Trade credit insurer Atradius has appointed a director for special products, effective April 1.

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Export credit agencies in the world’s largest economies are still pumping billions of dollars more annually into fossil fuels than clean energy projects, fresh data shows, spurring calls for reform within the OECD Arrangement.

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Merchandise trade is forecast to grow 2.6% worldwide this year and 3.3% in 2025 as inflation falls, countering the decline seen in 2023, the World Trade Organization says.

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Banks are being forced to adapt to lower demand for traditional commodity finance facilities, amid an increasingly challenging operating environment and a threat to profitability, industry insiders say.

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Swift says it is encouraged by testing it conducted into how digital trade platforms can interact with central bank digital currencies to facilitate trade payments.

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NatWest has hired Paul Pretorius as a director for trade origination and advisory, a newly created role.

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A subsidiary of China’s state-owned oil giant Sinopec has completed a fully paperless trade transaction for the first time, according to TradeGo, the digital trade platform that facilitated it.

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The US is seeking to disrupt the non-western market for Russian oil and gas, promising a “steady drumbeat” of sanctions enforcement actions, a government official said this week.

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In the first part of a new series of talks with trade finance leaders around the world, GTR speaks to Marie-Laure Gastellu, global head of trade at Société Générale since mid-2020.

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Tat Yeen Yap has stepped down from leading MonetaGo in Asia to take up a newly created position as head of supply chain solutions for Maybank Singapore.

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Agribusiness and soft commodity trader Olam Agri has secured its first shariah-compliant financing facility, drawing in US$625mn from a group of international and regional banks in Asia and the Middle East.

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Law firm Akin has hired former chief counsel to the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Jason Prince as a partner in its international trade team, based in Washington, DC.

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Global commodity trader Trafigura has secured a US$560mn facility from Japan’s export credit agency and SMBC that will fund the delivery of natural gas to the East Asian country.

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Christophe Salmon, the chief financial officer of global commodity trader Trafigura, is retiring after almost 10 years in the role.

He will be replaced by Stephan Jansma, currently Trafigura’s Asia Pacific CFO.

Hong Kong-based consortium Global Shipping Business Network has concluded a pilot project with Cosco Shipping to issue blockchain-based certificates for biofuel purchases.

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The EU has tabled a comprehensive proposal to members of the OECD Arrangement on export credits that would halt billions of dollars in oil and gas financing annually, yet climate groups warn of likely opposition from the US and Asia.

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The UK government should take stronger measures to boost exports and attract foreign direct investment as the country continues to trail its trade rivals, according to a report from the British Chambers of Commerce.

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After a stellar performance over the last two years, commodity traders have accumulated cash reserves of as much as US$120bn, research suggests – yet their banking partners do not seem to be reaping the rewards of this spectacular market growth.

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DBS has become the first bank in Southeast Asia to join a global trade programme run by the International Finance Corporation, in a US$500mn deal to support trade in emerging markets.

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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has agreed to a risk-sharing agreement with Ukraine’s state-owned Ukreximbank to provide €40mn of new financing for local businesses.

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