Trade Finance Conference Prague 2019

Two days International Workshops on Trade Finance operations with special focus on Documentary Credits, Bank Guarantees and other Trade Finance services.

Best Practices in Practice.

This Seminar is a must for:

• bankers working in trade finance, particularly in documentary credits, collections, bank guarantees and export financing departments;
• front office bank specialists, relationship managers;
• specialists in trade finance, bank risk managers, internal auditors;
• exporters, importers and traders;
• carriers, freight forwarders, insurance companies;
• lawyers, advocates, academics;

Practical workshop on international best practices in Documentary Credits, explaining current developments and issues related to interpretation of UCP 600 and revised ISBP 745E – the ICC rules for Documentary Credits.

Workshop will also focus on new developments in international Bank Guarantees with particular emphasize on implementation of URDG 758 – ICC Rules for demand guarantees. Significant time will be devoted to operational issues, practical case studies, examples and open discussions on the topics covered.

This year, paticular emphasis would be laid on the law and practices in Bangladesh and China!

Many other topics would be also covered, such as information about new development in the digitalization of trade finance, corresponding revisions of ICC rules, Incoterms 2020 revision, etc.

Lunch, coffee breaks and coctail will be provided during the Conference.

Seminar Language – English with no translation!

Organizer – ICC CR – reserves the right to adjust the program, if needed.

The Trade Finance Conference is approved by The London Institute of Banking & Finance for granting the PDUs.

Participants of the Conference may earn 10 PDUs, or 5 PDUs for one day, separately.

Programme of the Workshop, 30 September 2019 – the First Day (Monday)

Topic: Documentary Credits, UCP 600 and ISBP 745, Conditions of Credits, Examination of documents, Questions & Answers

08:30 – 09:00 Registration

09:00 – 09:15 Welcome and Opening of the Conference, Representatives of ICC CR

09:15 – 10:30 Documentary Credits – update

• News from the last ICC Banking Commission meeting
• Most recent ICC Banking Commission Opinions - debate
• Key provisions of eUCP, eURC – ICC Rules for electronic presentations under documentary credits and collections
• Incoterms 2020 revision

Speaker: Pavel Andrle

10:30 – 10:50 Contact break

10:50 - 12:00 Documentary Credits in Bangladesh – insights into the local practice

• Issues related to conditions of credits issued by Bangladeshi banks
• Examples of problematic conditions and their impact:

• General
• Conditions related to transport documents
• Conditions related to insurance documents
• Questions and Answers

Speaker: Nesarul Hoque

12:00 - 13:30 Lunch

13:30 – 14:00 Financing under Documentary Credits: practice in China

• Various forms of financing provided under documentary credits and their features
• Questions and Answers

Speaker: Zhu Hongsheng

14:00 – 15:00 Documentary Credits in Practice – experience from Bangladesh

• Issues related to conditions of credits issued by Bangladeshi banks
• Examples of conditions and their impact:

• Reasons behind the problematic L/C conditions
• How to deal with them, practical suggestions
• Questions and Answers

Speaker: Nesarul Hoque

15:00 - 15:20 Contact break

15:20 – 16:10 Documentary Credits – Examination of documents as per UCP 600 and ISBP 745

• Various issues related to examination of documents examination
• Questions and Answers

Speaker: Radek Dobáš

16:10 – 17:00 Digitalization of Trade Finance – Focus on current developments including DLT and Blockchain technology – views of experienced specialists

• Current developments in ICC digitalization efforts
• What can we expect from the blockchain technology in the near future? Where are we now?
• Digitalization landscape – description of current platforms and their features
• Questions and Answers

Speaker: Pavel Andrle

and panelists: specialists in DLT technologies

17:00 – 18:30 Closing remarks & coctail

Programme of the Workshop, 1 October 2019 – the Second Day (Tuesday)

09:00 – 09:45 Demand Guarantees – update

• News from the recent ICC Banking Commission meeting
• Development of ISDGP – discussion

Speaker: Pavel Andrle

09:45 - 10:30 Bank Guarantees, ICC Rules for Demand Guarantees – URDG 758

• Proper wording v. mistakes in practice
• Effectiveness clauses, reduction, termination clauses
• Demands under demand guarantees
• Examples, cases
• Questions & Answers

Speaker: Pavel Andrle

10:30 – 10:50 Tea / Coffee Break

10:50 - 12:00 Demand Guarantees in China – the law and its interpretation

• Judicial Interpretation Rules on Independent guarantees by Supreme court of China
• Comparison with URDG758
• Questions and Answers

Speaker: Zhu Hongsheng

12:00 - 13:30 Lunch

13:30 - 14:15 Guarantees in Bangladesh – practical experience

• Independent and Conditional Guarantees
• Demand Guarantees – the law and the practice
• What an international banker should know about Bangladeshi law and practice? Issues related to the counter-guarantees
• Case Studies, Examples

Speaker: Nesarul Hoque  

14:15 - 15:00 Demand Guarantees – significant court decisions in China

• Main current issues related to Guarantees and Counter-guarantees in China
• Injunctions in China – experience
• Questions and Answers

Speaker: Zhu Hongsheng 

15:00 - 15:20 Tea / Coffee Break

15:20 - 16:00 Demand Guarantees – various issues

• Various troublesome issues in the international guarantee practice
• Extend or Pay provisions
• Questions and Answers

Discussion with panelists: Zhu Hongsheng, Nesarul Hoque, Pavel Andrle, Jiří Schveinert

16:00 – 16:30 Closing remarks & Closing Ceremony

Suggested speakers:

 Pavel Andrle

Mr. Andrle, BSc., LL.M is the Secretary to the Banking Commission of ICC Czech Republic which he regularly represents at the ICC Banking Commission meetings abroad. He chaired the working groups of ICC CR which revised translations of UCP 500, UCP 600, eUCP, ISP98, URDG 758 and other Banking Commission documents as well as Incoterms 2010 into Czech language. He has been deeply involved in the revision of UCP as a member of UCP 600 Consulting group being formed by over forty experts from all over the world.

