This week, FCI Secretary General, Peter Mulroy, was in New York to visit our members before the holiday season, all the while visiting the whimsical Christmas lights and experiencing the festive cheer that only the Big Apple displays so uniquely.

He met with the management team at Standard Chartered Bank, the New York Branch, to finalize the associate membership as the newest FCI member in the SCB group. The meeting included Mr Joao Galvao, Managing Director, Head of Trade Finance Sales, Americas; Mr Jordane Gerard Rollin, Head of Product, Americas; and Ms Claudia Lee, Head of Open Account, Americas.  This was driven by a large transaction involving SCB NY Branch as Export Factor and Wells Fargo Bank US as Import Factor. This will be the first of what we expect to be many cross-border open account transactions channelled through the FCI network. It’s a great opportunity for SCB to capture new opportunities when using the support of correspondent relationships within the FCI network to support their cross-border receivables finance transactions. With nearly 400 members in +90 countries, FCI welcomes the SCB NY Branch as the 10th member country within the SCB network.

Peter also visited another new member that joined this month, The State Bank of India, New York branch, where he had the chance to meet with the management team there in person and was welcomed by Mr Virendra Bansal, Country Head, US Operations; Mr GANGESHWAR JHA, VP Head of Credit; and Mr Jatin Arora, VP Head of Trade. This new addition to the FCI network will bring tremendous new opportunities to support the growth of the South Asia-North American open account trade flows. SBI NY Branch already established a bustling domestic factoring book, and joining FCI and expanding internationally is the logical next step. 

Peter visited another member, the Bank of China NY Branch, where he met with Ms Heidi Da, the Vice President Trade Services Department. Ms Da spoke to Peter about the opportunities and challenges facing the market in China, the developments at the branch in the US, and the impact the current inflationary and higher interest rate environment has had on their client’s supply chain businesses. 

Peter also met with Mr Marc Heller, the President of Cit Commercial Services, one of our founding members, along with Mr Jon Cong, VP & International Relationship Manager and the team. There he learned of the tremendous year the company has had to start with the acquisition of the CIT group by First Citizens Bank, along with the tremendous growth the company experienced throughout the year, partly stemming from inflation and the post-pandemic boom. However, Marc indicated some dark clouds are on the horizon in terms of business activity stemming from the increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve and the build-up of inventories during the year, which translates into a slower fourth-quarter performance. However, Peter reminded him that CIT had experienced a nearly 100% growth rate in their international business this year, certainly one of the bright stars in FCI!

Finally, Peter also met with Ms Ling Chang, CEO and Founder of LedgerFunding, our new Partner Member based in New York. They are not a factor themselves but support members by developing and aggregating international business opportunities and finding funding sources for the membership, acting as a receivables marketplace. 

We want to thank all of the members who took the time to meet Peter this holiday week, and we look forward to seeing you all attend the upcoming 55th FCI annual meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, 17-21 September, where all the new members will be given the opportunity to present themselves to the FCI council. Wishing you all a happy holiday!