By Chris Twum
The Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIB) Ghana has organised a four-day seminar as part of its third congregation in Accra.

The seminar, dubbed 'The Risk and Sale of International Trade Finance Products' began yesterday, and will end on the 19th April 2012, at the Mensvic hotel in Accra.

According to a statement issued by the CIB, it indicated that the four-day seminar would touch on issues concerning the financial sector, particularly towards building the capacity of players in the financial industry, to have the prospects of the West African Gas Pipeline, whiles having strategically positioned itself to take advantage of the resultant opportunities in the oil industry.

The statement further observed that the seminar would examine all aspects of international methods of payment and specifically zoom into the various risk and fraud issues under letters of credit.

The four-day seminar would give participants the opportunity to have a full insight into the complicated methods of payments, operations and selected trends in the trade business.

'Additionally, the new capital requirement by the Bank of Ghana will compel banks to judiciously and profitably deploy such inflow of funds'.

'An obvious area of focus will be sale of international trade products in the execution of international businesses. Since the dominant method of payment in this international trading transaction is the letters of credit, it is imperative that bankers understand the transaction dynamic and nuances of this business to avert associated risk of using such an instrument for payment', it added.

The statement said the seminar would afford the opportunity to gain a working knowledge of the applicability, advantages and disadvantages of international methods of payments and settlements.

It said the current financial crisis has driven many exporters to look to banks undertaking these means of securing their exports.