Posts Tagged ‘Technology’

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.

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.

Alfa-Bank and Novolipetsk Steel Company (NLMK), in cooperation with Commerzbank, Germany, and Vesuvius GmbH, Germany, have launched a pilot project of cross-border payments via the Marco Polo international trade finance network. For Marco Polo, it is the first Russian-German import-export operations financing project.

TFG spoke to Mishal Ruparel, General Manager at Banking Circle, about the new applications of technology in banking to help better serve the underbanked SMEs. Using AI-driven credit scoring and new approaches to analyse credit card transaction data, Banking Circle’s proposition is game-changing the world of SME finance.

The volume of space dedicated to ‘trade wars’ in the past few months is vast. But this does not guarantee the subject has been properly examined and analysed. I would like to suggest another perspective, questioning some common assumptions.

Donald Trump provoked trade disputes between the US’s trading partners all around the world. Most dramatically, Trump has imposed waves of tariffs against China on nearly half of the Chinese exports to the US.

TFG heard from David Morrish and Charles Woodgate from the London Institute of Banking and Finance, ahead of their annual conference, the World Conference for Banking Institutes (WCBI). Given times of unprecedented change within global trade, we discuss what this means for trade related education, as well as the current diversity and gender challenges within trade.

Facebook recently announced a “blockchain powered currency” called Libra which appears to be a potentially game changing development in payments. Although there is scepticism and uncertainty, Facebook’s Libra initiative is something to be encouraged and applauded. With the caveat that FB needs to be watched very carefully as it has over the years proclaimed in its various mission statements that it wants to “move fast, break things, build things and add stable infrastructure”.

Crypto assets (including Crypto currencies) and the technologies which underpin them are important because of the potentially huge benefits to society they can deliver. TFG heard from Manu Duggall on their standing under English law, which will determine whether that law will be chosen as the law of the contract and the forum for disputes over others.

Trading Platforms driven by Fintech can deliver the compliance, credit, insurance and finance tools to trading companies of any size so that they can
compete successfully and win business based on their inherent strengths.

Europe’s alternative finance market has exploded over the last 5 years, now worth an estimated €7.7bn according to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. The UK alone has grown by… read more →

In recent years, the trade finance landscape has seen immense change, driven by a multitude of factors, including policy, consumers, technology and protectionism. A few years ago we were debating… read more →

Shona is the CEO and Founder of Halotrade, a blockchain-enabled fintech start up focussed on the delivery of sustainable supply chain financing. Formerly Head of Innovation for Trade & Working… read more →

Trade Finance is evolving. But one fundamental evolution is not so much in the technology but in the emergence of new players in the Trade Finance space. We spoke to… read more →

The world is getting smaller because of technology. This also applies to the logistics industry. While goods still need to travel the same distance to reach the final destination, the… read more →