Trade Finance

Trading partners potentially face many different types of risk. We typically consider these risks in three broad categories:

• Commercial risk: Nordea can work with you to identify how reliable your trading partners are and to evaluate the possible risks of insolvency or unwillingness to pay. We can also advise on payment methods that can mitigate some of these risks. We have a range of financial trade instruments that can help you manage risks in importing and exporting.

• Political risk: Because we operate in the major financial centers across the world, we diligently track political and economic circumstances. If import or export regulations change, we’ll keep you informed.

• Currency risk:  Exchange rates can fluctuate significantly over time. That in turn can affect the value of your foreign trades. Nordea offers a range of foreign exchange tools that can reduce your exposure to currency fluctuations.

The complexities of knowing who your trade partners are and whether they might be covered by sanctions are growing rapidly as are the size of the fines for breaching trade sanctions.

Global restrictions

At Nordea, we have detailed processes for capturing potential violations of sanctions, using complex matching algorithms to ensure that transactions and customers are not included on official sanction lists (OFAC, EU, UN). We have dedicated task groups and constantly train. We can even check whether potential trade partners are affiliated with companies subject to sanctions.

Our prudent approach helps you grow your business globally while managing the risks associated with international trade.

For guidance on the types of sanctions that may affect international trade, please see the information below. This list is not exhaustive information, and Nordea cannot accept any liability for the completeness or accuracy of the information.

For comprehensive updated information we refer to the information provided by the UN Security Council, EU and US (links quoted below).

Sanctions - which countries / Commodities

Although the sanction lists are specific in terms of persons, companies and commodities they are primarily focused against certain countries. See for example the list of OFAC Sanctions programs. For detailed information on sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, EU and US, please see below. Note also that there may exist local sanctions.

Sanctions against certain persons and companies

Shipping lines

Nordea will not be able to handle a transaction that indicates that the goods have been shipped with one of the above mentioned shipping lines (as well as others that may be subject to sanctions) or in a container owned by any of them.

The owner of a sea container can be located via the container prefix. See for example:

http://www.pier2pier.com/index.php?layout=prefix

or

http://www.equasis.org/EquasisWeb/public/HomePage

Both are free of charge to use, but do require sign up.

Other persons / Companies / Commodities

Information regarding sanctioned persons, companies, commodities and countries are available at:

UN:

https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/en/sanctions/un-sc-consolidated-list

EU:

http://eeas.europa.eu/cfsp/sanctions/index_en.htm

US (OFAC):

https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/office-of-foreign-assets-control-sanctions-programs-and-information

If you have questions in this respect you are welcome to contact your local Nordea Trade Finance department.

Nordea takes a holistic approach to working capital management. Our full offering – including cash management, trade & supply chain finance and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) solutions – can supply you with the services and tools to help you reach your targets.  

Within the area of cash management, we can help you optimise your account structure by introducing an appropriate set-up to improve liquidity management. This might be our cross-border Global Cash Pool solution or, for cash forecasting purposes, which can help you gain greater control over your working capital.  

Account centralisation can also help you re-engineer your company’s liquidity structures and optimise working capital in practice, while centralisation and standardisation of payment processes and collection processes (straight through processing of receivables) can also have a positive impact on working capital.   

The journey ahead can be exceptionally different – but as the biggest financial institution in the Nordics, Nordea is familiar with a wide array of challenges. If you’d like to find out more about how Nordea can help your working capital management project, get in touch with us or speak to your local Adviser.