs is closely scrutinised by UK lawmakers, because small businesses tend to find it harder to secure trade and export finance, compared to their larger peers. A handful of large companies, such as Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems, have previou ..read more

Soaring demand for critical minerals could prove transformative for commodity-exporting nations, but action is needed to plug a US$225bn mining investment gap, improve access to finance and overcome sustainability concerns, international bodies warn.  The transition to renewable energy is causing “surging” demand for certain metals. Lithium demand is projected to increase by more than 1,500% by 2050, with similar increases for nickel, cobalt and copper, according to a report published last week by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD).  Global revenues from extraction of four crucial met ..read more