Contents

Editorial Policy | Trade Finance Global

Summary

The purpose of these editorial guidelines is to protect and foster the bond of trust between Trade Finance Global (TFG) and its readers, viewers, and listeners, and to protect the integrity of TFG’s journalism and publishing across all formats. 

As a set of guidelines, this document does not form part of any staff member’s contract of employment at TFG, nor part of any disciplinary, promotional, or recruitment procedure. 

However, by observing these guidelines, TFG employees will be protecting the independence, standing, and reputation of themselves and their colleagues. 

Freelancers, when working on behalf of TFG, are also expected to abide by these guidelines, though are not contractually obliged to.

Our editorial board

Trade Finance Global (TFG) has established its Editorial Board to uphold high editorial standards and offer guidance on the fast-evolving topics of trade, treasury, and payments. With over 160,000 monthly readers and more than 7.1 million organic impressions, TFG delivers authoritative and relevant content to professionals worldwide.

The Editorial Board consists of leading figures across trade finance and treasury sectors. Their collective expertise is vital to TFG’s strategic planning, content development, and editorial direction. The Board meets three times annually to review editorial priorities, discuss emerging trends, and ensure content accuracy and relevance.

Key Functions and Responsibilities:

• The Board provides input on TFG’s editorial calendar, proposing key topics and priorities based on industry developments.
• Members contribute to maintaining TFG’s high standards of accuracy, relevance, and forward-looking content.
• The Board fosters partnerships across the trade finance community, including collaboration with industry professionals, academics, and policymakers.
• Board members contribute articles, moderate discussions, and help curate a network of influential contributors from within the sector.

The board

Tod Burwell

President and CEO

Bankers Association for Foreign Trade (BAFT)

Sean Edwards

Chairman, ITFA

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation – SMBC Group

André Casterman

Founder and Managing Director

INTIX

Sarah Murrow

Chief Executive Officer, Allianz Trade Americas

Michelle Knowles

Head of Trade and Working Capital (Pan Africa)

Absa Corporate Investment Banking

Alexander Peters

Group CFO of Torq Commodities AG

Trade Finance Global

James Hurley

Vishnu Purohit

Group Head – Trade Product Management,

Emirates NBD

Rudolf Putz

ODDO BHF

Joon Kim

Global Head – Trade Finance Product and Portfolio Management

BNY Mellon

Innesa Amirbekyan

ICC Armenia Chair

Juan Suárez Romero

Global Head Working Capital Origination

Santander

Gary Lorimer

Jonathan Parfitt

Patrick Sutton

TFG 2026 editorial policy

Trade Finance Global (TFG) is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism on cross-border trade, covering trade finance, commodities, payments, and treasury to our rapidly growing audience of over 160,000 readers and 7.1 million organic impressions per month. Our content remains freely accessible without paywalls, reflecting our mission to democratise knowledge in trade finance.

We stand out not just in terms of our speciality areas and content quality, but also for our educational hubs. Given our recent rapid growth, we feel the need to hold ourselves accountable not only through involving external parties but also by refining and disclosing the editorial policy that guides us.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

TFG is limited in our positioning on AI throughout the editorial process:

• AI tools may be used for research and data analysis
• AI tools may not be used for writing, drafting, editing, or refining the text of the article.
• All content submitted to TFG is run through AI checkers before publishing. We are happy to share a checked version of the articles submitted to the client, upon request.
• If the likelihood of the content being AI-generated exceeds 20%, or at the editors’ discretion, the piece may be sent back to be rewritten by a human. 

Grammar and style guide

General style standards:

• British English
  • Except when the original organisation name is in American English; please see ‘Job titles and organisations’ below for more details.
• Clear writing for an educated but non-expert audience
• Short, clear sentences 
• Avoid italics and bold, except for foreign terms, which are italicised.
• Content should be submitted in Arial, 12pt, with headings at H2 and up to one lower level of headings. Bullet points may be used to make lists clearer.
• Avoid cliched terms, especially those commonly used by AI. These include, but are not limited to:
  • ‘It’s not… it’s…’
  • ‘It’s more than… it’s…’
  • ‘Not only… but also…’
  • Words like ‘enhanced,’ ‘delve,’ ‘synergy,’ ‘tapestry.’ 

Punctuation: 

• Oxford comma
• No em-dashes (—) or en-dashes (–)

Titles:

Capitalise the first word in titles and subtitles, and any proper nouns. The first word following a colon will also be capitalised. So:

• NO: Meet Your Makers: Where Nvidia Thinks AI in Payments is Headed
• NO: Meet your makers: where Nvidia thinks AI in payments is headed
• YES: Meet your makers: Where Nvidia thinks AI in payments is headed

Try wherever possible to avoid the “XXX: YYYY ZZZZ” title format, as it is often overused. Shorter titles are preferable, as titles under 5-10 words do best on search engines.

