Retail banking course in Havana

In Havana, where I recently delivered a course on retail banking on behalf of The London Institute of Banking & Finance, at the banking school of the Central Bank of Cuba, with participants from Cuban banks. The course was organised by the British Embassy in Havana under the UK Prosperity Fund. A very gratifying experience, with a very interested audience.

Havana International Fair - FIHAV2018

Visited the Havana International Fair - FIHAV2018, that took place between the 29th October and 2nd November, 2018. The fair is the second largest in Latam and the U.K was represented.

FIHAV2018

At the British Ambassador´s residence.

Trade Finance course in Havana

In Havana, where at the end of October 2018, I delivered a course on international trade finance on behalf of The London Institute of Banking & Finance at the banking school of the Central Bank of Cuba, with participants from Cuban banks. The course was organised by the British Embassy in Havana under the UK Prosperity Fund. A very gratifying experience.

Collaboration with The ICC Academy

Very glad to announce that we have started to collaborate with The ICC Academy, the educational arm of the International Chamber of Commerce, to promote their trade finance courses and certifications in Latam.
More to follow soon. In the meantime, if you require any information about the courses please contact us.

CLACE 2018, Panama

On the 7th and 8th of June, I attended the 34th Latin American Foreign Trade Conference held in Panama, representing The London Institute of Banking & Finance.

A good opportunity to meet with friends and colleagues, and to discuss the latest developments in Trade Finance in Latam. 

LIBF presentation at ICC, Panama

On 6th June, I had the pleasure of delivering a presentation to a group of banking representatives at the offices of the Panama Banking Association, at an event organised by The London Institute of Banking & Finance and the National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Panama.

The event was organised to present our Trade Finance Certifications, namely, Certificate for Documentary Credit Specialists (CDCS®), Certificate for Specialists in Demand Guarantees (CSDG®) and Certificate in International Trade and Finance (CITF®), which were designed in collaboration with the ICC.

Very glad to see so much interest in our educational offering, and in particular, our Trade Finance Certifications.

My thanks to the participants, the Panama Banking Association, Yhordis Velarde, Chairperson of the Foreign Trade Commission; Trade Finance Head of Banco General; and Member of the Board of ICC, Panama; and to Karla Turner, Secretary General of ICC, Panama.

Until next time, Panama!

Capacity-building programme in Cuba

An article about Cuba in Global Government Forum, that refers to the capacity-building programme for Cuban bank executives, in which I participated with The London Institute of Banking & Finance,

ICC Banking Commission Annual Meeting, Miami, April 2018

Link for the presentations from the ICC Banking Commission Annual Meeting held in Miami, April 2018.

ICC Banking Commission Annual Meeting, Miami, April 2018

Between the 4th and the 6th of April, I attended the Annual Meeting of the ICC Banking Commission in Miami.
With the theme “Navigating trade in a world of disruption” the various presentations and roundtables, touched upon the issues that are central to trade finance today.

Here are some of the titles of the presentations that will give an idea of the issues discussed:
- Managing and Thriving in the ‘New Normal of Uncertainty’, addressing the concerns over protectionism. 

- Disruptive Technology and the Future of Trade, discussing the new digital economy and trade finance, and the advent of FinTech and new players entering the market. 

- Trade Trends and the Changing Perception of Risk, specifically, correspondent banking and derisking. 

- Trade Based Money Laundering. Combatting illicit trade, fraud and money laundering.

A great occasion to learn and network.

A few notes on financial inclusion

A few days ago, I was asked about financial inclusion, and I wanted to share the notes I made on the subject.

The first question that came to mind was: what is financial inclusion? or rather what do we mean by financial inclusion? Is it:

- Having a current account and a debit card?

- Having access to credit?

- Making sure that everybody knows how to manage their finances?

The second question was, why is it that large parts of the population, in certain countries, and a total of 2.5 billion people globally, are excluded from the financial system?

- Is it because they do not have physical access to a bank?

- Is it because the banks do not consider them as a risk free and profitable customer?

- Is it because people don’t trust banks?

- Is it because people work in the informal economy and, thus, would not enter into a banking relationship that could attract the attention of the tax authorities?

(I should also mention that the issue of financial inclusion is not confined to those countries that have a large percentage of their populations living below the poverty line. It is an issue that also affects the US, as I read in a 2016 article published by the White House.)

The third question was, what do the different players want to achieve with increasing financial inclusion of the world population?

- Is it a genuine desire to include everybody in the financial system so that they have access to credit and a secure way to conduct their finances?

- Is it a genuine desire on behalf of governments to equip their citizens with the financial education necessary to make informed financial decisions, participate in the productive economy and, thus, contribute to their countries economic growth?

- Is it just a means for banks to rein in more customers and make more profits?

I suppose that the answer to all of the above questions is: Yes, or rather, that the answer is a mixture of all of the above, depending on who is answering.

Notwithstanding the above questions, and the objectives/reasons of the different actors, what appears to be true is that technological innovation and, more specifically, innovation in mobile communications coupled with the development of FinTechs that are challenging traditional banks, are playing a crucial role in financial inclusion by providing Mobile Financial Services at lower costs to consumers.

Having said that, the price of accessing mobile communications could present a problem for low-income groups, that could be augmented if they live in regions where cell phone coverage may be an issue.

Banking: To adapt or die...or to die trying

In December, 1995, I was asked to write an article on the future of banking for a small Spanish magazine - Mundo Español - published in London. Today, reading about the "demise" of banks because of the "fintech revolution", I had a feeling of déjà vu and thought I would share the article I wrote all those years ago. Hope you enjoy!