He was involved in development of URBPO as a member of the ICC Banking Commission Consulting group on BPO. Nowadays, he is a member of ICC Task Force on Guarantees, also a member of the new ICC Banking Commission Global Supply Chain Finance Forum (which recently incorporated the previously working Consulting group for Forfaiting). In years 2010-2011 he served as a member of the ICC Banking Commission Group of Technical Advisors which drafted the official ICC Banking Commission Opinions on ICC Rules.  Pavel is also a Member of the Panel of Experts of ICC Documentary Instruments Dispute Resolution Expertise (DOCDEX) Services of ICC, Paris, France, and Editorial Advisory Member of Documentary Credit World (DCW).

Nowadays, he is well known as an international trade finance consultant and lecturer. He has conducted trainings and consultancy services in more than 55 countries of the world. He wrote very successful book on “Examination of documents under Documentary Credits”.

 Zhu Hongsheng

Mr. Zhu Hongsheng is a member of Task Force Group on Guarantees, ICC banking commission, a member of Drafting Group of International Standard Demand Guarantee Practice, ICC, and is listed in DocDex Group, ICC. Mr. Zhu Hongsheng is the Chair of Guarantee Expert Group, ICC China. Mr. Zhu Hongsheng serves as Products Expert for China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd and General Manager of Products Center, Transaction Banking Department, China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd.

Mr. Zhu Hongsheng has degrees of International Economics and Jurisprudence, Awarded Lawyer Qualification by Judiciary of the P.R. of China since 2000, and a candidate of Phd. in law, China University of Political Science and Law. Upon invitation of the Supreme Court of China, Mr. Zhu Hongsheng attended the discussion meetings on every draft of the Judicial Interpretation rules on independent guarantees, and provided comments to the Supreme Court of China for every draft of these rules.

Mr. Zhu Hongsheng is a regular speaker on guarantees and trade finance in banking industry in China and in international events organized by ICC or other international organizations such as IIBLP, ICC Austria etc. He traced the revision process of Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees (URDG758), positively engaged in the promotion of the Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees (URDG758), published series of research papers on Uniform rules for Demand Guarantee (URDG758), guarantee practice and trade financing in China Forex, Trade &Finance magazines.

 Nesarul Hoque

Hoque is a seasoned banker with over fourteen years’ experience dealing with
almost every facets of international trade. He is currently employed at Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB) with the responsibility of looking after the MTB Financial Institutions Department along with offshore banking activities. Prior to joining MTB in 2011, he was with Bank Asia Limited from the inception of his banking career there as a Management Trainee from 2005. An MBA with specialization in Management from the University of Chittagong – a leading public university, Hoque also graduated from the same institution in business administration.

In his endeavor in international trade arena, Hoque has achieved quite a few prestigious professional certifications including Certified Documentary Credit Specialist (CDCS) credential in 2009, Certificate in International Trade (CITF) in 2011 and Certificate for Specialists in Demand Guarantee (CSDG) in 2015, all from the London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF), UK. He has also been awarded the trade finance professional certification, otherwise known as CTFP, by ICC Academy and the standby & guarantee professional certification or CSGP by International Institute of Banking Law and Practice (IIBLP) in 2017. As a recognition of his contribution to the international trade community in general, documentary credits, standby letter of credits and demand guarantees in particular, Hoque has been accredited as a Member of the Panel of Experts of ICC Documentary Instruments Dispute Resolution Expertise (DOCDEX) Services of ICC, Paris, France.

Hoque is the Contributing Editor of Trade Service Updates (formally known as LC monitor) - a quarterly LC Magazine, and Editorial Advisory Member of Documentary Credit World (DCW) - the most authenticated monthly documentary credit magazine in the world, published by IIBLP. He is also a regular research member on various trade service related issues organized by Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM). He has been regularly writing articles pertinent to documentary credit business for the last ten years with over 30 published articles on various international trade magazine including but not limited to Trade Services Updates (TSU), Documentary Credit World (DCW), DCinsight and LC Views, etc. Hoque frequently appears as a regular speaker and panel member at home and abroad in various international trade seminars, workshops and conferences.

 Radek Dobáš

In 1995 he started his professional career in the International Department of Creditanstalt, a.s. (later Bank Austria Creditanstalt, a.s.) in Praha as a documentary business specialist and in 1999 he was appointed head of the documentary business team. He then joined Česká spořitelna, a.s. in 2001 to become documentary business specialist of Trade Finance Department, heading the team since 2003.

Radek has been a member of the ICC Banking Commission since 2002. He participates not only in the commission's regular work (e.g. reviewing and commenting ICC documents), but also by giving lectures and joining panels at the seminars held by ICC Czech Republic. As a part of the activities within the ICC Czech Republic he was a member of working groups engaged in translations of ICC documents into Czech language (both UCP 500 and UCP 600, and also ISP 98) and commenting the bill of the Czech Civic Code (with respect to documentary-credit and collection contracts). As a member of the ISBP Consulting Group he actively took part in the ISBP revision resulting in Publication 745. As a DOCDEX Expert he participates in ICC dispute resolution services.

Event registration fees:

12.900,- Kč incl. 21localhost VAT per person / 520 € incl. 21localhost VAT per person

• Standard discounts applicable for members off the ICC Czech Republic.
• Registration for the event is binding, no refund.

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