To shorten titles, abbreviations may be used as long as they are explained in the first line of the article. So for example:

• YES: Trade finance gap shrinking, ADB data shows IF the first line of the article is The Asian Development Bank (ADB) published new data showing…

Quotes: 

• Verbs:
  • Past tense: ‘Said’ rather than ‘says’
  • Only neutral terms: ‘said,’ ‘added,’ ‘explained.’ ‘Alleged’ can be used for ongoing court cases; ‘told X’ if it was an exclusive quote commenting on a news piece. So, for example:
    • “The partnership is an important step towards trade digitisation,” John Brown, CEO of XXX, told Trade Finance Global.
    • Smith told the Financial Times he denied all the charges.
  • ‘Said’ goes after the quote
    • NO: X said: “trade finance is cool.”
    • YES: “Trade finance is cool,” said X. OR “Trade finance is cool,” X said.
• Double quotation marks (“”) for quotes, single quotation marks (‘’) for unusual terms
  • Punctuation always inside quotation marks
    • NO: “Trade finance is cool”, said X.
    • YES: “Trade finance is cool,” said X. 

Job titles and organisation names: 

• Attribute all quotes to Firstname Lastname, Title at Company the first time the person is mentioned, and Lastname any further times they are mentioned.
  • FIRST MENTION: “XXX,” said John Smith, Managing Director at Google.
  • ALL FURTHER MENTIONS: “YYY,” said Smith.
• Title is capitalised 
  • YES: John Smith, Managing Director at Google
  • NO: John Smith, managing director at Google
  • This should remain consistent across companies (eg, if someone writes their title in lowercase, this should be changed to title case to match TFG’s style)
  • ‘Founder’ and ‘CEO’ are the exceptions:
    • NO: John Smith, Founder at Google OR John Smith, Founder of Google
    • YES: John Smith, founder of Google.
• Use ‘Role at Company’ for all roles bar CEO and founder, which are ‘Role of Company.’ So:
  • John Smith, Head of Payments at Google. BUT
  • John Smith, CEO of Google.
• Always write out acronyms in full, except for CEO, CFO, and VP. So:
  • NO: John Smith, MD at Google.
  • YES: John Smith, Managing Director at Google.
• Preserve acronyms of regions if present in the original job title:
  • YES: John Smith, Head of MENA Payments 
  • NO: John Smith, Head of Middle East and Northern Africa Payments
• Use the shortest version of a title that is available.
• We do not report on role changes.
• Use the full name of the company the first time it is mentioned if:
  • Writing about an ongoing court case, in which case use the full name of the company present in the court documents
  • That is the name present in the press release or on the website.
• Use the shorter version all further times it comes up.
• Always use the original spelling of the organisation name, even if it is not in British English
  • YES: World Trade Organization
  • NO: World Trade Organisation
• Capital letters when referring to a specific phenomenon (i.e. the name of an event)
  • 2008 Financial Crisis
  • The COVID-19 Pandemic
• All companies are ‘it’s, not ‘they’s (singular, not plural)
  • NO: TFG are the biggest trade finance publication. 
  • YES: TFG is the biggest trade finance publication. 

Dates and numbers:

• The correct date format is Weekday, Day Month, Year. So:
  • YES: Yesterday, 12 December 2025 OR On Wednesday, 12 December 2025.
  • NO: Yesterday, 12th of December 2025.
  • NO: Yesterday, December 12, 2025.
  • NO: On the 12th of December 2025.
• Always include the date as well as the day:
  • YES: Yesterday, 12 December 2025, X announced…
  • NO: Yesterday, X announced…
• Write out in letters all numbers under ten
  • NO: The platform combines 4 key capabilities…
  • YES: The platform combines four key capabilities…
  • YES: The platform combines 12 key capabilities…

Regions and countries

• South-East Asia:
  • YES: South-East Asia
  • NO: South East Asia, Southeast Asia, SEA 
• US:
  • YES: US
  • NO: U.S., United States, USA, America
• UK:
  • YES: UK
  • NO: U.K., Britain, Great Britain
• Democratic Republic of the Congo: treated like a normal acronym (see in ‘Acronyms and abbreviations’ for details). Eg:
  • YES: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has many natural resources. The DRC’s economy is growing rapidly. 
• Türkyie, not Turkey
• Use shortened, common names, not the longer formal name. Eg:
  • YES: Saudi Arabia
  • NO: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Use acronyms only if they refer to a specific group or alliance, and always define them the first time they are used. For example:
  • YES: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members tend to have strong economies. OPEC has historically been…
  • NO: MENA is a turbulent region.
  • Job titles and article titles are the exception to this; please see above in ‘Titles’ and ‘Job titles and organisations’ for more details. 

