Helping To Weather The Storm With A Trade Bank For All Seasons

Treasury and Trade Solutions 8 Helping clients work through supply chain disruption Recent events have underscored the importance of a steadfast, experienced and innovative financial collaborator and advisor when it comes to helping to mitigate exposure to market risk. The value can be particularly evident when businesses are required to act swiftly in response to rapid, widespread or unexpected developments. Throughout the pandemic, leading banks have been a stalwart for businesses — working closely with clients to help support their daily operations and working capital needs and working to ensure the wheels of global trade continue turning effectively. At the height of the pandemic, many supply chains came under severe strain and shifted course, buying behaviour patterns dramatically changed and some businesses experienced credit rating downgrades. U.S. credit downgrades, in dollar terms, during the 2020 pandemic shock were among the largest seen, according to Citi Research. Companies looked for banks close to their clients around the world and which were positioned to help connect clients with multilateral agencies (MLAs), export credit agencies (ECAs) and development agency financing to support them quickly and efficiently. For instance, Citi was recently involved in notable UK Export Finance (UKEF) supported transactions in which a high- end automobile maker accessed a high value loan facility as part of the Export Development Guarantee scheme and a leading engineering client was the beneficiary of a loan that gave it the financial resources to take advantage of green trade opportunities. Examples • The collapse of Greensill Capital put many supply chains at risk. As a result, many affected companies turned to financial institutions (FIs), like Citi, to help absorb their trade flows and financing needs. Citi provided support to several major corporates including a telco company, which faced the challenge of onboarding a high spend, strategically large client along with several hundred suppliers across multiple markets. Through regular correspondence, transparency and the company’s close management of its key stakeholders — including its suppliers — the telco’s needs were met within a restricted timeframe, helping to mitigate the risks presented by the fallout. • As the COVID-19 pandemic reached Brazil, Citi helped Kimberly-Clark (K-C) ensure that its hygiene products were available to protect families and communities with a distributor finance solution. K-C quickly mobilised resources across its global business services (GBS) division and approached Citi to develop a solution to mutually sustain and grow its business during this difficult period. Our combined team quickly stepped up, often at very antisocial hours, to create and deliver a bespoke solution at pace. The outcome was a strategy helping to drive sales growth and support K-C’s wider distribution ecosystem, whilst helping to address working capital needs in an efficient way. ..