At the 2023 ITFA Trade and Investment Forum in London, Trade Finance Global spoke with Alexander Malaket, president, OPUS Advisory Services, to learn more about trade finance as an asset class, the promise of a standardised rating system, and the role of ESG as a catalyst for investment

In this episode of Trade Finance Talks, Deepesh Patel, editor at TFG was joined by Chris Southworth, co-chair of Legal Reform Advisory Board at ICC Digital Standards Initiative, and Nick Davies, director of the Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation.

Today, the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat and the World Bank Group announced their pilot initiative, Action on Climate and Trade (ACT), to help developing… read more →

Trade is critical in advancing economies, including those in the MENA region. At the same time, trade finance presents unique opportunities for criminal exploitation, also referred to as Trade Based Financial Crime (TBFC).

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Citi are jointly supporting the rollout of a sustainable supply chain finance programme for Finnish technology and services company Metso Outotec… read more →

Visa has announced a partnership with PayPal and Venmo to trial their new program, Visa+. This new service looks to help individuals transfer money rapidly and safely between different person-to-person… read more →

ESG is certainly not a new development, but its growth and importance in financial services have never been higher. Whilst there has been a big focus on the “E” in ESG, we’re also seeing a lot of progress in tackling other aspects, such as social action to address societal challenges. One of the biggest social challenges in global trade is the huge, and growing, finance gap.

The MLETR (Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records) is a revolutionary solution that aims to transform the trade finance industry by providing an open framework for digitising trade documentation. 

The geographically dispersed nature of international trade creates inherent difficulties when it comes to trusting a counterparty that may be located on the opposite end of the world.

Dubai’s undeniable growth in trade, logistics and the financing of international commerce has made it one of the most desirable trade destinations in the world. This is why I invested more time with members of the ITFA Middle East committee in 2022.