Finastra

Your Monday morning coffee briefing from TFG. A container ship ran aground, blocking the Suez Canal which carries about 12% of global maritime trade. The blockage may take some time to clear, further disrupting global shipping, already beset by high freight costs and delays caused by the pandemic.

More than 90% cost savings could be possible from using distributed ledger technology to handle authoritative digital original documents

Digitalising these documents may seem like a bridge too far for some banks, but the risks of not investing in these technologies are comparatively greater.

This is not the time to be imposing trade sanctions, it is the time to be lifting trade restrictions and easing tariffs on essential goods. – Simon Paris

TFG heard from Iain MacLennan, VP Trade & Supply Chain Finance, Finastra on how blockchain and DLT can close in the trade finance gap experienced by SMEs.

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 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?

Shop Talk: TFG spoke to VP Trade & Supply Chain Finance ahead of 2020, to catch up on what kept tech giant Finastra on their feet in 2019, as well as hearing their top predictions for technology, trade and supply chain in 2020

Events such as Brexit, the US-China trade war, political unrest between China and Hong Kong dominated the headlines in 2019, have all had significant implications on global trade. However, it has not all been bad news – with increased levels of cooperation and technological innovation, the outlook for trade/finance moving into 2020 could be promising.

Trade Finance Global, in partnership with Finastra, sat down with 6 global experts in trade to get a low down of 2019, the key themes and trends, as well as what’s been at the front of mind for practitioners in trade, receivables and supply chain finance.

How do fintechs work with banks, and how can we rethink the customer journey for trade finance? TFG spoke to industry experts, in partnership with Finastra.

To really move global trade to the next sustainable, transparent, fair, free and efficient stage that younger generations rightly expect to see, we need to find effective ways to replace age-old ways of doing business with a modern standards framework and modern technology.

We spoke to the Finastra’s CEO Simon Paris about the future of trade and challenges of capitalism, during the World Trade Symposium at New York. We discussed key themes around bilateralism and multilateralism in global trade and why we need to turn our eyes to plurilateralism. A typical SME trade finance transaction is $25,000, but the average cost to trade finance instruments is $4,000 and this is not particularly helpful in addressing the trade finance gap. Is the technology the remedy here?

We spoke to Anabel Gonzalez during the World Trade Symposium in New York. We discussed whether the current US-China trade war had a positive impact on Latin American trade flows. Geopolitical uncertainty continues to threaten foreign investment and economic growth, particularly in emerging markets. Policymakers around the world are fretting about trade uncertainty and its impact on access to business finance, meanwhile, innovation and competition remain critical for economic growth.

New York, World Trade Symposium. With the world trade order under threat from protectionist movements, tit-for-tat tariffs, and a shift away from free and open trade, TFG’s Editor Deepesh Patel caught up with ICC’s Secretary General and Member of the World Trade Board, John Denton at Finastra’s World Trade Symposium.