Best Financiers Category

Best Trade Financier – Standard Chartered

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of Standard Chartered?

Standard Chartered has a strong presence in emerging markets where a lot of buying is sourced from; we want to leverage our strong network,  to be able to facilitate financing for SMEs in those markets. With an estimated SME financing gap of USD$5.2 trillion (IFC and the SME Finance Forum), we want to make it easier for these SMEs to get access to not only financing, but also other financial solutions.

What is the strategic focus for Standard Chartered in the short to medium term?

With the increasing focus on sustainability, our clients are looking deeper into their supply chains – looking at how they can support not only their suppliers, but also their suppliers’ suppliers and so forth (beyond first tier). Blockchain is one tool that enables them to do just that. 

We have had success in leveraging blockchain to help us make better financing decisions, to connect our clients to their trading partners, to facilitate real-time payments (Ripple) and to even digitise letters of credit (Contour).  With its many uses, blockchain technology has also disrupted supply chains and the way we finance them. 

Our focus is to make things easier for our clients and their ecosystems. We want to be the connector that supports our clients’ needs to move, manage, invest and finance their money across both financial and physical supply chains that link all parties in the ecosystem. To achieve this, we need to think beyond just innovating within the Bank, but also collaborating and co-creating with our clients and other industry leaders

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Best Receivables Financier – Banco Santander

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of Santander?

In a capital scarce environment, one of the main Santander´s short term priority will definitely be to enhance our distribution capabilities so we can keep offering a one stop shop for our clients while we keep maintaining our capital requirements.

On top of it, Santander bet on the receivables business space for our Corporate and Investment Banking clients will be to keep building centers of expertise for the different products, from which the most specialized professionals from structuring teams, to Middle Office, risk and legal and digital platforms can offer global solutions for our customers.

‘‘We feel really proud and grateful to be able to receive this award which compensate all the efforts and strategy put in place in the last few years when this business was defined one of the the bank’s core focus area. Since then, the bank embarked in a transformation and internationalization strategy with heavy investments in product development, recruitment of trade specialists and technology in order to serve our customers globally.

These efforts result in more than 100 Structured Receivables Programs executed with leading Fortune 500 corporates, more than 80 mln of debtors accepted globally, more than EUR 50 bn receivables purchased annually, sellers based in more than 25 jurisdictions and funding provided in 12 currencies. 

This was also possible thanks to the joint effort and hard work of the different teams – risk, middle office, legal, methodology, technology, back office and local front office teams in all the countries – who operating as one team, have been able to consolidate Banco Santander as the Best Receivable Finance Provider, standing out from our competitors in terms of growth, leadership, innovation and the client experience.” – Rogier Schulpen

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Best Supply Chain Financier – Citi

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of Citi?

Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions are uniquely positioned to deliver innovative and relevant trade services, finance, and export and agency financing solutions to clients across the globe. With our interactive client engagement model, advance advisory services, industry expertise and continuous dedication to revolutionizing and enhancing our solutions Citi is positioned to be the global leader in Trade solutions worldwide. We will continue to invest in and develop our suite of Supplier Finance offering in tandem with the evolving needs of our clients and their suppliers.

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Best Export Credit Agency – UK Export Finance

What specific areas is UKEF currently focusing on?

UKEF is committed to building its pipeline of business with small and medium enterprises through marketing campaigns and through our origination process.

It has enhanced and expanded the ‘leading with finance’ approach to bringing business to the UK. UKEF’s supplier fair model is an ambitious programme to help increase UK content in overseas projects UKEF is supporting through procurement-focused events, working with trade associations and the Department for International Trade to activate the UK supply chain. These day-long matchmaking events connect relevant UK suppliers with international buyers who are actively looking for British products and services for their overseas project or projects; this helps the buyer make successful commercial decisions and the UK supplier win overseas contracts.

UKEF held 3 supplier fairs in 2018-19, connecting over 300 exporters with opportunities potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds in sectors as diverse as healthcare, construction and energy, with more to come.

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of UKEF?

Our role is to fill gaps in private sector provision, so it is vital to ensure that companies know UKEF support is available at the point they made need it. 