Acronyms and abbreviations

• All acronyms must be written out in full, with the acronym in brackets, the first time they appear in an article or guide. For example:
  • YES: Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a powerful tool. AI’s potential…
• This also includes company names and common abbreviations like
  • The European Union (EU)
  • Artificial intelligence (AI)
  • Application programming interface (API)
  • Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) 
  • Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)
  • Business-to-business (B2B)
  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
  • Trade Finance Global (TFG)
• The only exceptions to this are the US and UK, which are always and only present in their acronym form, and company names which have no unabbreviated form, like HSBC or UNCTAD. CEO and CFO are also kept in their original form. 
• Acronyms never include periods:
  • YES: AI
  • NO: A.I.

Other common issues:

• Digitisation and digitalisation are not interchangeable, and mean different things:
  • Digitisation:
  • Digitalisation:
• If in doubt, define unfamiliar or specialised terms like MLETR or trade finance gap. 
• ‘And,’ not ‘&.’
• ‘And so on,’ not ‘etc.’

We maintain the right to turn down press releases if they are not editorially relevant. We do not report on role changes.

We do not include disclaimers of any kind at the end of articles, either online or in print. Trade Finance Global routinely features op-eds by and interviews with senior executives from a range of major companies, so it is understood that all opinions are the author’s own and should not be taken as investment advice. 

Further information about a company’s regulatory status can be included in hyperlinked pages throughout the article. 

IPSO regulated

As a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), TFG adheres to the Editors’ Code of Practice. The Code forms the foundation for voluntary self-regulation and ensures editorial integrity while respecting freedom of expression.

Key principles include:

• Accuracy: Information must be accurate, corrected promptly, and fairly balanced between fact and opinion.
• Privacy: Individuals’ private lives must be respected unless justified by the public interest.
• Harassment: Journalists must avoid intimidation or persistent pursuit.
• Discrimination: Avoid prejudicial references to personal characteristics unless relevant.
• Financial journalism: Conflicts of interest in financial reporting are prohibited.
• Confidential sources: Journalists must protect sources.

Exceptions apply when publication serves the public interest, such as exposing crime, protecting public safety, or preventing misinformation. Editors invoking this must justify their decisions and ensure proportionality.

Editorial board

The Editorial Board will convene three times a year to deliberate on TFG’s editorial agenda, content selection, and strategic planning. Changes within trade, treasury, and payments are fast-paced; the Editorial Board is well-positioned to discuss how best to respond to new developments, ensuring that TFG continues to address critical and emerging trends.

Sponsored content

TFG publishes a mixture of editorial and sponsored content, as well as factually informed and relevant news stories. 

Sponsored interviews involve questions being sent to and approved by the client beforehand. The final video or podcast is sent to the client for approval before publishing.

TFG commits to having sponsored content make up no more than 30% of total output. Current or prospective clients will never influence our editorial decisions or news reporting.

We maintain a strict separation between editorial and sponsored content:

• All sponsored content is clearly indicated through the inclusion of partner logos in featured images and promotions.
• Sponsored content undergoes the same fact-checking process as editorial content.
• Sponsors have no influence over our own editorial coverage or decisions.
• Our editorial team retains final approval rights over sponsored content: we decline sponsorships that could compromise our editorial integrity.
• We are transparent about disclosing commercial relationships.
• Editorial content across all TFG platforms is published under the publication’s editorial standards and legal framework. Contributions from sponsors, external organisations, and contributors do not constitute financial advice and should be taken as purely informational.

Our policy is to correct substantial errors as soon as possible. Corrections appear on the relevant web page. If you’ve spotted a potential mistake in our editorial content, please email [email protected].

Interview conduct

Our interview process across videos or podcasts, either in person or online, involves:

• Preparatory call to outline topics and questions
• TFG team drafting the question document and sending it back to the client for approval
• The interviewee will have the option to write answers in full and read them during the interview, depending on the circumstances

Plagiarism

We maintain zero tolerance for plagiarism:

• All content is original or properly attributed
• Clear citation and linking to source materials
• Immediate investigation of plagiarism allegations
• Disciplinary action for confirmed cases

This policy is reviewed annually by the Editorial Board and updated as needed to reflect evolving industry standards and best practices. All staff members and contributors must acknowledge and adhere to these guidelines.ed to reflect evolving industry standards and best practices. All staff members and contributors must acknowledge and adhere to these guidelines.