Falcon Bridging Finance, the bridging finance division of leading specialist financier Falcon Group, has selected VAS Group to undertake its valuation services.
Under the terms of the partnership, VAS will provide a full valuation management service, as well as provide live auditing to reduce property specific lending risks.
The news was covered by: Commercial Reporter, Bridging and Commercial, Mortgage Introducer, and Specialist Finance Introducer
Following Natixis’ recent announcement around its proprietary Green Weighting Factor for financing deals, the company’s innovative new method has been acknowledged by the likes of the Financial Times and Bloomberg, as well as green-focused publications such as Environmental Finance and Responsible Investor.
In a number of recent articles, Louis Douady, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, has discussed how applying this methodology can significantly increase the volume of available green assets. “It is coming, it’s a trend that’s started,” he said to Bloomberg. “The intention is to adapt our balance sheet to climate transition, so clearly we want to have a change in our business mix.
Douady noted that the Green Weighting Factor provides for a positive adjustment on analytical RWA for deals that create affirmative climate and environmental action, while involving a negative adjustment on deals with an adverse environmental impact. This announcement comes in line with the promise Natixis made during the Climate Finance Day in Paris late last year.
Following Moorgate’s outreach, the news was covered by the Financial Times, Bloomberg, Environmental Finance, Responsible Investor, Insurance Journal, Institutional Asset Manager, Private Equity Wire and Global Capital.
Transaction banking market infrastructures across the world are modernising.
Writing in the Cash Management Guide of The Banker’s July issue, Deutsche Bank’s Head of Market Infrastructure and Industry Initiatives, Paula Roels, discusses the implementation of the pivotal ISO 20022 messaging standard across SEPA and Switzerland, examines the varying approaches industry players can adopt, and draws out some of the biggest factors for its success.
To read this article in full, click here.
In a recent interview with GTR, Wilhelm Stark, deputy head of finance at German wallpaper manufacturer Erismann, explains how, faced with unfavourable FX rates and fees when collecting payments from its UK-based subsidiary, it partnered with UniCredit to put a FX solution in place.
Stark explained that UniCredit was quickly able to implement UC PayFX – its fully automated FX conversion system – to processes all inbound and outbound payments through a single UniCredit euro account, and avoid paying conversion rates and high transaction fees to other international banks.
The full interview can be read at GTR here.
In discussion with Global Banking and Finance Review, Michael Boguslavsky, Tradeteq’s Head of AI, cites compiling accurate and reliable credit scores for loan-seeking companies as one of banking’s most intractable problems. He explains how migrating to a digital credit-scoring model, enlisting the power of AI, and a new approach to data selection could stimulate lending to worthy-but-overlooked SMEs, make trade finance assets more investible to institutional investors, and directly support global growth.
Too see the full article, please click here
In a recent article in The Global Treasurer on international regulation reducing banks’ ability to offer trade finance, Tradeteq’s Head of AI, Michael Boguslavsky, argues that artificial intelligence (AI) could help mitigate such issues – particularly for SMEs.
Boguslavsky notes that AI has the capacity to “evaluate and potentially recognise credit quality of a more diverse set of companies than the traditional models”. These traditional models, such as the Altman Z credit scoring model, no longer suffice as they do not consider all of a company’s variables. Boguslavsky emphasises AI’s flexibility, and how using it could open up the trade finance market to non-bank investors, who are not faced with the same rigorous regulations as banks.
To read the full article, click here.
As part of the GTR Women in Trade Finance series, Sanne Wass interviews Adeline de Metz, UniCredit’s global co-head of trade finance and working capital solutions, on her career path, current job and her advice for other women embarking on careers in the industry.
The first woman in her family to pursue higher education and a career, de Metz recounts how, initially, following her husband’s career across the world led her to a diverse set of jobs within banking. De Metz believes this variety of experience helped her stay “mobile, flexible, adaptable in terms of mindset”, leading her to where she is now. De Metz advises other women in the industry to do the same – “never say yes to a job or stay in one because ‘it looks nice on the business card’”.
To read the full article, click here.
Crown Agents Bank is delighted to announce that David Pitts has joined the bank’s International Development Organisations (IDO) team as Senior Advisor. Joining from Ecobank, Pitts brings a wealth of experience – including his work with international donors, development finance institutions (DFIs), the United Nations and major NGOs – as well as a passion for African development, evidenced by his lead roles in multiple capacity building partnerships with the Global Fund.
News of the appointment was covered in FX-Week, TXF, Global Banking & Finance Review and The Global Treasurer.
Through Natixis Payments, Groupe BPCE has become the first banking group in France to offer Instant Payments to its customers.
Whether used for real-time compensation of insurance losses, flight purchases in Europe or inclusion in mobile banking services, account-to-account payments within 10 seconds are now accessible in France for Natixis Payments and Natixis Assurances customers.
Natixis Assurances becomes the first insurance company in France to offer clients an innovative and exclusive service providing for instant compensation of insurance losses. Immediately after presenting their insurance claims, insured customers will have their bank accounts credited in real time with the compensation paid out.
Following outreach from Moorgate, the news was covered by: Finextra, Fintech Log, The Paypers, Verdict and Global Banking and Finance.
Asia’s estimated $600 billion trade finance gap is an enduring problem – but supporting and facilitating a sophisticated secondary market for trade finance assets may be, at least part of, the solution. UniCredit’s Holger Frank, Head of Global Transaction Banking and Financial Institutions Group, Asia Pacific, and Siow Chin Yeo, Head of Trade Finance, Asia Pacific, opine in The Asian Banker that digital advances are turning this vision into reality.
With compliance issues, regulatory capital requirements and tightening margins restricting banks’ ability to lend to SMEs (who contribute two-thirds of Asia’s trade finance gap), new digital platforms are being developed that offer trade receivables to non-bank investors on a secondary market, argue Frank and Yeo.
CCRManager, which launched in 2017, is one such example. Processing $1.5bn worth of transactions to date, it’s helping to increase bank trade finance lending and, ultimately, boost the Asian economy.
To read the full article, click here.