Geoffrey Wynne

Geoffrey Wynne is head of the Trade & Export Finance Group and Sullivan's London office. He has extensive experience in banking and finance, specifically corporate and international finance, bank mergers, acquisitions, conversions and restructurings, trade and structured trade and commodity finance, structured finance, asset and project finance, syndicated lending, equipment leasing, workouts and financing restructuring, leveraged and management buy-outs and general commercial matters.

Geoff is one of the leading trade finance lawyers and has advised extensively many of the major trade finance banks around the world on trade and commodity transactions in virtually every emerging market including CIS, Far East, India, Africa and Latin America. He has worked on many structured trade transactions covering such diverse commodities as oil, nickel, steel, tobacco, cocoa and coffee.

Representative Client Work

• Advised over a number of years the lead arrangers to the annual Ghana Cocoa Board cocoa crop financing. The annual value of the financing has been in excess of $1 billion and up to $2 billion
• Advised lenders in a pre export financing to Creativ Group in Ukraine
• Advised a leading UK bank on its standard form trade finance documents
• Advised different lenders in import facilities for crude oil and refined products into Ghana
• Advised a leading UK bank on queries relating to letters of credit and other trade instruments on a virtual secondment basis and provided a help desk for small queries to be used by telephone and email
• Advised a major US bank on a $1 billion letter of credit to be used in an acquisition of a Brazilian oil company and then on subsequent financings involving those letter of credit proceeds
• Advised a major US bank on a financing to a European bank of its trade finance portfolio of loans

Bar & Court Admissions

• Solicitor, Senior Courts of England and Wales

Professional Qualifications

• Solicitor, Senior Courts of England and Wales, 1975 

Education

• The College of Law
• Christ Church, Oxford University, BA (Jurisprudence)

Awards & Honors

• Lexology "Client Choice" — Banking (2019)
• Legal 500 UK - "Hall of Fame" (2018, 2020)
• Trade & Forfaiting Review Awards, Fellowship Award (2017)
• Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom, Commodities (2009-2020)
• Legal 500 UK, Trade Finance - London - "Leading Individual" (2014-2019)
• IFLR1000 2017, Financial and Corporate — Bank Lending: Lender side (Notable Firm) (2017)
• Chambers Global, Corporate/M&A - UK (Foreign Experts) (2013); Corporate/Commercial - Africa-wide (2014-2015)
• Chambers UK, Commodities: Trade Finance (UK-wide) (2013-2020)

