Trade Finance Talks

Managing risk within lending and underwriting is essential during uncertain times. 

Given the critical role credit insurance and surety plays within trade and export finance, TFG spoke with Tinubu about the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) in future-proofing the industry.

Find out more: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e88-future-proofing-trade-finance-and-insurance-through-technology/

With the current macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape looking fairly bleak, financial risk management and the ability for businesses to adapt quickly to changing conditions has never been more important. Technology has a role to play in both.

TFG spoke to two leading trade credit risk management experts, Marian Berden and Robert Meters of Schumann on how technology has the potential to help business avoid some of the costs and stresses associated with current economic conditions.

Find out more: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e87-technology-can-reduce-risk-and-save-costs-if-used-effectively/

If a new trade bill is passed during the current UK parliamentary term, digital paperwork could be legalised under English Law, which could be a landmark moment for the trade and export industry. 

On Tuesday, 10 May 2022, Prince Charles stood in for Queen Elizabeth to deliver the Queen's Speech to Parliament...

Read more: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e86-why-queens-speech-is-about-accelerate-acceptance-digital-trade-documents-into-english-law/ 

Trade digitalisation has come a long way in the past half-decade, but there is still much more to do. 

TFG’s Deepesh Patel sat down with Contour’s CEO Carl Wegner and Chief Product Officer Joshua Kroeker to discuss trade assets, trade receivables, and the distribution of trade finance. 

Read more:

Digital is all the rage right now in the trade space. Emerging technologies from AI to IoT to blockchain are promising to revolutionise global trade. 

The hype is real.

However, there are a few blips on the radar: in a lot of jurisdictions, digital instruments are still not legally able to replace their paper predecessors. 

This creates a lot of hesitancy among firms that are considering implementing digital processes. 

Find out more here:

Credit risk insurance is a vital instrument for bank risk and capital management, and for facilitating lending to the real economy. 

Typically, banks only use the strongest insurers with sound capital bases and risk management practices for credit risk insurance, but even so, some market participants argue that current regulations are overly restrictive.

One of those is Silja Calac, board member at the International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA) and head of the ITFA Insurance Committee. 

Read more here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e83-aking-on-europes-credit-risk-insurance-rules-with-itfas-silja-calac-jean-maurice-elkouby/

In all the crises of the last two years - the pandemic, lockdowns, inflation, and now the Russia-Ukraine conflict - few industries have seen as much volatility as the commodities industry.

Disruptions in both supply and demand have been more or less constant, making it extremely difficult for producers and traders to plan ahead in terms of volume, pricing, and liquidity.

As a leading provider of stockpile and supply chain monitoring technology, Veridapt is among the companies best placed to help with solutions in such tough trading conditions.

Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Veridapt is an industrial Internet of Things (IoT) business that has served the commodities markets for over 20 years. 

In this latest episode of our Trade Finance Talks, Sean Birrell, co-founder and chief technology officer at Veridapt and Rod Hutchinson, is the regional business development manager for the Americas at Veridapt talks about how a revolution in stockpile and supply chain monitoring can transform trade finance

Daud Vicary has spent over 47 years in the finance and consulting industries, with significant experience in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Though formally retired since 2017, he holds many current positions, including his flagship role as an independent director at Finalytix, an analytics provider to ultra-high net worth individuals (HNWIs), family offices, and independent financial advisors (IFAs).

He is also a managing director at DVA Consulting, an Islamic finance consultancy, and he is the chairman of Ethis Global, a fintech, impact investment, and Islamic crowdfunding platform based in Malaysia. 

Applying his ethics skills in practice, he also sits on the advisory boards of PayHalal, the world’s first Shariah-compliant payment gateway, and IslamicMarkets.com, a leading financial intelligence and investing platform.

Read more here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-ep81-islamic-finance-guru-daud-vicary-on-fintech-sustainability-other-engines-of-growth/

The last two years have been a difficult time for SMEs, who have had to grapple with the challenges of supply chain disruptions, a global credit crunch, and inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But despite the uncertainty and volatility of the last two years, SMEs’ working capital practices have evolved significantly, and perhaps irreversibly.

Though the global trade finance gap has continued to make new highs, hitting $1.7 trillion in 2020, both SMEs and the banks that serve them are now focusing on new ways to access much needed capital.

At the forefront of this challenge is digitalisation, which in trade finance is driven by a mixture of new technologies and partnerships that aim to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

But where does the industry currently stand on the challenge of digitalisation, and how much closer are we to the ambitious goal of frictionless, borderless trade finance?

Read more here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-open-by-default-finastras-iain-maclennan-on-fintech-partnerships-digitalisation-and-helping-smes-triumph-in-an-uncertain-macro-world/

The last two years have been like no other for the global economy. With a forced global shutdown followed by unprecedented fiscal stimulus, it's no surprise that volatility has been the name of the game since the outbreak of COVID-19.

But just as we say goodbye to one crisis, another has reared its head in the form of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Last year, we were on a royal road to recovery, with global trade hitting a record high of $28.5 trillion for the year, according to UNCTAD.

But will these gains turn out to be short-lived, as the global economy swaps one crisis for another?

Joining TFG's Deepesh Patel to discuss commodities, inflation, and supply chain resilience is John Miller, chief economic analyst at Trade Data Monitor (TDM).

Read more: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-bent-but-not-broken-tdms-john-miller-on-global-trade-resilience-as-we-say-goodbye-to-covid-19-and-hello-to-war-in-ukraine/(opens in a new tab)