We have achieved our objective which was to support our customers with a single banker able to address all their needs in the area of international commerce. Export and Trade Finance offer complementary products in terms of security enhancement and financing of import, export and foreign investment. In order to devise solutions fitting every particular situation it is essential to have the complete range of relevant products available in the tool-box: letters of credit, international guarantees, buyer and supplier credits, forfaitingNon-recourse purchase of trade receivables, export supplier's credit.

Furthermore, each of the Export and Trade Finance teams, by the very nature of their activity, must operate as a network: any deal involves two contacts, in the two countries at both ends of the cross-border transaction. Consolidating two business networks has reinforced our efficiency in terms of coverage and responsiveness.

First of all, it has broadened the competence scope of the teams, through initial training and thanks to the daily pooling of know-how and practices. It has also reinforced the sense of belonging and the cohesion of a business line able to resort to various product expertises in order to fulfil its global mission. Lastly, the conjunction of two different “cultures”, one centred on short term deals demanding responsiveness and the other on transactions with a longer maturing time and sometimes a higher degree of complexity, brought about a real professional enrichment. Everyone discovered another facet of their job, including myself!

In 2008, this activity showed resilience to the crisis as evidenced by a NBI increase of 12% compared to 2007. Global demand started to sag towards the end of the year only and we have been able to significantly improve our margins against a backcloth of weakening and even disappearance of some of our competitors.