Simon Carter, Director of Touch Financial, updates on Project Merlin.  Continue Reading

Against the recent backdrop of the most severe economic crisis of the past 60 years, Coface created this conference to help companies and their advisers be aware of both the opportunities and risks of trading at home and overseas.

The Conference, held at Emirates Stadium, attracted over 260 delegates, making it the largest UK Coface Country Risk Conference to date.

Delegates heard five keynote speakers assess the economic developments of the past year and examine the main trends shaping the UK, European and world economies.

David Smith, Chief Economics Editor of The Sunday Times, analysed the broader world economic picture.

Dr Robin Niblett, Director at the international ‘think-tank’, Chatham House, looked at the challenges facing Europe and the Eurozone.

The UK economic picture was updated with the latest market data from Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at Markit, the publishers of the highly-regarded Purchasing Managers’ Indices.

Coface’s view on global trading risks was presented by Yves Zlotowski, Chief Economist, Coface Group.

Glen Bullivant, from the ICM discussed the issues faced by export credit managers in the UK in this fast changing global economic environment.

Three major trading risks were identified by the speakers:

1. The combination of budget cuts and inflation could choke-off the recovery in the highly-indebted Western economies

2. The euro crisis has not been totally resolved yet

3. Overheating may lead some emerging countries to have a hard landing.

Companies in the UK and Ireland also face day-to-day risks. The number of insolvencies in the UK and abroad is currently low, mainly because the most fragile companies have disappeared during the recent crisis.

However, Coface does expect insolvencies to increase in the coming months – and this is where trade credit insurance has a vital role to play. Coface’s scoring models have improved dramatically over recent years and provide more transparency in risk underwriting.

Eighteen months on from the financial crisis, Coface is also “confident on China, Brazil and India”, according to its UK and Ireland Managing Director and Conference host, Xavier Denecker.

“These are examples of the countries that are generating strong demand and will be able to pull the global economy through to the future. They are good countries to export to,” he stressed.
The presentations and photographs of the conference are available on www.cofaceuk.com

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Glenn Blackman of Cashflow Acceleration Limited comments on the results of a recent survey looking into what SMEs expect to pay for invoice finance. Continue Reading