We will continue to build awareness and understanding in order to ensure that exporters and overseas buyers can access UKEF support, through targeted and GREAT campaign activities both in the UK and internationally. 

In the UK, our ‘Exporters’ Edge’ GREAT campaign has successfully engaged our target audience of small to medium exporters through PR, online advertising, social media, events, partnerships, direct marketing and re-marketing. 

We will continue to use the momentum of this campaign 

 to renew our work with partners and increase the volume of business introduced to UKEF by banks, insurance brokers and other private sector and government networks.

What is the strategic focus of UKEF in the short to medium term?

For the UK government as a whole, the priority is delivering on the UK’s departure from the EU, and UKEF will continue to play an important role ensuring that we are supporting UK businesses to grow their trade relationships all over the world as the UK establishes itself as an independent trading nation.

The UK Government’s Export Strategy has an ambition of increasing exports as a share of GDP from 30% to 35%. To achieve this, it sets out several ways that the Government can help UK businesses succeed abroad and puts finance – and UKEF – at the heart of that offer of support to exporters. For UKEF, the Export Strategy gives a very clear focus to our work. Our support is already instrumental to international success for many UK exporters, from helping UK companies access overseas opportunities via our innovative supplier fair programme, to improving understanding and uptake of trade finance among UK suppliers to help them realise international sales. Ensuring that we continue to help UK exporters win, fulfil and get paid for overseas sales, and continue to challenge ourselves to do it better, will remain our clear strategic focus.

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Best Multilateral Development Bank – Asian Development Bank

What are the biggest challenges in trade, receivables and supply chain finance for 2020?

Trade-based money laundering will become an area of increasing focus.  The industry will need to work closely with regulators to address concerns and improve our ability to detect and prevent crime in transactions. Decoupling inhibits international cooperation and creates more space for bad actors to use the financial system. ADB, an active member of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Trade-Based Money Laundering (TBML) Working Group, will continue to play a convening role between private and public sectors.

Making choices about what IT initiatives to undertake and purchase will become even more difficult.  Technology becomes obsolete quickly. It requires tremendous resources and operational upheaval to implement. Inter-operability is always an issue.

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of the Asian Development Bank?

• Intensified efforts to streamline and improve anti-money laundering to drive more transparency in the trade and financial system so it isn’t used by criminals, including human traffickers.
• Enhanced sustainability in trade by developing operational training and tools for banks to assess the environmental and social impact of transactions.
• Expand the Trade Finance Program’s gender initiative to more banks and more countries. The initiative centers on enhancing the human resource policies of banks so they attract, retain, and promote more women in finance and trade.

As Head of Trade and Supply Chain of Asian Development Bank, what is the strategic focus of the company in the short to medium term?

• Initiate the Digital Standards Initiative in partnership with Government of Singapore and International Chamber of Commerce.
• Spearhead initiatives to tackle challenges in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing.
• Innovate supply chain finance transactions.
• Deliver excellence in client service to our partner banks.

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Best Finance Providers by Geography

Best Trade Financier in Asia – SMBC

What are the biggest challenges that SMBC faces in relation to international trade or finance right now?

Among the challenges I highlight two items.  

Firstly, trade finance continues to be a manually intensive, document heavy business, which combined with the high volume of transactions generates considerable cost overheads.  The widespread adoption of secure integrated technologies based on common standards is a key imperative for the industry as a whole and one in which SMBC is taking an active role. Such technologies, by reducing cost barriers, are also expected to address the “trade finance gap” by making trade finance more widely available especially among poorer countries and for small and medium sized enterprises. 

Secondly, strict compliance with regulations is a fundamental responsibility.  Due to the inherent nature of cross-border trade and the many parties involved in a transaction, high levels of skill and experience combined with effective screening systems are critical requirements.

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of SMBC?

Among the changes we can expect in the next few years, I would like to highlight two. 

