The Centre of Banking Law at the University of Johannesburg in partnership with the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( JCCI), is hosting an International Banking Conference, which will see panels of South African and foreign experts discussing aspects of banking and international trade law, as well as commercial crime. The central themes of this highly acclaimed conference are demand guarantees, standby letters of credit and commercial crime.
The conference takes place on April 11- 12 2016 at the Council Chambers (UJ) and the JCCI Building, both in Johannesburg.
“The purpose of the conference is to identify and address important issues currently affecting guarantee instruments and bank-related commercial crime,” said Prof Charl Hugo, the Director of the Centre for Banking Law at the University of Johannesburg.
The international speakers include: Professor James Byrne and Mr Christopher Byrnes from the US; Mr Vincent O’Brien from Ireland, Dr Jin Saibo from China and Dr Soh Chee Seng from Singapore. They represent highly acclaimed international expertise in relation to guarantee instruments and commercial crime.
The South African speakers are Professors Charl Hugo and Dawie de Villiers of the University of Johannesburg, Professors Michelle Kelly-Louw and Heinrich Schulze of Unisa, Professor Johann de Jager of the South African Reserve Bank, Ms Susan Potgieter of the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) and Brigadier N T Pieterse of the South African Police Service.
The conference discusses topics such as: the use of demand guarantees and standby credits; South African perspectives and recent jurisprudence on guarantees; the ISP98 and URDG (industry rules relating to guarantee instruments); local and foreign jurisprudence; counter-undertakings and problems; prime-bank or high-yield investment fraud; ponzi schemes; pyramid schemes; affinity schemes; commercial crime from a South African perspective; letter-of-credit fraud; commodity fraud; and the combatting of commercial crime.
“Conference participants are drawn into discussion relating to the current and potential application of guarantees and standby letters of credit, the advantages of subjecting these instruments to industry rules such as the URDG and ISP98, the implication of local and international case law on guarantee and standby practice, the problems and modern manifestation of international commercial crime, international case law relating to international commercial crime, and how it can best be combatted,” added Prof Hugo.
The international expertise, gathered for this conference by Prof Byrne (who heads the Institute of International Banking Law and Practice in the US), is present in South Africa to attend the meeting of the Banking Law Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce last week in Sandton.
