We caught up with Peter Jameson, Head of Trade and Supply Chain, Asia Pacific in Bank of America. We discussed the highlights of 2019 and the opportunities in 2020 for the trade, receivables and supply chain finance. There will be continued pressure on trade flows, with reduced volume, commodity prices, and financing demand. Despite this, Asia Pacific’s growth prospects remain favourable as compared to other regions. Businesses continue to seek growth and focus on further developing their banking needs in the region.

We discussed with AIG some of the challenges and opportunities in the trade credit insurance sector. Enabling the much-needed reduction of the trade finance gap, and bringing in a wider array of investors while mitigating the risks of such expansion in the backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty will be a huge challenge in 2020. However, dealing with a broader collection of participants in the trade finance ecosystem in terms of jurisdictions, size of the borrower, types of assets and fintech entrants set us up for interesting times.

As the most authoritative voice in the trade finance industry, ICC Banking Commission, maintains a permanent dialogue with regulators and supervising bodies, helping to develop regulations affecting the industry.

2019 has been a fairly promising year of growth for some emerging and developing markets, but with continued regulatory scrutiny, correspondent banking relationships continuing to be a cut, and a sluggish growth forecast for 2020, what does this mean for trade in EDE’s?

With the growth of major players such as Ant Financial in Asia in 2019, TFG asked Accenture’s European Banking Lead, Cecile André Leruste, on her thoughts and predictions for trade and SCF in 2020, focusing on growth coming out of South Asia.

We heard from Steven Beck, Head of Trade Finance at the Asian Development Bank, giving his musings on 2019, a year of uncertainty in trade, and what 2020 might bring for trade and supply chain in Asia.

Michael Bickers, MD, BCR Publishing walked us through the trends in supply chain and receivables finance in 2019, arguably one of the most uncertain in the last decade. In an interview with TFG, Bickers gave his view on what’s in stock for SCF and receivables in the year ahead, commenting on APIs, blockchain and competitive growth in supply chain finance, in preparation for the BCR Supply Chain Finance Summit in Amsterdam this month.

TFG heard from Charles Bryan, Secretary General of EESPA. The global market is forecast to encompass 550 billion invoices annually. It is expected to quadruple in size by 2035.

We heard from BCG’s Sukand Ramachandran on the consequences of trade wars and Brexit for global trade, and what this could mean for 2020. Will there be a downturn or disruptive shock, or will innovation and new capital help trade in the next 12 months?

TFG’s Nikhil Patel sat down with ITFA Chairman, Sean Edwards, discussing the highs (and lows) of 2019, from a trade, tech and regulatory perspective. We asked ITFA’s view on whether the fireworks of trade wars might slow in 2020, and what’s needed for blockchain to work for trade in 2020.