ICC Banking Commission Meeting in Athens takes innovative approach!

The most recent meeting of the ICC Banking Commission took place in Athens on Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16 April 2008.

The first day of the meeting was dedicated to the core tasks of the ICC Banking Commission. Following the welcoming remarks from Ms. Regina Prehofer, Banking Commission Chair and Mr. Guy Sebban, the ICC Secretary General the work of the commission got underway. ICC Opinions and DOCDEX. Mr. Gary Collyer, the Technical Advisor to the Banking Commission lead the discussion on ICC Official Opinions as well as recent DOCDEX cases.

A highlight of the first day was the presentation by Dr. Georges Affaki providing the commission members with an update on the progress of the revision of the Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees (URDG)

Clear support was shown for this driven by demands in the international commercial market.

The second day of this important event was dedicated to panel discussions on critical issues facing the trade finance markets.

The panels included:

1. the global credit crunch.
2. innovations in the supply chain.
3. standardization in electronic Invoicing
4. regional market focus

The regional market focus panel was chaired by Vincent O’Brien, First Director of eBSI. This panel included discussions on developments in Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

The next meeting of the ICC Banking Commission will take place in Paris on Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th October 2008.

The next meeting in Paris will be held in association with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).