Dear
Members and Friends,
As
we come to the end of another year, let me first take the opportunity to thank
all those members and guests who attended our Christmas Cocktail Party, which
was held on 11th December at the remarkable Victorian Bath House.
This venue was host to one of the most enjoyable seasonal parties we have yet
organised. For the ITFA Board, this event was an opportunity for us to thank
you, our members, for your continuous support and enthusiasm. All ITFA members may view the event photos by clicking here.
Everyone
in our industry would know that Emerging markets have, over the years, offered
very generous returns to investors, despite the fact that the sensitivity to
both commodities and the movement in the dollar currency have always been seen
as a threat. Few may be aware but in reality, selective EM countries are much
better positioned than developed economies from a fundamental perspective.
The
market’s appetite for risk evidently dropped in the initial weeks of November, but
recovered swiftly thereafter. That said, there are several fundamental factors
that could drive a change in the credit landscape in 2018: rising yields,
volatility and the impact of US tax reforms.
Nevertheless,
markets remain well positioned to close off the year on a strong footing.
Moreover, a weaker US Dollar coupled with the current low inflation and buoyant
growth outlook has been benign for risky assets. Global economic growth has
been supportive and surprised to the upside, which in turn has buoyed commodity
related sectors, in particular oil & gas and basic materials. Future
earnings growth will therefore be very sensitive to China. Going forward, the
recurrent theme will be China as there are slight signs that the economy is
losing steam and slowing.
In this month’s newsletter
we read an inspiring article titled ''There are No Superwomen; There are Only
Women who have Support'' by Shannon Manders, GTR. Katharine Morton then
provides us with the summary of the Insurance Roundtable held in Edinburgh in
the month of September.
ITFA continues to update you on the various events held in the last months;
ITFA partners with IBS to deliver a Trade Finance Seminar in Lisbon, SEARC
Trade Finance Symposium 2017 held in Singapore and the ITFA GRC Workshop held
in Frankfurt.
May
I remind you all that the ITFA conference website is now live. The beautiful
coastal city of Cape Town awaits us! We urge you to visit www.2018conference.itfa.org to register at your earliest and take
advantage of our Super Early Bird Price. The conference will be held between
4-6 September 2018, so please save the date!
In
the meantime, I wish you all the very best for the festive season and a healthy
and prosperous new year.
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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