By Rajan Dhami, Francesca Umicini-Clark and Simon Cook

On 10 September 2019, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) issued a much anticipated set of revisions to the Incoterms – the international commercial terms published to clarify the obligations of buyers and sellers in trade contracts, which will come into force on 1 January 2020. In a further attempt to adapt to current commercial practices and provide innovative solutions, Incoterms 2020 have introduced a number of significant changes.

The most notable changes include:

Leading independent legal directory, The UK Legal 500, 2020, was published last night. In the Trade Finance category Sullivan is ranked, for the sixth consecutive year, in the top tier.

Geoffrey Wynne is included in the UK Legal 500 ‘Hall of Fame’ 2020 for his trade finance experience, and both Simon Cook and Mark Norris are listed as ‘Leading Individuals’. Managing associate Hannah Fearn is again included as a ‘Rising Star’ and associate Sam Fowler-Holmes recognised for his structured and unstructured trade finance.

Early in September ITFA launched its new Unfunded Master Risk Participation Agreement (MRPA) and associated user guidelines for use by its members. Later this month it has also arranged for Sullivan to issue a CRR compliant legal opinion.

I am very pleased to announce that Sullivan's trade and export finance team has won its third significant trade finance award in 2019.

This week ITFA published its revised guidelines on CRR-compliant insurance policies. The guidelines were first published in 2016 to assist banks with navigating the complex rules for credit risk mitigation that apply to non-payment insurance policies.

Sullivan's London insurance team is very pleased to have worked with ITFA to update the guidelines to reflect recent regulatory developments, including the Prudential Regulation Authority's policy statement on the use of certain types of credit risk mitigation (published in March of this year).

ITFA has published "A guide to accounting and legal issues under IFRS 9 for the trade receivables and supply chain finance industry."

These are ITFA's first set of guidelines on the standards aimed solely at the trade and supply chain finance industry, since the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued IFRS 9, which came into force on January 1, 2018.

International financial services association BAFT (the Bankers Association for Finance & Trade), together with ITFA (the International Trade and Forfaiting Association) have published an updated New York law Master Participation Agreement (NY MPA) and associated guidelines. BAFT, together with ITFA, put together a working group of experts to review the existing form and identify changes based on current market practice.

by Amanda Montano and Alexander Swayne

Sullivan is pleased to have been named "Best Trade Finance Law Firm" 2019 by leading trade finance publication Global Trade Review (GTR) at its annual Leaders in Trade awards, held on 2 May 2019 in London.

The Leaders in Trade awards highlight excellence in the trade, commodity, supply chain and export finance and fintech markets.

International law firm Sullivan & Worcester LLP has today unveiled a dynamic new brand and logo.

The firm will now be known as "Sullivan" and, in conjunction with the name change, has revealed a bold, striking logo intended to graphically symbolise the forward-thinking and creative approach that the firm brings to client matters.

"Sullivan has always been a firm of innovative and strategic thinkers with a keen focus on getting positive outcomes for our clients. Our new brand and logo capture our firm’s energy," said Joel Carpenter, managing partner of Sullivan.

By Hannah Fearn, Geoffrey Wynne and Marian Boyle

Today the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has published a Policy Statement (PS 8/19) and updated Supervisory Statement (17/13 “Credit Risk Mitigation”, which will come into force on 13 September 2019) in relation to the use of different types of guarantees as unfunded credit risk mitigation (CRM) for the purposes of calculating capital requirements under the Capital Requirements Regulation (575/2013) (CRR).