Nowhere is specialist expertise more crucial than in the area of trade finance where players like Sasfin, Deloitte & Touche Trade & Investment Solutions and Eikos each have their own unique service to sell.
FTW looks at some of the
flexible packages available from Sasfin, while Deloitte &
Touche focuses
on Customs Duty Drawback refunds.
Import facilities make
foreign trade financially viable
Sasfin looks beyondtraditional securities
AN EMPHASIS on personalised and tailor-made service is an integral part of a trade finance facility, according to Maurice van Bergen, assistant g.m. of SasfinÕs commercial finance division.
As a specialist bank in the small to medium sized trade finance sector, Sasfin does not compete head-on with the traditional banks, he told FTW.
"We place great emphasis on understanding the individual requirements of each and every one of our clients," Van Bergen said. "It is crucial that we familiarise ourselves with what individual clients want to be able to adapt to them, and meet these needs."
Sasfin looks beyond the traditional securities, he added, to structure an innovative and flexible finance solution.
"Being a specialised, experienced player in this field we pride ourselves on being able to identify opportunities more accurately than the larger banks. This is currently of particular advantage given the imminent rise in interest rates, and the probability that the mainstream banks will tighten their credit criteria across the board."
An area where Sasfin is also very active is in providing import finance facilities.
Said Van Bergen: "Our import facilities make foreign trade financially viable and administratively simple for our clients. In fact it makes importing as easy as domestic trade.
"With the assistance of our foreign offices, we provide services encompassing opening documentary letters of credit, and paying foreign suppliers where open account terms have been negotiated."
But import transactions often place a heavy toll on a companyÕs cash flow, according to Van Bergen.
"We understand this," he said, "and will structure clientsÕ facilities in such a way that cash in-flows and out-flows are matched."
As a final word of advice, Van Bergen suggested that businesses should be more alert to export opportunities as opposed to only import deals.
"SA is well placed to benefit from export business because the depreciation of the rand means there is tremendous financial benefit in such deals.
"We are able to assist these exporters with pre and post shipment finance facilities, although the latter could also be arranged through a foreign debtor finance facility."
