Genf: Finanzieren, absichern, kontrollieren: die Risiken des Rohstoffhandels

Finanzieren, absichern, kontrollieren: die Risiken des Rohstoffhandels – ein Teil des Buches «Genf als internationaler Finanzplatz» von Dr. Alexander Ressos.

Financing, securing, controlling: the risks of commodity trading

Commodity trading lives on credit, which in turn lives on trust. A cargo of oil, copper or wheat is worth tens of millions of dollars. The trader who buys it does not pay for it out of its own funds, while the bank that finances it never sees it. The whole chain rests on documents, certificates, guarantees and verifications, whose reliability determines the security of the transactions. When that trust is betrayed, as it was in 2020, when traders presented the same cargoes to several banks or invented cargoes that did not exist, the losses run into billions and institutions withdraw from the sector.

The risks of commodity trading go beyond fraud. International sanctions, whose scale has changed in nature since 2022, can render transactions already under way unlawful from one day to the next. The fight against money laundering and corruption imposes on traders, as on banks, due diligence obligations with regard to their counterparties, particularly in producing countries where politically exposed persons are numerous. The criminal liability of companies, introduced into Swiss law in 2003, has led to the conviction of several major Geneva and Zug houses for bribery of foreign public officials. Requirements of transparency and accountability, finally, have multiplied, from the Code of Obligations to international initiatives.

Part H examines these risks in six chapters. The first describes trade finance, its instruments and its banks. The second analyses the frauds of 2020 and their consequences. The third deals with sanctions, in particular those adopted against Russia. The fourth presents the fight against money laundering and the treatment of politically exposed persons. The fifth examines the criminal liability of companies and the cases that struck Gunvor, Glencore and Trafigura. The sixth describes the requirements of transparency and accountability, from company law to sector initiatives. As these subjects lie at the heart of the author’s practice, they are treated from the practitioner’s perspective, with the points that require verification flagged.

About the book

This part belongs to Geneva as an International Financial Centre by Dr Alexander Ressos, published here in full, section by section.