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The initiative is part of ITFIE’s work to bring institutional investors into the trade finance ecosystem and develop trade as an asset class

Geoffrey Wynne, partner and head of Sullivan's Trade & Export Finance Group, together with Paul Coles, Director - Treasury at Orbian, have co-led the team that authored “The Rules of the Game” a memorandum for non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) looking to invest in trade finance assets.

Its purpose is to provide a high-level overview to non-bank investors into the terminology used in trade finance, where assets are financed generally through banks, other financial institutions, fintech platforms and other non-bank originators.

The note also explains how non-bank investors may become involved in trade finance assets, and provides some points to be aware of in considering how to invest in a trade finance transaction, such as documentary and structural issues to bear in mind.

Geoff Wynne, commented: “Traditionally dominated by banks, the trade finance landscape is undergoing significant changes driven by technology, regulatory shifts and the need for greater flexibility.

NBFIs offer alternative sources of financing and are increasingly pivotal in the future of trade finance as global trade evolves, in particular by supporting SMEs which can struggle to access traditional routes to finance.

This memo – together with the work of the two other ITFIE streams – is intended to help make accessing trade finance assets easier and more appealing.”

The output from the two other ITFIE streams is as follows:

  • “Voice of the Institutional Investors”, led by Suresh Hegde of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Guy Brooks of Pemberton Asset Management.
  • “Technology and Data”, led by André Casterman of Casterman Advisory and Matt Wreford of Demica.

ITFIE, which is co-chaired by N L N Swaroop of HSBC & Bertrand De Cominges of Santander Asset Management, published its first output Whitepaper on developing a Practitioners Guide to making Trade an Investible Asset Class’last year. The working parties plan to use the output from the workstreams as building blocks to furthering engagement with the industry.

Access to the reports and further background can be accessed from the Working Groups section of ITFA’s website, here.