FACC Members and guests of Coface gathered on Wednesday, May 9 for the third annual seminar, "Country Risk Trends", at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. The panel discussion was moderated by Coface North America President, Michael Ferrante.

Hans Belcsak, the first panelist, presented "A Political World", and addressed the effect of politics on factoring risk. He stated that the main risks today are political, not economic. Belcsak also spoke on regional trends around the globe.

The New Economic Challenge regarding China was presented by Manli Zhang; she covered China's credit strengths and challenges, as well as their current external liquidity position. Yves Zlotowski covered "Emerging Asia", which included Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Thailand.

An informative presentation on the current business climate in Latin America was presented by Santiago Mosquera, followed by Yaroslav Lissovolik, who discussed Russia in 2007: "A New Development Paradigm" in particular, the Stabilization fund. Finally, Zlotowski concluded the panel discussion with the Coface Risk Assessment of Europe, focusing on payment experience, the twin deficits of Eastern Europe and Turkey, and exposure to depreciation risk.

Guests gathered following the discussion for networking and a cocktail reception.