Finance
Supply chain finance gains steam amid pandemic disruptions
The pandemic and subsequent financial disruptions are prompting main development in a product banks have lengthy provided: provide chain finance.
It helps suppliers keep on higher monetary footing, permitting them to receives a commission earlier for the products they’ve offered. It is interesting for firms shopping for the provides, too, as a result of it helps guarantee suppliers stay wholesome and hold offering items at a time of persistent shortages and rising prices.
Although provide chain finance has an extended historical past — with roots stemming from historical Mesopotamia however extra not too long ago rising within the Eighties and Nineties — bankers say the pandemic has highlighted its worth.
“It clicked, and it clicked quick,” stated John McQuiston, head of structuring and program administration at Wells Fargo’s international provide chain group, including that gentle bulbs turned on “over the heads of the treasurers and [chief financial officers] of massive and small and midsized firms alike.”
Provide chain finance is totally different than factoring, the place suppliers use invoices due them to get cash upfront from a lender, which earnings by taking a large chunk of the accounts receivable.
For a lot of suppliers, provide chain finance could be cheaper than factoring as a result of they’re bringing that bill to the client’s lender, relatively than their very own, to receives a commission earlier. By doing so, they’re able to use the client’s credit score standing — which is usually higher as a result of they’re bigger — to find out the haircut their bill will get. The haircut is usually smaller due to the client’s decrease credit score prices, letting the provider hold extra of the cash.
Patrons additionally profit, because it lowers their suppliers’ price of working and helps the suppliers keep afloat throughout instances of stress.
That’s vital for firms that rely on a key provider to make their merchandise, because it helps enhance the provider’s money move and “keep that move of provide,” stated Bryan Ford, head of treasury administration at Areas Financial institution in Birmingham, Alabama.
A decade in the past, bankers wanted to take extra time to elucidate the mechanics of provide chain finance after they known as on their industrial shoppers’ suppliers, based on Geoff Brady, head of worldwide commerce and provide chain finance at Financial institution of America. However now, suppliers are extra acquainted with the advantages to each events.
“That is what is producing the expansion, whenever you see this profit on each side,” Brady stated.
Provide chain finance volumes within the Americas grew to an estimated $995 billion in 2021, up from $726 billion in 2020 and $530 billion in 2019, based on the newest World Provide Chain Finance report from BCR Publishing.
Volumes had been on an upward development within the years earlier than the pandemic, as patrons realized that the belt-tightening following the 2007-08 monetary disaster was hurting their suppliers.
For years after the disaster, giant companies regarded to spice up their money move by delaying their funds to suppliers so long as they might, doubtlessly a number of months. Then they realized that “extending cost phrases shouldn’t be free” and was placing their suppliers in stress, stated Miami College professor Lisa Ellram, who co-edited a e book on provide chain finance.
Provide chain finance lets firms hold these prolonged cost phrases — and reap the advantages of hanging onto their money longer — all whereas giving their suppliers an inexpensive choice to receives a commission earlier.
However its development shouldn’t be with out dangers. Banks are opening themselves as much as threat by assuming that their shoppers can pay the financial institution again for paying invoices from suppliers early, a prospect that will grow to be harder if financial turbulence hits, Ellram stated.
The sector is getting extra scrutiny after the collapse of the nonbank firm Greensill Capital, a British and Australian agency that offered provide chain financing and went bankrupt after straying into riskier territory. Final yr’s scandal remains to be hampering the Swiss financial institution Credit score Suisse, together with via a high-stakes court docket battle with the Japanese funding big SoftBank, which invested in Greensill.
The Securities and Change Fee can be taking a more in-depth have a look at provide chain finance, for the reason that transactions aren’t categorized as debt beneath firms’ monetary statements and will subsequently masks an organization’s indebtedness. Corporations which have had to answer SEC letters asking for extra particulars on their applications embody Coca-Cola and Boeing, each of which informed the company their applications haven’t been materials.
In July, the Monetary Accounting Requirements Board, which units accounting guidelines in the US, permitted a set of disclosures that firms must make about their provide chain finance applications.
Different firms that use provide chain finance embody the buyer items firm Procter & Gamble, which stated in its annual report that it “typically gives the suppliers with extra favorable phrases” for discounting their invoices since they’re utilizing P&G’s creditworthiness.
Provide chain finance is not largely a product for multinational companies. Bankers say elevated digitization of invoices and different paperwork has made the method extra environment friendly, serving to banks supply the product to extra middle-market companies relatively than giant companies.
However the middle-market sector and sub-investment-grade companies stay an “underserved market” that comparatively few banks have been keen to serve, stated Joerg Obermueller, managing director of CIT Group’s provide chain finance enterprise. CIT is now a part of Raleigh, North Carolina-based First Residents BancShares after an acquisition this yr.
“I feel most of the gamers perceive that now. How they’re responding to that, I do not know,” Obermueller stated. “We’re actively concerned, and we like this market.”
Banks corresponding to Citigroup are additionally more and more centered on “deep tier” financing, which basically gives the identical sort of provide chain finance program to a provider’s suppliers — or in some instances, the following tier down.