Firstly, the commodity trading space is steadily expanding not only through the activities of independent commodity traders but also state-owned energy companies and oil majors establishing their own trading desks and entities.  We expect this trend to create greater globalisation and dynamism in the commodities sphere. Events such as trade disputes, geopolitical tension or conflict, the outbreak of epidemics etc. create sudden unexpected changes in supply and demand.  In our highly interconnected world such events can have rapid global impacts.  Commodity traders are very well positioned to react quickly to such events using their networks and logistic resources to redirect trade flows from areas of oversupply to areas of unmet demand.

Secondly, we expect the focus on sustainability and alleviating climate change to become a significant feature of the business environment over the medium term.  This will impact certain sectors more heavily than others. Overall we expect this will create significant opportunities for trade finance banks to support the adoption of new clean technologies by clients in a commercially viable manner.

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Best Trade Financier in Australia Pacific – ANZ Bank

What are the biggest challenges that ANZ faces in relation to international trade or finance right now?

ANZ continues to work on a series of initiatives to simplify, digitise and revolutionise trade.  This digital transformation will require the adoption of automation technologies such as machine learning, smart optical character recognition,  artificial intelligence, image recognition and natural language processing.

The increased use of automation and digitisation has been one of the key strategic priorities, and biggest challenges,  for our Operations & Service Delivery teams to improve consistency, productivity and enhance customer experience. While human validation of machine’s work will always be present, the use of new technology represents a change in operational process. 

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of ANZ?

• Doing the basics exceptionally well through the use of channels & technology. Ensuring ease of connectivity, speed of execution and customer self-service. 
• Continuing to differentiate ourselves via quality of advice 
• Delivering brand enhancing innovation to solve our customers’ problems
• Efficiently recycle our capital to ensure we are a reliable, consistent source of funding and risk management for our customers.

As Head of Trade of ANZ, what is the strategic focus of the company in the short to medium term?

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Best Trade Financier in North America – Wells Fargo

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Best Trade Financier in Latin America – BBVA

What are the biggest challenges that BBVA faces in relation to international trade or finance right now?

A decline in trade activity due to protectionist tensions.

The impact of banking regulation and compliance issues in the trade finance business. 

How to deal with an offer differentiation in a banking consortia ecosystem.

Interoperability and standardization in a more digitized and sustainable environment where AI, machine learning, DLT and big data, are playing a major role.

New emerging risks: Fraud, cybersecurity, digital on-boarding, climate change.

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of BBVA?

Low growth environment, our focus will be on profitability, efficiency and critical mass. 

Banking commoditization, we stress the need on advice to differentiate.

Disintermediation, which compels us to face new client acquisition strategies: Be where the client is.

Sustainability, playing an active role in transitioning to a sustainable world.

Use of data as a tool to boost productivity and personalize our offer.

As Head of Global Trade and International Banking of BBVA, what is the strategic focus of the company in the short to medium term?

Advisory. Redefine coverage model to offer differentiated services

Sustainability. Improving financial health and helping our clients to transition.

Robust operating model in terms of talent, efficiency and use of capital.

Data usage for risk predictions.

Best Trade Finance Services Category

Best Trade Finance Law Firm

Allen & Overy

What are the biggest challenges that Allen & Overy faces in relation to international trade or finance right now?

The challenging geopolitical context, increased regulatory burden/scrutiny and demand within banks for more globally streamlined trade products make TCF transactions increasingly complex. 

As an example, we have been heavily involved in advising our clients on sanctions issues.  The current geopolitical climate and increased enforcement risk means that the recent developments have come into sharp focus with banks needing our sanctions experts and market overview to help them navigate through.  

We have also been involved with supporting our clients in the fast moving landscape of technology-based change.  and have worked on very interesting blockchain projects with our clients in the TCF and other sectors. There is now huge momentum and the challenge from a legal perspective is establishing a certain and predictable legal framework around this new and fast-developing way of doing business.  

In 2020 LIBOR transition will be a major focus for many of our trade finance clients . We have been leading the way on this and recently acted for the lenders on a USD 10bn revolving credit facility for Shell which was the first loan agreement governed by English law in the European loan markets to incorporate the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), the emerging standard risk-free rate which is intended to replace LIBOR for USD loans.  We are proud to be involved in this landmark transaction and help set a market precedent.  

