From the point of view of bank process reengineering theory, the paper focuses its discussion on definition and features of international trade financing based on the principles and requirements of financial innovation. Through the clarification for international trade financing process and comparison for ways of international trade financing under traditional trade settlement methods, trade fi...

This paper shows that in an open economy a banking system with close bank-firm relationships may be easily subject to contagious banking crises, because it is difficult to distinguish between “crony capitalism” and main bank relationships. There is cronyism if banks renew loans to insolvent projects and, as a consequence, accumulate losses. On the other hand, banks could be only temporarily ill...

BIS Working Papers are written by members of the Monetary and Economic Department of the Bank for International Settlements, and from time to time by other economists, and are published by the Bank. The views expressed in them are those of their authors and not necessarily the views of the BIS. Limited extracts may be reproduced or translated provided the source is stated.

T he World Bank Group consists of five institutions— the International Bank for Reconstruction and De-ment Disputes (ICSID). Its mission is to fight poverty for lasting results and to help people help themselves and their environment by providing resources, sharing knowledge , building capacity, and forging partnerships in the public and private sectors.

The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Bank for International Settlements or the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. We thank Már Gudmundsson, James Yetman, Anella Munro and participants of the 6 th Norges Bank Conference on Monetary Policy for helpful comments. We also thank Marek Raczko for superb research assistance.

Your Excellency, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners Your Excellency, the Chief of State Protocol Your Excellencies, Heads of International Organisations represented in the Republic of South Africa Deputy Governors of the South African Reserve Bank Senior Management of the South African Reserve Bank and their spouses/partners Media representati...

In spite of many challenges faced by the Baltic States during the recent economic and nancial crisis, their progress since independence in 1991 has been remarkable. In about two decades those countries have been transformed from being centrally planned economies and part of the former Soviet Union, into modern countries that are rmly integrated into the global economy. Since the independence ...

Biographical notes: Poh Kam Wong is currently Associate Professor, Business School and Director, Entrepreneurship Centre, National University of Singapore. He obtained two BS degrees, an MS and a PhD from MIT. He has published in numerous international journals on innovation strategy/policy and technology entrepreneurship, including Organization Science, Journal of Business Venturing, Informati...

documentary credit or letter of credit (lc) is one of the methods of payment in international commerce. the documentary credit is a binding commitment from the issuing bank to pay a sum of money to the beneficiary on certain conditions. the applicant needs to contract with an issuing bank to open a lc. the legal nature of such contract is a controversy issue and thus different opinions are brou...