Citi is working with the bill finance fintech Stenn to speed up its efforts in that area, which it says will assist small and midsize firms throughout the globe which have historically struggled to get reasonably priced credit score.
“In an elevated rate of interest surroundings all these companies are much more vital as suppliers want extra resilient sources of funding” since their prices will go up, Adoniro Cestari, Citi’s international head of working capital options & structured commerce, stated in an electronic mail.
Finance
Canada government adrift after finance minister resigns, Trump tariffs loom
By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) – The abrupt resignation of Canada’s finance minister leaves the government adrift less a month before the inauguration of a new U.S. administration that could impose crippling sanctions on Canadian exports.
Chrystia Freeland quit on Monday after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered her a lesser position. She said his wish to increase spending could endanger Canada’s ability to withstand the damage done by the tariffs that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to impose.
Freeland had headed a special cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations and was working closely with the 10 provinces to ensure a united response.
“As a country we have to project strength and unity, and it’s chaos right now up in Ottawa,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said after a scheduled online conference call of provincial premiers on Monday to discuss the U.S. threat.
An unimpressed Alberta premier, Danielle Smith, one of Trudeau’s biggest domestic critics, said the provincial leaders had only learned halfway through their call that the point person on Canada-U.S. relations had quit.
“It’s chaos. I’d be looking at this wondering who the next leader is … are they going to be able to bring forward a coherent plan? Is there going to be a team that is able to do a Team Canada approach?” she said.
“It’s not the greatest time to have a vacuum,” she added, calling for a national election to help restore stability.
Unhappy legislators from the ruling Liberal Party, some of whom have been calling on Trudeau to quit for months, met on Monday in Ottawa to vent their frustration.
The Liberals are trailing badly in the polls ahead of an election that must be held by late October 2025. Trudeau has until now ruled out the idea of resigning but if pressure on him mounts significantly, the results could be unpredictable.
“Trump will be inaugurated in 34 days. Canada must have a stable government,” former Trudeau foreign policy advisor Roland Paris said in a post on X.
When Trump came to power in 2017 he vowed to tear up the trilateral free trade treaty with Canada and Mexico. Freeland, who was then foreign minister, played a large role in helping renegotiate the pact and saving Canada’s economy, which is heavily reliant on the United States.
Vincent Rigby, a former national security and intelligence adviser to Trudeau, said Freeland’s departure meant the Canadian stance with Trump was up in the air.
“This is going to be quite problematic for the prime minister from a political perspective, but it’s now also going to be problematic in terms of how the Canadian government deals with an incoming Trump presidency,” he said on the sidelines of an event in Washington.
Finance
By denying Adams funds, the undemocratic Campaign Finance Board is election-meddling
The unelected city Campaign Finance Board just denied Mayor Adams access to more than $4 million in matching funds for his reelection fight — showing yet again the profoundly undemocratic nature of New York’s public-campaign-finance system.
The board declared Adams ineligible to receive public monies on the strength of alleged crimes and corruption, yet his trial on federal charges — and thus any factual finding of guilt — won’t even start until April.
And those charges themselves sure look like they’re motivated by politics (i.e. payback to Adams for challenging President Biden on the border crisis).
Yes, when it comes to the public fisc, even the appearance of impropriety is supposed to be a big no-no.
And Adams can appeal the decision; he still has millions in his war chest; etc. etc.
But this is at least a serious wound to his candidacy.
Again, at the hands of the CFB, which is neither directly elected nor remotely answerable to the voters of New York, nor really to anyone.
Yet it behaves as though it has the public mandate to shape and even decide election outcomes.
Consider the 2013 mayoral race: The CFB suddenly denied matching funds to then-Comptroller John Liu over alleged corruption, too — and so cleared the left lane of the Democratic primary (and near-certain victory in the general election) for a lumbering, communist-loving dimwit from Cambridge, Bill de Blasio.
That proved to be deeply consequential for all New Yorkers, eventually ushering in an era of high crime, failing schools, COVID insanity and general civic decay.
(The CFB also impacted the mayoral race in 2000, by the way, making up rules on the fly about what funds could go out the door for what after the 9/11 attacks forced a postponement of the primaries.)
Now all the leftists taking aim at Adams are jumping with joy over this decision.
The matching-funds rules themselves increase the field of candidates who’ve learned how to work the public-finance system, paying out an unthinkably lavish $8 for each (apparently) qualifying $1 in donations.
All on the taxpayers’ dime.
New York City progressives love to scream and shout that democracy is under threat.
Whatever happens in Adams’ case, the latest CFB intervention is a reminder the progressive idea of democracy often isn’t very democratic at all.
Finance
Global Paychecks: Personal Finance Tips From The Remote Work Boom
Right now, in Río Tercero, a small city in Argentina near Córdoba, Virginia More works with Pinterest as a software engineer, bridging her local experience with cutting-edge Silicon Valley projects. Similarly, Luis Ramos Paco, from Santiago de Llallagua, Bolivia—where growing potatoes and raising animals is necessary to provide for one’s family—now works with a US-based SaaS client to update its legacy system with a friendlier UI.