• Trade finance pressured to digitalise amid Covid-19 chaos
  Global Trade Review, Quoted
  April 1, 2020
• Covid-19 Coronavirus: What you need to know about virtual and electronic signing
  Client Alert
  March 30, 2020
• The impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on trade and commodity finance
  LexisPSL
  March 18, 2020
• Synthetic letters of credit: risk versus reward
  Global Trade Review, Quoted
  February 19, 2020
• Sullivan grows trade finance team in London
  Global Trade Review, Quoted
  February 10, 2020
• Sullivan & Worcester's Trade Finance Group Ranked in the 2020 Edition of Chambers UK
  Press Release
  October 10, 2019
• Sullivan & Worcester UK LLP Ranked in the 2020 Edition of The Legal 500 UK
  September 27, 2019
• Sullivan Advises ITFA on the Launch of the New ITFA Unfunded Master Risk Participation Agreement
  Sullivan Press Release
  September 5, 2019
• Setting up a successful payables finance programme
  Payables Finance: a guide to working capital optimisation, Quoted
  August 2019
• The Implications of IFRS 9
  Trade Finance Magazine
  Summer 2019
• Three musketeers of structured commodity trade finance reflect on how trade gets paid
  DB Trade Finance TV – in association with Deutsche Bank’s flow magazine
  July 12, 2019
• Can trade finance fight back?
  Global Trade Review Directory
  July 10, 2019
• Sullivan Named Best Law Firm of the Year at Trade Finance Awards for Excellence, 2019
  Sullivan Press Release
  June 28, 2019
• Xplaining Trade Finance: An overview of the basics
  tradeXplain, Quoted
  June 27, 2019
• Legal and Regulatory Themes in 2019
  Trade Finance Talks
  June 4, 2019
• Sullivan Advises BAFT and ITFA on Updated New York Law Master Participation Agreement
  Sullivan Press Release
  May 24, 2019
• Sullivan Advises ITFA on its Guide to IFRS 9 for the Trade Receivables and Supply Chain Finance Industry
  Sullivan Press Release
  May 24, 2019
• Sullivan Wins GTR ‘Best Trade Finance Law Firm’ 2019 Award
  Sullivan Press Release
  May 3, 2019
• A sigh of relief for trade insurance market as PRA time bomb defused
  TXF News
  March 20, 2019
• Sullivan & Worcester UK LLP Named "Best Trade Finance Law Firm 2019" and Geoffrey Wynne Recognized by Lexology’s Client Choice Awards
  Press Release
  February 14, 2019
• Who’s bridging the $1.5 trillion trade finance gap?
  AltFi, Quoted
  February 12, 2019
• Receivables finance revisited
  Deutsche Bank's Flow
  November 2018
• Sullivan & Worcester Ranked in IFLR1000's "Financial and Corporate 2019" Guide
  IFLR1000
  November 12, 2018
• Sullivan & Worcester's Trade Finance Group Ranked in the 2019 Edition of Chambers UK
  November 1, 2018
• Trade Finance into the Headwinds
  Global Trade Review Directory
  October 31, 2018
• Sullivan & Worcester UK LLP Ranked in the 2019 Edition of The Legal 500 UK
  October 30, 2018
• Reflections on trade with an African rhythm
  TXF News, Quoted
  October 3, 2018
• Insights and Trends from the 2018 ITFA Conference
  Flow Magazine
  October 2018
• Documenting to Improve Regulatory Compliance
  Trade Finance
  September 27, 2018
• Trade finance’s new master participation agreement: 5 key changes
  Global Trade Review, Quoted
  September 12, 2018
• Sullivan & Worcester Advises BAFT on Update to the English Law Master Participation Agreement (MPA)
  Press Release
  September 4, 2018
• Industry rejects Fitch's call to reclassify supply chain finance as debt
  Global Trade Review, Quoted
  August 14, 2018
• Sullivan & Worcester London Partner Geoffrey Wynne Recognised by UK Legal 500 Hall of Fame
  Press Release
  July 26, 2018
• Does Structured Trade Finance Still Work?
  TXF News
  May 17, 2018
• Trade finance banks — time to stand up for your products!
  Trade Finance Magazine
  March/April 2018
• PRA deadline fuels post-Brexit fears for London trade insurance market
  TXF News, Quoted
  April 27, 2018
• Sullivan & Worcester UK LLP Shortlisted for 2017 GTR Leader in Trade Awards
  Press Release
  February 15, 2018
• Deutsche Bank publication provides guide to past, present and future of payables finance
  Finextra
  February 14, 2018
• Sullivan & Worcester UK LLP Shortlisted for Legal 500 2018 Award
  Press Release
  November 27, 2017
• Sullivan & Worcester's Trade Finance Group Ranked in the 2018 Edition of Chambers UK
  November 2, 2017
• Tax transparency
  FLOW Magazine
  October 17, 2017
• Sullivan & Worcester UK LLP Ranked in the 2017 Edition of The Legal 500 United Kingdom
  October 11, 2017
• Sullivan Provides Updated Legal Opinion on English Law MPA for ITFA and BAFT
  Press Release
  October 9, 2017
• Excellence Awards 2017 - Fellowship Award: Geoffrey Wynne
  TFR
  August 1, 2017
• Brexit & UK manufacturing: opportunities and threats
  The Manufacturer, Quoted
  July/August 2017
• Geoffrey Wynne wins Fellowship Award at TFR's Excellence in Trade Awards 2017
  Press Release
  July 6, 2017
• Legal and regulatory issues adversely affecting banks in Trade and Supply Chain Finance
