Issue 12 November / December 2011

Dear Reader, In the world of finance, Sibos is the epicentre. It’s the place to take the global temperature, particularly now at such a testing time for so many economies and the banking community as a whole.  This year’s venue was Toronto, Canada’s banking capital, where the consensus was that the renminbi will eventually become a major global reserve currency, …

This year’s Sibos conference took place at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada, once again gathering banking and financial experts and leaders from around the world to network, conduct business and talk extensively about key industry issues. It was organised by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), operator of the global financial messaging network

The best strategies and technologies for preventing, detecting and addressing financial fraud were outlined at Sibos, the world’s premier financial services event, by EastNets, a leading global provider of compliance and payments solutions and services.The company delivered a presentation entitled “Emerging Fraud Challenges” on the fourth day of the summit. It covered the latest fraud threats and trends faced by …

Standard Chartered has won the “Best FX Services in the Middle East Award” from emeafinance, an accolade that reflects the bank’s increased turnover in GCC foreign exchange volumes and continued innovation in the market.

The appointment of Barclays global head of cash management to SWIFT’s UK board was announced at this year’s Sibos event at which the most senior Barclays delegation – including Barclays Corporate CEO John Winter – gathered for a record number of meetings and fringe events.

Tajara Monitor continues in the process of broadening its geographic coverage within the GCC. Here, Caroline Maginn – Cash Management Matters Trade partner looks at some of the Kuwaiti Tajara findings in relation to trade finance. Kuwait is the third biggest trading nation within the GCC

e-invoicing helps corporates turn their backs on time-consuming, paper-based activities, says MARCUS HUGHES, director of business development, Bottomline Technologies Corporates today are focused on optimising cash and working capital. And an increasing number of organisations are realising that this can be achieved by automating the order-to-pay process, enabling them to free up cash lost in time-consuming and inefficient, paper-based activities.

China’s banknote will eventually become a major global reserve currency. This was the view expressed at Sibos. PAUL MELLY looks at what else was discussed at the world’s premier financial event.

The Arab Spring challenges of 2011 have had a major impact for Middle Eastern companies trading across the region, but the future now looks positive and growth is expected to accelerate. LIZ SALECKA reports For MENA-based companies trading in countries across the region, the Arab Spring has had major implications in terms of its impact on their business activities and …

While at Sibos in Toronto, Cash&Trade caught up with Kah Chye Tan, global head of trade and working capital at Barclays Corporate. In an exclusive interview, he revealed that his aim is to help Barclays become the global trade bank Kah Chye Tan has a mission – and, if he succeeds, his bank, Barclays, will benefit. Currently, he is the …

A number of new initiatives have given Islamic trade finance and export credit insurance a major boost. MUSHTAK PARKER explains Trade facilitation between member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), especially the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) states, and an increased role for Islamic trade finance and export credit insurance, is set for a major boost. This …

In the first of a two-part series, will spinney examines how to fit regional treasury centres into a global treasury structure Companies have, for many years now, been centralising some, or all, of their treasury functions for two major reasons.

In a move designed to help Turkish investors and contractors doing business in the member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), and Turk Eximbank, Turkey’s National Export-Import Credit Bank, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the annual meeting of the Aman Union (the association …

The launch of BNY Mellon’s most recent update of its research into the changing relationships between local banks and global processing banks was announced at Sibos. The new research material recaps how the increasingly sophisticated needs of commercial clients in areas such as trade finance, liquidity, global payments and client service are creating a global transaction “ecosystem” with increasingly high …

Barclays is continuing to invest in its transactional FX platform, making it a key priority for 2012.  Transactional FX is where international payments are converted at a point in the payment value chain where the currency conversion benefits the originator bank as well as the beneficiary bank as has traditionally been the case.

BNP Paribas Securities Services has launched a service that allows financial intermediaries to shorten their deployment time to new markets, optimising liquidity and boosting client service.  Delivered through a single point of contact, BNP Paribas’ solution “enables access to robust settlement, clearing and custody services in more than 100 countries, meaning clients benefit from smoother instruction, reporting and reconciliation processes, …