HSBC and Siemens have carried out the first fully digital, end-to-end indirect guarantee, marking a development in Europe's trade finance digitalisation. 

The Angolan government and HSBC have reached financial close on the €200mn water infrastructure improvement ProÁgua project.

Adoniro Cestari took up the role of head of trade and working capital solutions at Citi in New York in May this year, following a 25-year career at the bank that began in his home country of Brazil and brought him to the US a decade ago. He now leads Citi’s trade business at a…

Independent credit and political risk insurance broker Texel Group has further expanded its Singapore office.

Former HSBC Spain trade finance head Emilio Sanchis Gimenez will lead sales for its Global Trade Solutions business across Continental Europe.

Trade finance lawyer Laurie Hammond has joined London-headquartered firm Keystone Law as a partner.

US banks have steadily lost ground in the Asian corporate trade finance market, new research suggests, in a shift driven by the impact of Washington’s tariffs on China and local lenders boosting their capabilities.  The share of Asia-headquartered corporates saying they use a US bank for trade finance fell from 31% to 23% between 2017…

Nexus is expanding its trade credit operations into Italy with the appointment of former Aon business development manager Federica Paudice.

The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark has backed a €1.6mn (DKK 12mn) investment from a Danish corporate in a Ukrainian defence company.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has extended a €5mn trade finance facility to Tirana Bank, part of a first-ever €10mn financing package for the Albanian lender.  The package consists of a €5mn limit under the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP), intended to expand Tirana Bank’s trade operations and promote cross-border activity in…

Working capital provider Katsumi Global says it is owed more than US$1.7bn by First Brands, court documents show, as creditors seek to locate billions of dollars they say have disappeared from the company’s factoring programmes.  US auto parts supplier First Brands, which filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas in late September, owes around US$2.3bn to…

Point Bonita Capital, a fund belonging to investment bank Jefferies’ trade finance arm, has US$715mn in exposure to receivables of collapsed US auto parts supplier First Brands.  The exposure represents around a quarter of the US$3bn in trade finance assets managed by the fund, a division of Jefferies unit Leucadia Asset Management, Jefferies said in…

Trafigura has closed US$3.4bn in financing facilities, including leading roles for Chinese lenders.   The global commodity trader says the financing was oversubscribed by a group of 43 participating banks. Six new lenders joined the facilities, but a Trafigura spokesperson declined to identify them.   The package consists of a 365-day US$1.1bn syndicated revolving credit facility,…

Nearly US$5tn in capital expenditure could be needed to address a looming shortfall in metals supply, consultancy giant McKinsey says, but low commodity prices continue to make projects uneconomic.  McKinsey has long warned that demand for commodities such as copper, nickel and lithium is expected to exceed supply by 2035, with mining projects not expanding…

The bank said its latest facility received US$567mn in commitments from international lenders, in a sign of its growing global appeal.

The impact of US tariffs on global trade is now likely to be felt next year, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has said, after unveiling a more positive outlook for 2025.   Global goods trade has performed much better in the first half of 2025 than the WTO predicted earlier in the year, the organisation…

UAE-based bank Emirates Islamic has launched a fully digital, shariah-compliant supply chain finance solution named Islamic smartSCF. The digital product, which Emirates Islamic has deemed the ‘first-of-its-kind’, offers working capital and liquidity solutions to businesses through a “completely digital journey”, the bank says. Corporates can use the web-based platform to onboard their suppliers under the…

SMBC has appointed Steve Robson as co-head of transaction banking for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea). Robson joins SMBC from HSBC, where he was global head of liquidity for its international wealth and premier banking division. He will be based in London and report directly to Elena Paitra, head of corporate and investment…

Denmark’s export credit agency has guaranteed a Barclays loan to GeoPura, a UK-based company aiming to produce green hydrogen “at scale”.   The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) is covering £16.5mn of a £27mn loan provided by Barclays to GeoPura, which has developed a production facility in England that is set to begin…

Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK), a London-headquartered specialist underwriter, has welcomed James Wilson as head of special risks. Wilson joins from The Hartford, where he was head of political risks, and head of credit and political risk insurance. He reports into Vivek Syal, chief underwriting officer for TMK, and replaces Edward Parker in the role. The…

UK-based trade credit insurtech Bondaval has announced that former Markel International director Simon Philpin will join as group chief commercial underwriting officer, effective from December. Philpin has spent nearly 12 years at Markel, most recently as director of trade credit, and has held senior underwriting roles at Equinox Global and Atradius. He has also served…

India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank has appointed Megha Chopra as head of trade, a new role combining sales and product.   Chopra made the move to Kotak Mahindra’s wholesale, commercial and consumer bank from Citi, where she was a managing director and global head of the trade client desk, and previously head of trade and working…

A Gloucestershire food business has successfully broken into Southeast Asian markets in the first iteration of a new UK Export Finance (UKEF) facility that helps small exporters. Cotswolds company TruffleHunter, which produces truffle-based products and gourmet ingredients, used UKEF’s ‘Small Exporter Builder’ (SEB) facility to secure contracts worth £22,500 in Malaysia and the Philippines –…

Working capital platform Raistone earned the bulk of its revenue from First Brands Group, which filed for bankruptcy protection this week, GTR understands.  The New York-headquartered company has originated financing for First Group companies for several years, and multiple sources told GTR this week they understood the relationship made up as much as four-fifths of…

The results of a digital trade initiative in Africa show the continent has made progress but barriers to paperless trade persist, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Bank.  The organisations have carried out digital trade reviews for six countries – Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda – to identify…