Tradetech

Shop Talk: TFG sat down with Peter Mulroy, Secretary General of FCI, to discuss his views, from an FCI perspective on the factoring and SCF industry in 2019, as well as his thoughts for what could be in stock for 2020. Hold on tight!

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.

As part of the wider strategic media partnership with BCR Publishing TFG are delighted to announce that we are supporting the leading provider of receivables finance market intelligence for three major events from their annual agenda, namely the Blockchain for Supply Chain Finance Masterclass, Receivables Finance International Convention and the RFIx 2020.

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.

Geneva, 2nd December 2019. Today, at the WTO’s ‘Global Trade and Blockchain Forum’, ICC, TFG and WTO released a white paper combining over 200 responses from banks, corporates, fintechs and associations in the trade sector, as well as over 20 consortia, on the broader impact that distributed ledger technology (DLT) is having on the trade industry.

Letter of Credit Trade finance as a whole had been struggling to traverse the divide into the digital age until it got a boost from blockchain technology. The Letter of… read more →

With opportunities in mind and challenges addressed, we are free to look ahead to what the experts believe the future of the industry has in store. According to our survey… read more →

Trade Finance Global caught up with Head of Macroeconomic Research, Ana Boata at Euler Hermes last month at The Institute of Export & International Trade’s World Trade Summit. A very interesting macroeconomic view on how households, retail and economic growth has changed in 2019 due to trade wars, Brexit and business uncertainty.

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.

TFG heard from the inspirational CEO of CBI, Liliana Fratini Passi. CBI is an innovation society leading the way for PSPs and the transaction banking industry in Italy. Liliana spoke to TFG about the latest changes, and what this means for bank, in terms of ISO 20022, UN/CEFACT and PSD2.

With the outcome of Brexit negotiations still shrouded in uncertainty, a priority for the UK remains to establish lasting, meaningful trading relationships with key partner states. As Joshua Allsopp of Leumi UK explains, Israel has become an important partner for the UK in several industries.

With the development of more interconnected alternative finance options for businesses and the emergence of open banking in the marketplace, the option of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending is seeing a great increase in popularity over the years among its SME audience.

With trade and economic sanctions becoming an ever more popular tool of foreign policy in today’s uncertain geopolitical climate, AML, screening and anti-fraud obligations are increasing in scope and complexity. At the same time, the growth in international cross-border trade to around $16 trillion per annum creates an environment that’s ripe for abuse for those wanting to launder money or finance terrorism or criminal activities through the guise of legitimate trade.