Dear Members and Friends,
I trust that 2016 has been treating you
well so far. I can hardly believe that a third of the year has already flown by
and that our ITFA Annual Conference, our 43rd, is only a few months
away. This year we will be greeting you at the Sheraton Warsaw Hotel in Poland.
You can access the conference website, with all the necessary information, as
well as register by clicking here. A topical and interesting program with involvement from
leading practitioners has been prepared and we will be renewing our traditional
reputation for first-class entertainment. Please bear in mind that an earlybird discount is available for all registrations until 6th June. The ITFA Conference is a wonderful networking opportunity, so
don’t miss out!
Planning for the conference has not kept
us away from other events, including our Spring Cocktail in sunny Amsterdam
which was attended by a record number of attendees. Thank you to Credit Europe
Bank and Garanti for their sponsorship. Numbers are also growing for our Receivables
Finance Masterclass in Paris, our first-ever event in the city.
Moving on to the macro part of things, since
the start of the year, Emerging Markets have been pretty much in the limelight,
for good and bad reasons. Markets had crucified emerging market assets
following the first interest rate hike in the US in almost 10 years, leading to
a marked sell off in EM assets, whilst the recovery witnessed in markets to
date have made EM the best performing region to date so far, registering close
to double digit returns. Improving global market conditions have switched focus
on a number of opportunities such as Brazil and South Africa. Argentina too
seems to be emerging out of the doldrums, with the central government managing
to regain investor support during the month of April.
Despite witnessing a marked slowdown in
Chinese growth, selective Asian economies such as Indonesia continue to post
robust economic data releases. Risks still remain present, with the political
ridden scandal in Brazil being a typical example, whilst the escalating
geopolitical tension in Turkey could also derail the path to recovery within
the asset class. The recovery in commodity prices has aided sentiment in EM of
late but any sharp correction could result in a change in fortunes.
In this month’s
Newsletter, we find an interesting article on insurance titled - Focus on Insurance: top tips for managing a successful claim by Katie Fowler. As promised, ITFA has also introduced the Question & Answer Facility. In this Newsletter ITFA has issued the first Insurance Committee Opinion.
We look forward to hearing from you with
any feedback you may want to share with us by sending an email to myself, any
of the Board Members or to our general email, info@itfa.org.
Best wishes,
Sean Edwards
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