Market news: In brief - Trade & Forfaiting Review

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posted 21 Jun 2005

Market news: In brief

Citigroup Global Transaction Services (CGTS) is relocating its recently acquired client service operation to new facilities in Breda. The move reinforces its commitment to developing future growth opportunities in the Netherlands and the securities industry.

The businesses acquired from ABN Amro have become part of Citigroup’s global transaction services within its corporate and investment bank. The client services operation in Breda will provide on-the-ground service and product delivery capabilities to clients in the Netherlands and across the region. The firm will continue to maintain a branch office in Amsterdam.

In other news, CGTS and Transaktionsinstitut have agreed on a strategic partnership, which will see Citigroup processing its German national payments through Transaktionsinstitut, beginning in late summer. The migration started in April and is expected to be complete by the third quarter of 2005. Both organisations have confirmed their wish to extend their cooperation in the long-term.

Surecomp has announced that Switzerland’s fourth largest bank, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV) has rolled out its SWIFT Ready Gold and Bolero accredited trade finance solution, IMEX. Lausanne headquartered BCV, one of the top three commodity-trading banks in Switzerland, upgraded to the thin client version of the solution last year, after initially licensing it in November 1996.

By combining IMEX with Surecomp’s internet-based NetiMEX tool, which BCV licensed last September, it is hoped that the firm will be able to offer its customers a seamless customer ‘front-end’ to bank ‘back-office’ trade finance system.

SG Corporate and Investment Banking (SG CIB) has joined the non-governmental, European Carbon Fund (ECF). Caisse des Depots et Consignations, the state-owned financial institution that performs public-interest activities on behalf of France’s central, regional and local governments, created the fund and is responsible for its management.

ECF is a Luxembourg SICAV (Societe d’Investissement a Capital Variable) and is dedicated to the management of carbon emission rights (EU allowances, emission reduction units and certified emission reductions – ERU/CER). The fund gives CER/ERU sellers the opportunity to gain access to a large investment capacity through a transparent, liquid and secure buying policy.

The World Bank has teamed up with credit insurer, Atradius, and International Financial Consulting to support the development of renewable energy projects. The World Bank will aid the financing of such projects by covering the cost of carbon emissions rights. The bank wishes to use credit insurance to cover risks associated with project financing.

National Instruments Corporation has implemented and integrated technology from TradePoint Systems; installing the vendor’s Export Compliance Solution and Export Document Production System within its Oracle 11i system.

The tools are enabling automatic generation of export documents, which are e-mailed to customers at ship time. Required export documents, such as SEDs and SLIs are generated and e-mailed as necessary. TradePoint systems is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kewell Plc.

Mobiasbanca, a private bank in Moldova, is to benefit from a European Bank of Reconstruction and Development $6m risk-sharing facility that will help meet the growing demands of local entrepreneurs for longer-term finance.

The entrepreneurs will use the proceeds to acquire, expand or modernise, as well as address working capital needs, including export and pre-export financing. In countries like Moldova, credit is constrained by the size of the banking system, single-borrower exposure limits and lack of medium- and long-term funds.

According to the EBRD, besides enabling Mobiasbanca to on-lend longer-term finance to successful medium-sized businesses, the facility will enable EBRD to directly co-finance projects with the bank, sharing the client risk. As a result, Mobiasbanca will be able to propose larger sub-loans to its clients than it would on a stand-alone basis: up to $2m, with a maximum maturity of five years.