Corporate and Investment Banking Risk-based solutions to support trade finance for global financial institutions in Africa
Solutions to support trade finance Standard Bank your trade partner in, for and across Africa Risk-based solutions to support trade finance for global financial institutions in Africa At Standard Bank, we understand your need to manage the risks inherent in cross-border trade, across multiple jurisdictions. We provide you with expert advice and trusted solutions to manage the complexities, regulations and risks across your trade finance requirements across Africa. Standard Bank is one of the largest banks in Africa in terms of assets and earnings, and is uniquely placed to provide you with access to trade finance solutions in our presence countries in Africa. As a leading financial services group, Standard Bank follows worldwide compliance and screening protocols and has extensive access to capital and funding. With our wide network of correspondent banking relationships, relationship-managed accounts and key strategic partnerships, we provide solutions that meet the full range of your needs. 3
Solutions to support trade finance We are continuously evolving to align ourselves to partners outside of Africa, to secure the key trade flows into Africa. Our strength lies in our strong knowledge and focus on key sectors in Africa, across oil and gas, power and infrastructure, mining and metals, natural resources and agriculture. Leveraging our size and strength, we harness our ability to risk enhance African trade paper and finance capabilities to be the hub for African banks importing from key financial centres. In choosing Standard Bank as your partner, you receive dependable and efficient services that are scalable and based on sound experience and regional expertise. With an on-the-ground presence in 20 countries across Africa, we assist you to transact with ease across a variety of local regulations and conditions. Fast, efficient and reliable trade finance solutions Our product offering centres on risk and finance solutions to support financial institutions. Documentary credit confirmation and bill avalisation As a key strategic partner in the financial services industry, we work to manage your concerns when trading in Africa. Depending on your and your clients needs, we mitigate your counterparty and country risk by confirming letters of credit and avalising bills of exchange. Trade financing and refinancing Based on our understanding of local markets, regulations and risk profiles, we support your requirements in providing trade financing and refinancing facilities. This enables you to facilitate loan extensions to your clients over a pre-agreed period where they are requested to issue sight/short-dated tenor letters of credit. Irrevocable reimbursement undertaking Standard Bank is considered the leader in providing undertakings on behalf of African financial institutions. This gives you the support and confidence you need in conducting your trade transactions. We issue irrevocable reimbursement undertakings, which can be used as security when the nominated confirming/ negotiating bank engages itself to your letter of credit. This service is suitable for high-value transactions and particularly for situations where: the exporter s preferred confirming bank requires security before adding its confirmation and has no line availability the letter of credit issuing bank does not wish to encumber cash unnecessarily in a collateral account with the exporter s preferred confirming bank the exporter s preferred confirming bank wishes to syndicate a deal among a number of banks that may have appetite on the issuing bank and chooses not to offer the risk under a risk participation structure. Risk participation and distribution Standard Bank is in a position to enter into risk sharing on both the buy and sell side of trade transactions. We subscribe to the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT) Master Participation Agreement and have signed agreements with 80 partners globally. It provides us with the opportunity to buy and sell trade-related risks. Our distribution units are located in major financial centres like London and Johannesburg to ensure maximum access to potential investors. Guarantee gateway and direct guarantee re-issuance With Standard Bank as your partner, you are able to manage risk, and improve efficiencies and client services through a centralised environment with risk-free access into Africa. We are able to reissue guarantees against your bank s counter-guarantee through a central gateway. You can register as an authorised user of the programme or use it on an ad hoc basis. No volume commitment is required in either option, but formal registration does provide a number of benefits. In addition to our gateway offering, should your institution be willing to foster direct relationships with our various African entities, we can provide re-issuance on the same service principles as the gateway, except that re-issuance will be directly through our respective operations in each country. This offering is still coordinated through the same centralised team to ensure consistency in delivery of service and pricing. Why choose Standard Bank? We offer holistic African transactional banking solutions to global financial institutions via single bank-to-bank relationships. This not only simplifies stakeholder relationship management for our clients, but also reduces operational risk, including counterparty, sovereign and Know Your Customer risk. This gives you a single point of entry into the African region. Standard Bank s expanding geographical footprint provides regional solutions through our network of almost 1 280 branches in 20 African countries. We tailor products and services to meet your specific requirements, and offer a range of solutions to cater for conventional payments and basic paper-based transactions. To help streamline the process, we use standard agreements and documentation. Our centralised client service unit has a dedicated division that deals exclusively with our financial institution clients. The team is highly knowledgeable in all aspects of trade, including document checking and the application of uniform customs and practise (UCP) rules. We provide one point of contact to address any issues (via email or telephone) through dedicated regional trade sales managers. We offer a centralised pricing methodology. 4 5
Standard Bank is a member of, and direct participant in, all payment systems in the various markets where we operate. We have good and long-established relationships with the regulators in these regions. With strong on-the-ground teams, we have expert local knowledge of the various legislative environments and so help our clients reduce the costs of compliance across multiple countries. We provide the guidance and services you need to navigate approvals, where required, for you to comply with varying regulatory environments across Africa. Standard Bank is one of the top 20 global SWIFT users, with an extensive connectivity network in Africa and abroad. We facilitate transactions through SWIFT using standard formatting. Our trade processing centre offers 24-hour turnaround times on processing and uses leading technology with scanning and electronic filing capabilities. Our operations services are ISO 9001:2008 certified by DQS. We are both an originator of primary trade business in Africa as well as a distributor of secondary market bank sector trade assets. We are a confirming bank under the International Finance Corporation Global Trade Finance Program. Contact us for information on expert trade services in, for and across Africa For further information on any of our products and services, contact: TPS Bank Sector Trade Finance Head: Trade Finance Sales Dion van der Merwe Telephone: +27 11 721 8096 Email: dion.vandermerwe@standardbank.co.za 6 Authorised financial services and registered credit provider (NCRCP15) The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (Registered Bank) Reg. No. 1962/000738/06 SBSA 182809-7/14 Disclaimer This document has been prepared solely for information purposes by The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, acting through its Corporate and Investment Bank Division ( SBSA ). Any indicative terms provided to you are provided for your information and do not constitute an offer, a solicitation of an offer, invitation to acquire any security or to enter into any agreement, or any advice or recommendation to conclude any transaction (whether on the indicative terms or otherwise). Any information, indicative price quotations, disclosure materials or analyses provided to you have been prepared on assumptions and parameters that reflect good faith determinations by us or that have been expressly specified by you and do not constitute advice by us and it should not be relied upon as such. The information, assumptions and parameters used are not the only ones that might reasonably have been selected and therefore no guarantee is given as to the accuracy, completeness, or reasonableness of any such information, quotations, disclosure or analyses. No representation or warranty is made that any indicative performance or return indicated will be achieved in the future. This document is not an official confirmation of terms, and any transaction that may be concluded pursuant to this document shall be in terms of and confirmed by the signing of appropriate documentation, on terms to be agreed between the parties. The information in the document is also subject to change without notice. SBSA, or an associated company, may have effected or may effect transactions for its own account in any investment outlined in the document or any investment related to such an investment. Prospective investors should obtain independent advice in respect of any product detailed in this document, as SBSA provides no investment, tax or legal advice and makes no representation or warranty about the suitability of a product for a particular client or circumstance. Transactions described in this material may give rise to substantial risk and are not suitable for all investors. SBSA will only provide investment advice if specifically agreed to by SBSA in appropriate documentation, signed by SBSA. This information is to be used at your own risks, and SBSA makes no representation with regards to the correctness of the information herein.
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