The new edition of this popular title has been expanded to cover the international aspects of lending, in particular, the Middle East, Africa and South America. It covers the impact of the latest techniques of lending assessment as well as legal issues concerning lending to corporate and private individuals. It features chapters on acquisition finance, franchising, factoring and control of a lending portfolio. It also offers a perspective on the increased use of technology against traditional lending techniques. Some highly topical areas have been expanded. Sovereign risk has been incorporated and the whole area of rating agencies has been updated to include the difference between the ratings and the primary need of the banker, i.e. the Probability of Default. Finally, there is now greater emphasis on the analysis of cash flow and the switch by lenders from the analysis of profitability and the need to produce and use cash flow projections.