Sustainability is another key challenge and Market participants will also continue to engage with and develop new financing solutions with a sustainability focus.  Allen & Overy has the subject matter expertise to guide our clients In the trade and commodities sector safely through the increasingly legal ESG landscape.  ESG is increasingly becoming a complex form of corporate governance involving significant legal issues. As the framework becomes underpinned by legal requirements, advice is

required to head off the risks and take advantage of the opportunities this new investment environment presents. Our ESG Team’s advice is informed by decades of collective experience in environmental, social and governance matters, and by tracking the latest developments in ESG-related regulation and litigation around the world. 

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of Allen & Overy?

Ambition: 2020 will bring more innovative and complex structures as traditional trade finance techniques continue to be used in creative ways.  A common theme to many of our deals is using traditional trade finance techniques in more ambitious ways, whether that is to achieve a broader purpose, to achieve more committed forms of financing to tap into wider sources of finding or being included in a structure which combines other forms of banking products. 

Innovation: we will continue to see the development of blockchain and other technology led solutions. There is now huge momentum and we are seeing that come to the fore in a much more concrete way.  

Products: we continue to see supply chain and receivables finance and borrowing base financings as a key growth areas in the TCF sphere.  We will see continued interest in these financing solutions from a wider variety of market participants. 

Our priorities are to stay at the forefront of these trends in all aspects of our trade finance practice globally by being actively involved as they develop.  This is what enables us to bring valued insights and market knowledge to our work for our clients, whether borrowers, lenders, commodities traders or other market participants.

What is the strategic focus of the company in the short to medium term?

Our focus is on continuing to support our trade finance clients globally in achieving their ambitions and facing their challenges in an increasingly complex environment. 

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Best Trade Credit Insurance Provider

Euler Hermes

What are the biggest challenges that Euler Hermes faces in relation to international trade or finance right now?

• Global economic growth is likely to remain muted in 2020-21 after bottoming out at the turn of 2019. In a context of lower growth, global insolvencies are expected to rise by +6% in 2020 compared with +9% in 2019.
• U.S.-China trade tensions should not escalate nor de-escalate much further in 2020. We expect the U.S. average tariff to remain at 7%, compared to 3.5% in 2018.
• Capital markets should remain in a low volatility regime as the dampening effect of unconventional monetary policy prevails. In a context of the wait-and-see posture of investors, linked to the U.S. elections and progressive erosion of profits, the global equity market is expected to register an inflexion in its upward (monetary driven) trend.
• Domestic sectors will outperform. The very expansionary stance of monetary and fiscal policies will primarily benefit domestic demand. Domestic-driven companies (services and construction) will outperform companies relying on foreign revenues and globally integrated supply chains. The automotive sector will continue its muddling through.

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of Euler Hermes?

We will continue to deliver on the 5 pillars of our Strategy 2021:

• Growth driven to develop beyond our traditional lines of business
• Data powered with a comprehensive data strategy to strengthen our competitive edge over time
• People centricity to allow each and every one of us to develop the right skills for tomorrow`s digital world
• Nimble to simplify and digitalize our processes and work methodology 
• Passionate about our mission statement, proud to create trust to trade and, therefore, economic prosperity

As CEO of Euler Hermes, what is the strategic focus of the company in the short to medium term?

• Safeguarding businesses against global economic headwinds by providing them with the confidence to trade freely through our insurance offering.
• A digital transformation strategy that will grow our IT capabilities to broaden and improve our offering to clients
• Boldness in our approach to be able to implement these efficiently

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Best Logistics Provider

Maersk

What are the biggest challenges that A.P. Moller – Maersk faces in relation to international trade or finance right now?

2020 presents uncertainties related to external factors that are not under control of Maersk. There is a low visibility in terms of what is in store for the industry in the short and mid term because of these external factors.

Internally, Maersk is still on its multi-dimensional transformation journey and in a critical phase right now where it needs to keep the momentum. 

