Record Detail Back
THE FINANCE OF FOREIGN TRADE
- Share to:
Tins is an unconventional book practical rather than
theoretical. The methods of financing foreign trade described
in it may not follow exactly the ordinary accepted
rules laid down by writers on economics, but they are those
to which the importer and exporter have to conform when
seeking financial facilities from bankers.
"
If you would
only tell us how you do the business, and what it really is
you expect us to do, there might be some chance of our
understanding the position/
1 said one exporter. An
importer also remarked,
" Why don't some of you bankers
put your cards on the table and write a book that will give
us information on the procedure to be followed to get our trade financed ?
"
Well, after many such conversations
with importers and exporters, it seemed not a bad thing
to try to explain in detail the principles of trade finance,
and this small book is the result.
A quarter of a century's experience in import and export
finance has made it plain to the writer that merchants and
shippers are frequently anxious seekers after help and
guidance, and one sometimes wonders whether they get it
quite in the way they want. An exporter will discuss with
the banker ways and means of financing his wares ; he will
spend an hour or so trying to probe what are to him the
mysteries of finance, and even then go away with the
"
what for ?
"
expression in his eyes that shows he has not
understood all he should have done about the business.
For such this book is written, and the author trusts they
will not consult its pages in vain.
There never was a time in the history of our country
when it was more necessary to expand its foreign trade, and
certainly a step in the right direction is for all to know
how to finance that trade, particularly with those countries
that appear to offer greater possibilities than, say, the old
markets. Where a field for enterprise appears to exist, we
have shown it, and how the trade is financed is described.
Other avenues may be explored in a future edition.
The author has to thank Mr. Leslie Couper, C.M.G.,
and Mr. R. Roy Wilson, M.P., of the Bank of British West
Africa ; Sir Newton Stabb, O.B.E., and Mr. H. D. C. Jones,
of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation ;
Mr. A. W. Martin, of the Anglo-South American Bank, Ltd. ;
and a whole host of bankers and overseas correspondents
for advice and assistance. He is also specially indebted
to Sir William Clarke, of His Majesty's Department of
Overseas Trade, for full information on the
"
Export
Credits Scheme." That each and every one of these
gentlemen may be rewarded by a rush of traders to avail
of their financial assistance is the earnest hope of
WILLIAM F. SPALDING.