  Rethinking Trade & Finance 2017
  July 6, 2017
• Structured Trade Finance: Legal, Regulatory and Institutional Issues
  Into Africa
  June 2017
• Sullivan Wins 'Best Trade Finance Law Firm' for Second Year Running and Two Deals of the Year Awards at GTR Leaders in Trade Awards 2016
  Press Release
  May 24, 2017
• Documenting Around Letters of Credit
  Trade Finance
  March/April 2017
• Free for All?
  Trade & Forfaiting Review
  March 2017
• A Practitioner's Guide to Syndicated Lending (2nd Edition)
  January 21, 2017
• Afreximbank’s Export Development Fund Unveiled
  News Ghana
  November 25, 2016
• Sullivan & Worcester's Trade Finance Group Ranked in the 2017 Edition of Chambers UK
  November 3, 2016
• Drought but no doubt: Cocobod seals PXF with 36% oversubscription
  TXF Daily News, Quoted
  September 27, 2016
• Sullivan Advises on $1.8 billion 2016 Ghana Cocobod Financing
  Press Release
  September 22, 2016
• All for one and one for all
  Trade and Forfaiting Review
  September 14, 2016
• ITFA’s insurance guidelines to 'shake up market'
  Global Trade Review, Quoted
  September 14, 2016
• Sullivan & Worcester UK LLP Ranked in the 2016 Edition of The Legal 500 United Kingdom
  September 14, 2016
• The current legal implications of doing transactions involving Iran and Iranian entities
  Trade Finance and Euromoney: 17th Annual Global Export Finance Conference 2016
  September 13, 2016
• Sullivan Advises ITFA on New Insurance Guidelines
  Press Release
  August 9, 2016
• The Great British Break-Off
  Global Trade Review, Quoted
  July 15, 2016
• Sullivan Wins “Best Law Firm in Trade Finance” Award Three Years in a Row
  Press Release
  July 14, 2016
• Trade Uncertainty Peaks as UK Votes to Leave EU
  June 24, 2016
• UK Votes to Leave EU and Rearranges Trade Landscape
  June 24, 2016
• The Unexpected Regulatory Threat to Global Trade
  The Wall Street Journal, Quoted
  June 5, 2016
• Banks Face Internal Procedures Rewrite with Basel 3.5
  TFR
  May 4, 2016
• Ironing out the kinks
  Trade & Forfaiting Review
  March 18, 2016
• Wynne’s Words: Pointers for Trade Finance in 2016
  Trade & Export Finance
  January 28, 2016
• Sullivan Wins GTR "Best Trade Finance Law Firm" 2015 Award
  Press Release
  November 25, 2015
• A Guide to Receivables Finance (2nd edition)
  October 15, 2015
• Cocobod signs US$1.8bn pre-export finance
  Global Trade Review, Quoted
  September 22, 2015
• Sullivan Advises on $1.8 Billion 2015 Ghana Cocobod Financing
  September 18, 2015
• Sullivan & Worcester Ranked in the 2015 Edition of The Legal 500 United Kingdom
  September 16, 2015
• Risk and Risk Mitigation in Trade Finance
  Global Trader Guide to Global Markets
  July 2015
• Sullivan Wins "Best Law Firm in Trade Finance" Award for Second Year Running
  Press Release
  June 24, 2015
• Cocobod senior syndication oversubscribed but production levels fall
  Trade & Forfaiting Review, Quoted
  June 20, 2015
• Cocobod formally announces close of senior phase of annual PXF syndication
  Trade & Export Finance, Quoted
  June 19, 2015
• Sullivan Appointed to Advise on 2015 Cocobod Financing
  Press Release
  June 12, 2015
• Legal opinion available to ITFA and BAFT members
  Global Trade Review, Quoted
  May 7, 2015
• Sullivan Provides Legal Opinion for ITFA and BAFT
  Press Release
  May 6, 2015
• Has-bean or global saviour?
  Trade & Forfaiting Review, Quoted
  April 2, 2015
• Sullivan & Worcester UK LLP Ranked in the 2014 Edition of The Legal 500 UK
  October 1, 2014
• Analysis: Cocobod PXF popular despite pricing drop
  Trade Finance, Quoted
  September 26, 2014
• Cocobod Inks 2014/15 PXF
  Global Trade Review, Quoted
  September 24, 2014
• Sullivan Advises on $1.7 billion 2014 Cocobod Financing
  Press Release
  September 16, 2014
• Cocobod 2014/15 Signs in Paris for US$1.7bn
  Trade & Forfaiting Review, Quoted
  September 12, 2014
• Ghana Cocobod Signs Annual PXF Oversubscribed with Options
  Trade & Export Finance
  September 12, 2014
• Simbas Earn their Stripes and Forfaiters Change their Spots at the ITFA 2014 Conference in Barcelona
  Trade & Forfaiting Review, Quoted
  September 12, 2014
• Who’s Afraid of Regulation?
  Trade & Forfaiting Review, Quoted
  August 28, 2014
• Sullivan Wins "Best Law Firm in Trade Finance"
  Press Release
  June 16, 2014
• Taxing Trade
  Trade & Forfaiting Review
  May 2, 2014
• The Bank Payment Obligation: Will it Replace the Traditional Letter of Credit – Now, or Ever?
  Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law
  February 2014
• 5 Questions - Geoffrey Wynne
  Trade Finance, Quoted
  December 11, 2013
• Sullivan Widens its Finance Offering in London
  November 14, 2013
• Sullivan Continues to Expand its Trade Finance Practice
  Press Release
  November 7, 2013
• Contributor and Editor, "A Practitioner's Guide to Trade and Commodity Finance"
  Sweet and Maxwell
• Contributor, "Developing Loan Markets" (LMA)

