New financial products, regulatory improvements and more responsive economic policies have enhanced the performance of countries in the Absa Africa Financial Markets Index 2019, produced by OMFIF. Now in its third year, the index evaluates financial market development in 20 countries across the continent.
TFG heard Judd Holroyde, Head of Global Product Management, Wells Fargo. We talked about the changing payments landscape, about SWIFT and SWIFT Gpi and how the FinTech creativity can be used as a customer value proposition messenger.
Existing systems are woefully inefficient, siloed or still paper-based and many of them have not improved for decades. The Marco Polo Network is working with Financial Institutions, Corporates and Technology & Service Providers to remove the barriers preventing them from operating at their best.
AGTB: New kid on the block. TFG heard from Daniel Gould, Deputy CEO of Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank, and its new digital offering for trade finance in the UAE and MENA region. Building a trade bank from scratch without relying on legacy technologies has enabled AGTB to reimagine trade finance, building a competitive product for the corporate banking space.
The Italian Banking market continues to face headwinds and pressures around new payment service directives (PSDII), challenges from the regulator, and changing customer needs. TFG caught up with the CEO of regtech innovator CBI about their latest product CBI Globe, and how this is positioned to help Italian banks succeed and grow.
TFG spoke to the author of ‘Digital Ecosystems within Trade Finance’, a BCG, SWIFT and ICC report on the state of networks and consortia, the key problem points within trade and trade finance, as well as the current barriers in terms of digitalisation both from a corporate and bank perspective. Deepesh spoke to Sukand Ramachandran at BCG about how global trade is changing and the role of digital ecosystems within this.
In Europe, small and mid-sized companies make up an astonishing 99% of all businesses – and over the last five years they generated 85% of all new jobs in the region. at a time of accelerating economic uncertainty and technological change, it would be irresponsible for those of us with the power to act not to do what we can to give the drivers of Europe’s economy the tools they need to succeed.