The remote work revolution has opened doors for skilled professionals like Virginia and Luis worldwide. Companies like BairesDev– which connects Latin American talent with U.S. tech firms– are bridging global income gaps and allowing tech talent and software engineers into an increasingly globalized job market while staying close to their families and communities.
“The region offers a rapidly expanding talent pool, strong cultural alignment, and geographical proximity to the U.S.,” Nacho De Marco, CEO and Co-Founder of BairesDev, explains. “This facilitates seamless real-time collaboration and efficient workflows. 33% of U.S. businesses now want to outsource their business operations to a country that’s close by. Professionals from Latin America have a similar work culture to their North American neighbors and possess a high level of English proficiency.”
As a result of this type of demand, many BairesDev workers who once faced limited opportunities in rural areas now earn between $30,000 and $80,000 annually, placing them in the top 5% of earners in their home countries.
Other companies like Toptal and Adeva work in similar ways to connect talented and skilled individuals to job opportunities around the world, breaking down barriers to entry and revitalizing local economies.
If you’re considering a remote job that can connect you to a different corner of the global marketplace, here are some important things to consider as you embark on your job hunt.
Earn Globally, Live Locally
One of the most significant advantages of remote work is the ability to earn in a high-income market while living in a lower-cost region. BairesDev, for instance, has had more than 6,000 of its Latin American-based workers integrate with teams in U.S. companies, like Google and Pinterest.
“During recruitment, we focus on a candidate’s competence over their credentials,” explains De Marco. “We also prioritize the future potential that someone can bring, in addition to their current skillset. This approach means discovering exceptional talent from diverse and often overlooked sources. Historically, around 40% of our developers come from non-metropolitan areas.”
Yes, that means you can live a balanced lifestyle in a quaint town like San Miguel de Allende while working with a U.S.-based tech giant.
Earning a higher paycheck while keeping your cost of living steady provides wealth-building opportunities, allowing you to build an emergency fund, pay off debt, and invest in property and other assets. Be sure to cross check the purchasing power of the currency you’ll be paid in to that of your local currency to ensure that you’re maximizing your potential earnings. Also make sure that the salary you’re being offered is fair compared to what employees at the company’s headquarters are making.
Track Finances Carefully
Once you’ve secured your remote job, you’ll want to set up a financial plan to ensure that you are maximizing your global paycheck without running into any snags. Opening a multi-currency bank account can help you minimize exchange rate losses and transfer fees, and many offer automations to make conversions between currencies seamless.
Also make sure to budget for any potential fluctuations in the foreign currency, as factors like inflation, interest rate adjustments, and governmental changes can affect the value of the foreign currency. As long as you’re earning well above your local cost of living, it’s smart to set aside a percentage of your earnings as a buffer to offset any potential currency devaluation.
As you continue to earn more, it’s also wise to invest a portion of your income into diversified assets so you can grow your wealth over time. Many companies offer financial planning services as a benefit, and it can be especially helpful if you’re a first-time investor. Financial planners can also help you with your taxes, which can be more complicated when earning across borders.
Maintain Motivation and Work-life Balance
Though the higher salaries in other countries can sound so enticing that you consider working odd hours, try not to jump at just any opportunity for a higher paycheck. Instead, look at the big picture and consider the fact that your long-term earning potential is contingent upon factors like work-life balance, upskilling, and staying motivated. Working with a talent company like BairesDev can help set you up for success in this regard.
“By hiring candidates with strong communication skills and collaborative skills, our workforce is well-prepared to navigate the typical challenges associated with remote work,” says De Marco.
For smoother collaboration with your fellow employees– and to remain present in your day-to-day life– look for jobs at companies with similar time zones to yours. This will cause minimal disruptions to your schedule, allowing you time for family and social obligations– and time for learning new skills that can help you land your next job. Popular remote industries like tech, design, and project management tend to be good about providing professional development opportunities outside of the traditional workday, and you want to remain fresh and motivated to seize grown opportunities as they come.
Redefining Success: Building Wealth Across Borders
In an increasingly borderless world, the path to financial independence might be closer than you think. Companies like BairesDev are receiving over 2 million applications annually for remote work opportunities—approximately 10,000 applications every day, proving that demand for global remote jobs is continuing to grow.
“In the U.S., the demand for tech talent is outstripping supply, with roles like information security and software development expected to grow by 33% and 18%, respectively, over the next decade,” says De Marco. “Latin America is rising to meet this demand, with Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina producing significantly more software engineers annually than the U.S.”
Opening doors for global talent also sparks a larger shift in how we think about work, money, and opportunity. This is not a small trend; it’s going to continue to be a defining feature of the global economy in the decades to come— and it’s very possible to make this work in your favor.
For professionals considering this path, remote work offers a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between higher global earnings and a lower local cost of living. With the right financial strategies—like careful currency management, smart investment strategies, and a focus on work-life balance—there is a very real opportunity for talented employees across the globe to achieve financial freedom without uprooting their lives.
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