Coface - UK & Ireland 'Opportunities in Trade' Country Risk Conference
Wednesday 8th June 2011, The Emirates Stadium, London
2011 Country Risk Conference Presentations
2011 Country Risk Conference Photos
2011 Country Risk Conference Video
From protection against the risk of non-payment to maximising domestic and export opportunities, there are steps that can be taken to support corporate survival and success. This conference was created to help companies and their advisers define a strategy that will help them achieve both.
During this half-day conference, high profile speakers assessed the developments of the past year, offered economic information and practical credit management advice and examined the main trends shaping the UK and world economies.
Speakers from:
Xavier Denecker, Managing Director, Coface UK & Ireland
Conference Host and Moderator
Xavier Denecker has been the Managing Director of Coface in the UK & Ireland since November 2007. Prior to this appointment, Xavier developed Coface business in Spain and Portugal, being the Managing Director of the Iberian platform for 7 years.
From 1997 until 2001, Xavier was the Deputy Manager for Coface in Italy. Based in Milan he was responsible for the Credit Insurance and the Commercial Departments.
When Xavier joined Coface in Paris, in 1990, as the Communication Director, he created the Communication Department.
Previously, Xavier has held various positions within the French Bank Credit Mutuel, as well as with Banque Louis Dreyfus.
Xavier, who has a wide background in banking and international business as well as credit insurance, is a graduate of the Pantheon Sorbonne University – Paris, France and the Institut Technique de Banque - Paris, France (Banking Technical Institute).
Xavier has been awarded the honour of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, by the French Government.
Glen Bullivant, Credit Representative on the Institute of Credit Management’s Advisory Council
'Setting the scene from the ground'
What are the issues faced by export credit managers in the UK in this fast changing global economic environment?
Biography
Glen is one of the best known figures on the ICM’s Advisory Council and is also President of FECMA (Federation of European Credit Manager Associations) and leading industry advisor. Glen is heavily involved in promoting ICM best practice around the world and frequently gives advice on Middle East and economic trends worldwide.
Glen is a senior qualified credit manager and financial administrator with career-long exposure to the function at a number of important industrial and service organisations. An advocate of total quality management, he has strong commercial awareness of the necessary integration of credit management with the other functional activities of business. Glen is a firm champion of the contribution of credit management to profitability and growth, and to overall commercial success.
Glen is an avid author on credit management subjects - he is currently editor and main contributor to "Credit Management" by Gower Press, the main textbook for the ICM education syllabus and recently rewritten in 2010.
David Smith, Economics Editor, The Sunday Times 
'The world economy - sleepwalking into another disaster?'
In responding to the banking crisis, governments and central banks have put growth ahead of inflation and correcting dangerous global imbalances. In this age of instability, are they blowing new financial bubbles that will plunge us back into deep trouble?
Biography
David Smith has been Economics Editor of The Sunday Times since 1989, where he writes a weekly feature. He is also an assistant editor, policy adviser and chief leader-writer. Prior to joining The Sunday Times, he worked for The Times, Financial Weekly, Now! Magazine, the Henley Centre for Forecasting and Lloyds Bank.
He has won a number of awards, including the Harold Wincott award for Senior Financial Journalist of the Year. David is a regular contributor to the CBI's Business Voice and also writes a home economics feature in the property section of The Sunday Times.
David is the author of several books, including 'The Rise and Fall of Monetarism', 'North and South’, 'From Boom to Bust', 'UK Current Economic Policy', 'Eurofutures', 'Will Europe Work?', 'Free Lunch: Easily Digestible Economics' and 'The Dragon and the Elephant: China, India and the New World Order'. He is a visiting professor at Cardiff University.
Dr Robin Niblett, Director, Chatham House
'Fighting for Growth: Economic and Political Prospects for Europe'
With instability within the Eurozone and at Europe's borders, what are the prospects for the region?
Biography
Dr Robin Niblett became Director of Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs) in January 2007. Chatham House serves as a forum for informal debate of the most pressing challenges to global security and prosperity, and as a source of independent analysis and ideas for decision makers in government and the private sector.
Before joining Chatham House, from 2001 to 2006, Dr Niblett was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Washington based Centre for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), one of America's largest and most influential foreign policy think tanks.
Most recently he is the author of the Chatham House Report, 'Ready to Lead? Rethinking America's Role in a Changed World' (2009) and editor of the book 'America and a Changed World: A Question of Leadership' (2010). He is also the author or contributor to a number of CSIS reports and contributing author and co-editor with William Wallace of the book 'Rethinking European Order' (Palgrave, 2001).
Dr Niblett is a frequent panellist at conferences on transatlantic relations. He has testified on a number of occasions to US Senate and House Committees on European Affairs. He regularly provides commentary to the media, including BBC, ITN, CNN, National Public Radio and the Newshour with Jim Lehrer. Dr Niblett has also contributed articles to the Financial Times and other UK broadsheets.
Chris Williamson, Chief Economist, Markit Economics
'The UK Economy – where are we now and where are we heading?'
What does the latest Market Data predict? Will the manufacturing sector and export markets continue to be the engines of economic growth?
Biography
Chris Williamson studied Economics at the University of Nottingham, and Economic Development at the University of Manchester. Chris joined NTC Economics in 1992 where he led the development of the company’s business in the field of economic research, including the highly-regarded Purchasing Managers' Index surveys, which are now conducted in 26 countries and key regions. Following the acquisition of NTC by Markit in 2008, Chris now holds the position of Chief Economist at Markit and is the company's principal spokesperson on economic issues, commenting regularly on global economic trends in national and international print and broadcast media.
Markit Economics is a specialist compiler of business surveys and economic indices, including the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) series. The PMIs have become the most closely watched business surveys in the world, favoured by central banks, financial markets and business decision makers for their ability to provide up-to-date, accurate and often unique monthly indicators of economic trends.
Yves Zlotowski, Chief Economist, Coface
'Update on Coface Country Ratings – a global perspective of Country Risk'
Yves has been chief economist of the Coface group since October 2007. He joined Coface in September 2001 as senior economist in the Economic research and Country Risk department, in charge of CIS and then Emerging Asia.
Before joining Coface, Yves was an Emerging Markets Economist at Credit Agricole Indosuez on Eastern Europe and, before then, economist at the French Treasury Agency in Moscow, Russia, where he spent 3 years.
Yves has a Phd in monetary economics (1998) and has published several articles on emerging economies, Russia, Turkey and central Europe. He also teaches at the University Paris Dauphine. He has travelled in Brazil, Argentina, China, Turkey, South Africa, Poland, Ukraine and Central Asia for his economic assessments.
Contact Us
For any enquiries about the Country Risk Conference please contact:
Heidi Cotsworth
Heidi_cotsworth@cofaceuk.com
+44 (0) 1923 478320
Country Risk Expertise
Country and sector assessment is one of Coface’s key areas of expertise and enables international trade players to further secure their transactions. Coface provides country assessments for 155 countries, assessing the average level of risk associated with a country’s companies in connection with their short-term commercial transactions and closely measures how the related financial commitments are influenced by the country’s economic, financial and political outlook.
Visit the Country Risk and Economic Research area of our site for the most up-to-date country and sector assessment and risk analysis.
Country Risk Handbook
Coface’s yearly Handbook of Country Risk provides up-to-date analysis of the risks involved in trading with 155 countries, giving each one a unique country risk assessment and discusses the business climate assessment. The guide will be of value to those making export and international investment decisions; finance managers responsible for credit risk and debt collection; trade finance professionals and organisations involved in trade development.
The book costs £85 - to order your copy please call 01923 478111.