To adapt or die...or to die trying

The spate of mergers and acquisitions that have taken place within the banking sector since the beginning of the year, may have made bankers reminisce, some maybe with nostalgia, about the late 1980's and the fireworks over the Thames to celebrate the liberalisation of the London Stock Exchange -the Big Bang.

Then, banks and stockbrokers jostled with each other as they tried to secure a prominent position in the market by merging with or acquiring the dealer and broker firms operating in it, or by enticing away whole teams of brokers with the offer of astronomical salaries -something very welcomed by the owners of the watering holes in the City, as these individuals promptly invested sizeable chunks of their windfall in these establishments. The frantic activity that ensued in London, as in other financial centres, was boosted by the merger mania in the corporate sector, and continued until Black Monday in October 1987.

This time round, some of the reasons given for the mergers and acquisitions may be the same and will probably mention synergy, economies of scale or competitiveness, but now they are taking place in the wake of a recession, and the atmosphere is one of gloom rather than self-congratulation.

In the U.S alone, 277 mergers and acquisitions have taken place since the beginning of the year. In August, the merger between Chemical and Chase created the country's biggest bank with assets of $297 billion. In March, Mitsubishi Bank and Bank of Tokyo sealed a merger creating the world's biggest bank with assets of $700 billion. In the U.K, Swiss Bank Corporation bought the investment banking business of S.G.Warburg, Dresdner Bank bought Kleinwort Benson, and recently Lloyds and TSB have agreed to merge, to mention but a few examples.

What are the reasons for all these mergers and acquisitions? There are many, but the main one is "financial disintermediation". Traditionally, banks have had a virtual monopoly as intermediaries in the financial system; they accept deposits (appearing as liabilities in their balance sheets) and make loans (which appear as assets), with the peculiarity that most of those deposits are liquid since they have to be repaid on demand, and most of the loans are illiquid since they are granted with maturities in the future.

This "intermediation" is sustainable as long as savers continue to channel their money to the banks, and borrowers do not default. What has been happening in recent years is that banks, on the one hand have been confronted by the proliferation of non-bank financial intermediaries in the form of investment funds, insurance companies, and even the financial arm of department stores, competing to attract the money from savers and investors, and on the other have suffered losses as a result of loan defaults and/or bad management. Even their traditional business of lending to corporates has been hit by this process of disintermediation, as companies have increasingly resorted to the capital markets to raise funds.

In view of all this, analysts and academics have for some time been speculating on whether we are witnessing the slow agonising death of most banks, to be replaced by a myriad of financial intermediaries specialising in specific areas, and those banks which are deemed necessary for the smooth functioning of a modern financial sector.

Whether this scenario is probable depends, to a large extent, on how we define what a bank is. The process of disintermediation and the competition from non-bank financial intermediaries have forced many banks to adapt to the changing circumstances, and they have done so in many different ways. In some cases the transformation of a bank has been of such a magnitude that is has led to the question: is it a bank or a financial services company offering bank services? Today, many so-called banks derive a higher proportion of their income from securities and foreign exchange trading, and fees, than they do from the interest spread on their lending.

The picture that emerges is a fuzzy one, if anything because in some countries a banking group will own a retail banking operation concentrating on "traditional" lending to individuals and small/medium companies through a branch network, maybe another bank catering for large corporates and engaged in investment banking activities, a securities trading operation, an insurance company, etc.

In continental Europe, for example, there is a tradition of universal banks offering the whole spectrum of financial services, and with large shareholdings in industrial companies that result in an intimate, and sometimes exclusive, lending relationship. For a long time, these banks operated in oligopolistic markets shielded from foreign competition by regulation and the high costs of entry, but with the gradual removal of restrictions for foreign banks and the onset of the Single European Market, some of them began to break ranks in order to adapt and compete in a new environment. In Spain, Banco Santander took the initiative by the introduction of the supercuentas in 1989, and since then banks have fought fierce battles to keep or to poach each others customers as new or revamped products have been introduced into the market (investment funds, mortgage loans, personal pensions, etc.). During this period there have also been a number of mergers and acquisitions, the two largest of which created Banco Bilbao Vizcaya and Banco Central Hispano; the consolidation of the public sector banks into Argentaria; and the majority purchase of Banesto by Banco Santander after the collapse of the former in December 1993.

What does appear to be clear from the process underway in the banking sector is that banks have to adapt or die. Some, like the American investment banks have for a long time followed a strategy of providing specialised and innovative services at a global level (admittedly, forced to some extent by the provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act); others have opted to stay in their home markets trying to become a dominant force by increasing volume through mergers and acquisitions; some have sought new markets in the emerging economies; and yet others have concentrated, more than most, in providing risk-management products and in securities and foreign exchange trading.

Some will succeed and others will, for various reasons, die trying like Banesto and Barings -but as Kipling would say, that is another story.

Taking stock of the last two years

The beginning of a new year is sometimes a good ocassion to take count of what one has been doing and to evaluate past actions and the way forward.
The last two years have been intense. We took on the challenge of raising the profile in Latam and Spain of The London Institute of Banking & Finance and this assignment has involved revisiting countries and contacts in around 400 banks and institutions in the regions.
We have called on banks and institutions in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Spain and Uruguay; attended two CLACE conferences, two FELABAN annual assemblies; and made a number of presentations in some countries.
Looking forward to 2018!!!