First Brands’ Blowup Puts Trade Finance in Spotlight
Tariffs have made the tools more essential for many businesses. Plus, J&J’s CFO talks about pricing, the economy and the company’s orthopedics business.
The bankruptcy of First Brands, which owns Fram and other brands, may prompt finance providers to take a closer look at their lending relationships.
Photo credit: George Frey/Bloomberg
Welcome to CFO Briefing, a newsletter dedicated to corporate finance and what leaders need to know. This week, I take a closer look at the demise of First Brands and its implications for supply-chain finance, and chat with J&J’s Joe Wolk.
What to do when your bills and salaries come due, but your customers take their time to pay? For many CFOs, the answer is trade finance. It’s a broad term used to describe arrangements that allow companies to obtain funds by, for instance, selling their outstanding receivables to a third party or securing a letter of credit from a bank.