The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Thursday in Durban, South Africa, awarded certificates in trade finance to more than 200 financial services professionals who participated in the 2019 Afreximbank Trade Finance Seminar.
The seminar, which began on Monday, attracted attendance from all parts of the continent and was held as part of Afreximbank’s strategy to develop and strengthen trade finance capacity in Africa.
The seminar sought to provide participants with the capacity to structure bankable trade finance deals of varying levels of complexity and featured presentations and discussions covering the whole spectrum of the field of trade finance.
Topics covered by the expert speakers and presenters included fintech and digital innovation, supply chain finance, cross-border trade and sovereign debt.
Gainmore Zanamwe of Afreximbank’s Intra-African Trade Initiative discussed the opportunities offered by the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area while Sean Edwards, Head of Legal and Supply Chain Special Adviser, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe, examined the discontinuation of LIBOR and its impact on trade finance.
Vinay Chhabra of Afreximbank spoke about the merits of supply chain finance and Emeka Onyia, also of Afreximbank, discussed MANSA, the pan-African customer due diligence repository platform launched by the Bank in 2018.
Gwen Mwaba, Director of Trade Finance at Afreximbank, made a presentation on the techniques of structuring trade finance transactions while Hiren Singharay of Global Financial and Capital Limited, United Kingdom, discussed the impact of sovereign debt levels on trade finance.