Seminars & Presentations

• Financing Trade During The Pandemic
  Member Briefing (March 27, 2020)
• Other technology disruptors – what’s coming over the horizon
  BCR RFIx - Receivables Finance International Convention (March 10, 2020)
• ITFA Fintech Event And Networking
  International Trade and Forfaiting Association and Finnish Fintech Ecosystem (February 27, 2020)
• How would you address current issues when documenting trade finance transactions?
  Trade Finance Breakfast Seminar (February 20, 2020)
• BCR Supply Chain Finance Summit
  BCR Publishing (January 30, 2020)
• Fintech in Trade Finance – Where are We?
  Le Restaurant de Paul, London (November 28, 2019)
• 29th Annual Conference on International Trade
  The Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (October 25, 2019)
• How to structure your transactions without taking security
  (September 19, 2019)
• The New ITFA Unfunded Master Risk Participation Agreement
  Budapest, Hungary (September 4, 2019)
• Trade finance — where do we go from here?
  (June 20, 2019)
• ITFA German Regional Committee Stammtisch Event
  International Trade and Forfaiting Association (June 6, 2019)
• Should I, shouldn’t I? Answering some of the tricky legal and drafting questions we often get asked
  Trade Finance Breakfast Seminar (May 29, 2019)
• TXF Global Commodity Finance: Amsterdam 2019
  Trade and Export Finance (TXF) (May 23, 2019)
• Global Trade Review UK 2019
  Global Trade Review (GTR) (May 8, 2019)
• Latest Legal Updates on Fintech in Commodity Trade Finance
  R3 (February 27, 2019)
• Market Adoption of New BAFT MRPA
  ITFA NERC Seminar (February 27, 2019)
• Thoughts from 2018 for structuring trade and related financings – avoiding pitfalls and getting deals done
  Trade Finance Breakfast Seminar (December 13, 2018)
• The Current Impact of the European Regulations on Structured Commodity Trade Deals
  The Global Commodity Trade Finance Forum, Berlin (November 29, 2018)
• Audience Response Survey: Your Thoughts on the Industry
  Hôtel Métropole Genève, Genève, Switzerland (November 9, 2018)
• Is Nigeria in rude health?
  GTR Africa Trade & Infrastructure Finance Conference 2018 (October 30, 2018)
• Fintech in Trade and Trade Finance — legal issues now and going forward
  (October 24, 2018)
• ITFA Insurance Committee Seminar
  ITFA Paris Seminar (October 10, 2018)
• Private Insurance and Viable Risk Mitigation Alternatives To Export Credit Agencies
  28th BAFT Annual Conference on International Trade (September 27, 2018)
• The new BAFT Master Participation Agreement (English law version) -- All you need to know!
  Trade Finance Breakfast Seminar (September 20, 2018)
• The BAFT MRPA reloaded – the revised BAFT – ITFA Master Participation Agreement
  International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA) (September 5, 2018)
• How can careful drafting in documents remove or mitigate risk of regulatory non-compliance?
  (July 24, 2018)
• Uses of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in structuring financing transactions
  (June 21, 2018)
• Recapping Receivables
  (May 24, 2018)
• Regulatory and Compliance Headwinds (and Crosswinds) for 2018
  New Broad Street House, 35 New Broad Street, London EC2M 1NH (March 29, 2018)
• What Structures and Techniques Can Still Work in Trade and Commodity Finance?
  New Broad Street House, 35 New Broad Street, London EC2M 1NH (January 26, 2018)
• A Wish List and a Watch List for 2018 — Beneficial or Detrimental Impacts on Trade Finance?
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1EN (December 14, 2017)
• Risk and Derisking — What Risk Should Really Mean for Banks in Trade Finance and How to Mitigate Them
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1EN (November 23, 2017)
• Letters of Credit from Basics and Beyond to the Current Issues
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1EN (June 15, 2017)
• Developments Involving FinTech and BlockChain Initiatives
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1EN (May 18, 2017)
• Risk Sharing Techniques - Similarities, Differences and Consequences
