Cairo, 16 October 2015 – Aiming to bolster Africa’s participation in global trade, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced a new round of advanced training for African trade finance practitioners to take place in Nairobi from 10 to 13 November.
Afreximbank said in Cairo today that the 2015 Advanced Trade Finance Seminars and Workshops would enhance the capabilities of African financial institutions and corporate professionals to structure trade finance deals that meet the unique trade finance needs of the continent.
“We are greatly encouraged by the strong response we are receiving for this year’s Structured Trade Finance Seminar,” said Dr. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank. He noted that “by also providing a platform for African bankers and other trade finance practitioners to meet and network, the seminar has been making a major contribution in boosting African trade.”
“We can confirm that, from these contacts, many participants have gone on to successfully meet their clients trade finance needs by tapping into the contacts made at the seminar to facilitate cross-border business deals by clients based in different countries,” explained the President.
Senior executives representing African banks and financial institutions, regulatory institutions, hedge funds, Africa country funds and venture capital institutions, corporate entities engaged in trade, manufacturing and privatized infrastructure projects, Afreximbank’s trade finance and project finance intermediaries, African law firms and insurance firms are among participants expected at this year’s seminar. According to Afreximbank, they will be joined by middle to senior level international professionals from Africa and beyond.
Speakers in this year’s seminar and workshops include leading experts from some of the world’s top financial institutions and firms, including the World Trade Organisation, the Central Bank of Kenya, and the International Trade and Forfaiting Association, as well as economists from major academic institutions.
The four-day training will start with the Advanced Structured Trade Finance Seminar on 10 and 11 November, followed by a two-day workshop focusing on factoring, forfaiting and supply chain finance as means of financing receivables. Afreximbank explained that the workshop would raise awareness on factoring as an alternative trade finance tool and increase knowledge on forfaiting in response to increasing demand for investment good imports to support infrastructure development in Africa.
This year’s event also adds a session on credit rating, titled “Institutional, Sovereign and Country Risk Rating: Context and Relevance”, to be led by experts from Moody’s Analytics, which aims to enhance participants’ understanding of the implications of institutional, sovereign and country risks in accessing the credit market and in assuring financial soundness and growth.
The 2015 Advanced Trade Finance Seminars and Workshops, the 15th in the annual series, is part of Afreximbank’s effort to prepare African banks and financial institutions to meet the trade finance needs of the continent and is being organised in co-operation with the Central Bank of Kenya, the International Trade Forfaiting Association and Trade Finance Review magazine.
Media Contact : Fleur Tchibota (ftchibota@afreximbank.com) Tel. +202-2456-4260
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About Afreximbank:
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is the foremost Pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade. The Bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors. Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement, which gives it the status of an international organization, and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations. Since 1994, Afreximbank has approved almost $35 billion in credit facilities for African businesses, including about $4.5 billion in 2014. Afreximbank is headquartered in Cairo. For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com