Tech company TradeSun has sued OpenAI for unfair competition and copyright infringement after the AI giant called its new model “Astra” – the same name as TradeSun’s trade finance software. TradeSun argued in an October 5 lawsuit that OpenAI’s vast marketing power means the name Astra will solely be associated with the ChatGPT provider and…

A man accused by energy trader Niels Troost of masquerading as a CIA spy to defraud tens of millions from his Swiss trading company was a secret counter-terrorism informant for the FBI, the US government has admitted. In a high-profile spat, Gaurav Srivastava has been accused by Troost of being a “brazen con man” who…

Until recently, the Radiant World group of companies was little known outside the world of iron ore trading. But in the last two months, the company has faced an onslaught of accusations from lenders that it issued fake invoices, alongside a breakdown of its once-close relationship with mining and trading giant Glencore. Radiant World has…

Hot on the heels of a 2023 refresh, a new round of talks kicked off this year to hammer out another modernisation of the OECD Arrangement on Export Credits. Exporters and banks are now jostling to draw attention to the changes they want made to the rules that govern export finance in wealthy nations. What…

Embattled commodity trader Radiant World secured financing from stablecoin issuer Tether in 2024 for its base metals trading business, according to people familiar with the arrangement. In late 2024, shortly after expanding into commodity trade finance, Tether provided Radiant World with a committed facility worth US$150mn, one of the people said. The facility was intended…

A Jefferies trade finance fund has said it doubts the existence of more than US$1bn in receivables on the books of troubled commodity trader Radiant World, citing what it alleges is the firm’s “very serious, very large and very complicated fraud”. Jefferies-owned LAM Trade Finance Group II secured a worldwide freezing order against two Radiant…

Stablecoin issuer Tether and asset manager Fasanara Capital are setting up a private credit fund that will include trade finance instruments and make use of the USDT stablecoin. Fasanara founder and chief executive Francesco Filia told GTR the Cayman Islands-incorporated fund, called StableFund, will deploy capital through products such as invoice finance and supply chain…

Mizuho has alleged that troubled commodity trader Radiant World fabricated communications with resources giant Glencore in an attempt to prevent the bank from demanding repayment of almost US$100mn in financing. Radiant World has faced mounting legal challenges in recent weeks following reports the company allegedly provided banks with fake invoices to obtain trade finance for…

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has paid a record dividend to shareholders as the multilateral lender reported its biggest-ever half-year profit. Cairo-headquartered Afreximbank posted a US$534.7mn profit for the first six months of the year, the bank said last week, a 30% improvement on the first half of 2025. Earnings were buoyed by a 22%…

Prateek Gupta was convicted of forgery offences by a Dubai court in 2024 over his role in a more than half-a-billion-dollar nickel trading fraud against Trafigura, but later acquitted on appeal, court documents show. Trafigura sued Gupta in London in 2023, alleging he was behind a fraudulent transit finance scheme that cost it more than…

Banks are benefitting from higher demand for trade lending, a GTR review of half-year earnings suggests, although there are signs of weakening in the Middle East after months of disruption to shipping and supply chains. Several lenders in Europe and

A typewritten two-page document that spent more than 30 years filed away in an Illinois government department is partly to blame for jitters among US banks and their clients over the security offered by standby letters of credit (SBLCs). SBLCs are widely used as security for contracts and lending in the US, including by banks,…

HSBC has appointed Kai Fehr as head of Europe and Ajit Menon as head of the Americas in its Global Trade Solutions unit, after Marissa Adams, who previously held both roles, left the bank.   In addition to their regional leadership duties, both Fehr and Menon will have joint global responsibility for the trade division’s industry groups, according to an internal memo seen by GTR. Fehr will cover institutional…

Crédit Agricole has led a SKr47bn (US$4.8bn) loan to Poland for the purchase of three submarines for the country’s navy, backed by a guarantee from Sweden’s export credit agency (ECA). The loan is being provided to the Polish State Treasury Armaments Agency via state lender Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK). The proceeds will be used to…

An entity in the collapsed Stenn group has alleged it was sold fake invoices by UK trade finance provider Jardine Norton and is seeking almost £30mn in restitution.

Fintech Tradeshift has exited a joint venture with HSBC, which was established to offer embedded trade finance solutions on a global scale by marrying the world’s largest trade bank with fintech know-how. The enterprise, called SemFi, was launched in 2024 as a “world-first” effort to integrate invoice finance solutions into B2B e-commerce marketplaces. The collaboration…

The European Commission has said it will review the regulatory treatment of trade finance as part of a planned legislation drive to make European banks more globally competitive and free up lending for the bloc’s businesses. The policymaking body launched a consultation last year seeking feedback on how it could help the banking sector remain…

A Singapore court has struck out an attempt by the liquidators of Hin Leong to hold auditor Deloitte liable for US$2.6bn in trading losses suffered by the collapsed commodity trader. Hin Leong imploded in 2020 after plummeting oil prices exposed a years-long trade finance fraud. The company’s liquidators filed a series of claims against Deloitte,…

Deutsche Bank has become the first global commercial lender to secure a standalone World Bank guarantee platform for a portfolio of trade transactions. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga) has created a €1bn platform covering Deutsche Bank’s non-payment risk on trade transactions involving select state-owned banks in emerging markets, according to a July 14 statement.…

A court has ordered the Quintar Kimura Special Credit Fund to repay an investor just over US$4mn for a sub-participation in a loan to a troubled Chilean copper mine. The bulk of the award reflects what a London judge determined was the market value of US asset manager Yieldpoint Stable Value Fund’s sub-participation in the…