The French legislature has passed a law allowing digital versions of widely used trade documents, such as bills of lading, marking a milestone in global efforts to make trade paperless. The June 5 vote by lawmakers on the eve of a snap parliamentary election makes France one of the largest economies to enact legislation based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR). The provisions were contained in a reform package introduced by President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, designed to boost the competitiveness of France as a global financial sector. Alexandre Hol ..read more

Global financial messaging coordinator Swift has launched two AI pilot projects to target cross-border payments fraud, which it says cost the financial industry US$485bn in 2023. The first project brings together 10 major financial institutions, including BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, DNB, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo and Standard Bank, to see if AI can be used to identify potential fraud patterns from anonymously shared datasets. Swift hopes that using a model known as federated learning, in which an AI model is trained on multiple locally held datasets, will facilitate confidential information sharing ..read more

Credit and political risk insurance broker WTW has hired Alexandra Low as head of trade credit for Hong Kong, a newly created post. Having started in early June, Low is tasked with driving WTW’s business development strategies and contributing to the overall growth of the broker’s trade credit portfolio in the region. She reports to WTW’s head of receivables and supply chain finance for the Asia Pacific, Kirk Lee, as well as Iris Chan, head of corporate risk and broking, Hong Kong. Low’s role is a new one within the broker’s Financial Solutions team, a spokesperson tells GTR. She joins from St ..read more

Absa Bank has promoted Michelle Knowles to pan-Africa group head of trade and working capital, it announced last week. Knowles succeeds Bohani Hlungwane, who now becomes managing director and group head of cash management at Absa. She was previously the bank’s pan-African head of trade and working capital product, a role that will now be filled by internal hire John Molanda. In her new position, Knowles will be responsible for strategy setting, execution and profit and loss ownership. She tells GTR that her priorities will be to focus on delivering growth and improving the bank’s market positi ..read more

Working capital solutions provider Taulia has named new heads of payables and receivables finance, tasked with overseeing the introduction of new products and further geographical expansion.  Andy Lee has been promoted to head of receivables finance, while Chris Garrison takes up the position of head of payables finance, both based in the US.  Lee was previously Taulia’s senior director of distribution and supply chain finance, responsible for expanding the company’s pool of funding partners and building strategic relationships in North America and Asia Pacific.   Prior to that ..read more

The UAE’s export credit agency, Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI), has partnered with several banks and public authorities on an initiative aimed at boosting exports and diversifying the country’s economy.  The initiative, called Xport Xponential, connects local exporters to providers of credit facilities and insurance cover via the agency’s platform, and provides access to a database of over 300 million companies in partner countries.  Bank participants include Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Ajman Bank, Dubai Commercial Bank, Emirates Development Bank, Fujairah National Bank and Ras Al Khai ..read more

A ship repair dock in Ghana has secured US$94mn in senior debt funding from a consortium including the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), both of which have previously provided loans to the project. It has now met its US$137mn capital target. The borrower is Prime Meridian Docks Assetco Limited (PMD), a special purpose entity nine years into a 25-year concession from the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority. The lenders are the AfDB, Afreximbank, the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and Petra Pension Schemes. The project ..read more

Rudolf Putz, former head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) trade facilitation programme, has joined Oddo BHF as its head of trade product and distribution management. In his new role, he is responsible for developing trade solutions for international and corporate clients, managing the syndication of Oddo BHF’s trade assets and coordinating the company’s advocacy in the trade finance ecosystem. Putz headed up the EBRD’s trade facilitation programme for nearly 25 years, overseeing its expansion to new markets in the Mediterranean, a push for green finance and its he ..read more

An influential shipping industry body has said that adoption of electronic bills of lading (eBLs) still faces regulatory barriers in major markets, urging authorities to address legal uncertainty and harmonise requirements.  Moving from paper bills of lading to electronic equivalents could cut direct trade costs by US$6.5bn, boosting growth while reducing the industry’s carbon footprint, says the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA), whose members include several of the world’s largest container shipping companies.  But despite these benefits – and a series of legal reforms ..read more

Dutch bank ABN Amro has partnered with AI automation company Complidata to streamline trade finance operations. Announced on May 30, Complidata’s TradeSpeed solution will be brought on to help the bank’s staff analyse the multitude of physical documents in trade finance transactions, including letters of credit (LCs) and documentary collections. Complidata’s TradeSpeed solution leverages various AI techniques, such as large language models (LLMs), a way of teaching an AI to understand human language, to parse document information and increase the level of digitisation possible, allowing it to ..read more