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1EN (March 23, 2017)
• Relationships In and Around Letters of Credit and What to Watch Out For
  Pinners Hall 105-108 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1EN (February 23, 2017)
• Some of Those Annoying Technical Issues in Trade Finance
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1EN (January 26, 2017)
• Where Are We On Some Current Trade-Related Issues?
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street (December 15, 2016)
• How Far Can Digitalisation End Paper-based Trade Finance? To What Extent Is It Happening Now?
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1EN (October 27, 2016)
• Restructurings Involving Trade Finance Obligations
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1EN (June 23, 2016)
• Can you take the risk out of trade finance and, if not, how can you deal with risks?
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (May 26, 2016)
• Trade Finance Breakfast Seminar Thoughts on the uses for insurance products in trade finance
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (April 20, 2016)
• Ten Pointers for Trade Finance in 2016
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (January 21, 2016)
• The effect of commercial contracts and other third party agreements on trade finance transactions
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (December 8, 2015)
• Appropriate Warehousing and Collateral Management in SSA
  Rural and Agricultural Finance and Investment Technical Network (RAFI-TN) Webinar (November 18, 2015)
• Problems and solutions in cross-border receivables transactions
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (September 8, 2015)
• Current Developments and Issues in the Trade and Commodities Finance World
  Sullivan & Worcester Conference Center, New York, NY (June 16, 2015)
• Sullivan & Worcester's Article 194 opinion on the BAFT Master Participation agreement
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (May 28, 2015)
• When is a sale of commodities not a true sale?
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (April 23, 2015)
• Financing Goods In and Out of Warehouses: What Issues to Look For, Deal With and Avoid
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (March 26, 2015)
• Likely Issues Affecting Trade Finance in 2015 and How to Respond
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (February 19, 2015)
• The Role and Responsibilities of Various Parties in Trade Finance Transactions
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (December 17, 2014)
• Cross-Border Receivables Financing
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (October 24, 2014)
• Payment Obligations: An Update and How They Affect Banks and Other Parties
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (September 8, 2014)
• Africa Trade Finance Seminar
  Sullivan & Worcester Conference Center, New York, NY (July 24, 2014)
• Case Studies On What To Do And Not To Do In Trade Finance Transactions
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London (June 26, 2014)
• Food for thought: What role do commodity finance banks and trading houses play in global agricultural value chains?
  Hotel President Wilson, Geneva (June 4, 2014)
• Can Banks Keep the Regulators Happy When It Comes to Trade Finance?
  Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam, Netherlands (May 7, 2014)
• What to Do About Risk in Your Trade Finance Transactions
  Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London, UK (April 28, 2014)
• All you wanted to know about receivables finance but were afraid to ask
  De Vere Holborn Bars, London (March 27, 2014)
• The Impact of Regulation on Trade and Commodity Finance ..."It’s trade Jim, but not as we know it."
  Millennium Gloucester Hotel, London (March 7, 2014)
• 2014 BAFT-IFSA Global Annual Meeting - Europe
  The Landmark London, London, UK (January 21, 2014)

• Numerous seminars on Trade and Commodity Finance Issues
• Seminars on Forfaiting, including the Uniform Rules for Forfaiting