Greetings!

About 600 years ago it was common knowledge that if you sailed west from Europe, either the ocean would abruptly end and you would fall off the end of the earth, or there were man-eating dragons waiting for you for lunch. Their lunch, not yours. (See our note about this in our PS.)

People living in that era had it tougher because the facts themselves were in short supply.  Today there are enough facts around to satisfy everyone if they bother to look.

That’s why it’s so amazing that misinformation still spreads even amongst professionals in a field.

Continue reading “Things are not always what they seem.” →

Greetings!

When we told American friends we had been invited to go to Nigeria, most said: “Try not to catch ebola.” This, as you will see, summed up beautifully a misconception in the United States (and elsewhere, we’re sure)  about Africa in general and Nigeria in particular: many people are not well informed about Africa.

Continue reading “A Visit to Nigeria” →

Greetings!

Our recent letters have highlighted some of the opportunities that we now see relating to more effective use of letters of credit. There happen to be stunning limitations within the banking systems in different countries in the world, not just in developing nations but even within the European Union. One advantage we have is the ability to bring receiving banks into play which are still entrepreneurial in encouraging and being open to assist in trade finance.

Continue reading “Opportunities under African Skies” →

Greetings!

We hear regularly from clients working to use their capital the best way they can. Some are nervous about using OPM (Other People’s Money) and use strictly their own capital without ever reaching out to other sources.  Others don’t have a lot of capital and are searching for ways to make their small amount of capital stretch a whole lot further.

Continue reading “Using your available capital most efficiently” →

Greetings!

This is our mid-winter message to readers in the southern hemisphere.  We have relatively few readers there, but everybody’s gotta be someplace, and in a world where somebody’s always awake working, it helps to keep things in perspective, even if you’re at the beach.

Continue reading “Business and Trade Finance – Finance for Growing Businesses” →

Greetings!

We field a lot of inquiries here.  One of the most popular requests we get is for standby letters of credit.  We know many of the reasons people ask for them. By far, the most popular reason is that someone told the client that they had to have one to do what they wanted to do.

Continue reading “How Not to Need a Standby Letter of Credit” →

We saw a headline recently in the Wall Street Journal that said: Bank Financing Played Big Role in Trade Collapse.  It referred to a study by two prominent economists of the economic difficulties in 2008/9, noting that a shrinkage in the supply of letters of credit had a large effect on world trade and the global economy. Further, such a shrinkage affected developing countries even more.

Continue reading “Your Banker Can’t Help Himself;  but You Can Help Yourself with the Right Bank” →