The other challenges faced by the company and the industry as a whole include declining revenue, low profitability, weak cash flow and high financial leverage. This is combined with low and volatile oil prices, as well as low and volatile container freight rates.

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of A.P. Moller – Maersk?

In 2020, Maersk will continue to perform while we transform. Focus remains on developing our end-to-end offering through an even stronger Ocean product while expanding and scaling our logistics and services portfolio. Also, we are committed to securing long term profitability in our terminals business and continue the strong developments from 2019. Cost leadership is imperative in a competitive market with uncertainties. 

To further fund the transformation, we continually improve our operating results while delivering strong free cash flow and reducing investments in the Ocean business. We continue to reduce CAPEX spend. The year 2020 will be marked by new regulations on sulphur emissions (IMO 2020) that went into effect on 1 January. We fully support the industry move towards low sulphur fuel to reduce pollution. We are well prepared to comply while mitigating the increased fuel expenses by lowering our bunker consumption and passing on the additional cost to customers.

The outlook ahead is for low economic growth and low demand growth for seaborne goods. We plan accordingly, and maintain flat capacity to support utilisation and low cost.

What is the strategic focus of the company in the short to medium term?

In line with our overall ambition, Maersk Trade Finance would continue to focus on working with our customers to further make trade finance accessible. We will continue to focus on building our product focussed on SMEs and Supply Chain Finance.  

Our focus as always will be on co-creating products in partnership with our customers and keep things simple with the purpose of enabling global trade.

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Sustainable Finance Award

ICC Banking Commission

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of ICC Banking Commission?

ICC Banking Commission Annual Meeting in Dubai (UAE) 20-23 April 2020

First deliverable on Standard creation of digitalization of Trade through DSI

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Best Tradetech Company

Marco Polo Network

What are the biggest challenges that MP faces in relation to international trade or finance right now?

Inertia is the biggest challenge as many companies and providers have settled with sub-optimal and not really scalable solutions, but they do the job. The new technologies that will optimize these financing programs and make them really scalable, are complex, require a collaborative development and lots of fine-tuning. 

Secondly, the market is overcrowded with providers of all sorts that add complexities to the decision-making processes of the corporate treasury and procurement teams. 

The market will see more polarization and divide and not all providers will survive. The good news for corporates is that there are many new solutions that will become available to them in 2020. But the decision making will become more complex as competition increases with the introduction of new technologies which are expanding the product features.

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of the Marco Polo Network?

In 2020, our goal is about further expanding the Marco Polo Network from a member perspective as well as with new trade finance solutions and modules such as Payables Finance, Payment Commitment as well as supply Chain management solutions for buyers and sellers. 

The main focus is to continue recruiting corporates onto the network with a streamlined on-boarding process for them to add their suppliers, partners and service providers in order to fully benefit from the solutions and the network of Marco Polo and become the largest trade finance network.

Marco Polo will become a network that is delivering machine-to-machine Supply Chain Finance with fully automated processes that puts the corporates back in the driving seat for managing their commercial activities and optimizing their working capital. 

As CEO of TradeIX & the Marco Polo Network, what is the strategic focus of the company in the short to medium term?

• Education on the Marco Polo Network and on TradeIX’s offerings
• Onboarding of financial institutions, corporates and other service providers onto the Marco Polo Network and expanding our global footprint
• Continue developing new and improved trade finance solutions, and modules

“Our journey to innovate and transform antiquated processes and siloed systems that have been in use for hundreds of years and build a new trade ecosystem is of great complexity and difficulty. This award is definitely a strong vote of confidence in our capability to deliver enormous value to you and your community. Thank you for the recognition.” – Robert Barnes

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Innovator in Global Trade

Finastra

What are the biggest challenges that are being faced in relation to international trade finance right now?

There are a number of challenges that are being faced in Trade Finance currently, these include Protectionism, lack of Digitalization, Regulatory Policy and the overall Finance Gap mainly in Developing Markets.

Protectionism has lead to a level of Global uncertainty, this uncertainty has impacted investment and overall trade flows, to name just two impacts.

International trade and trade finance still heavily relies on cumbersome paper-based processes, which slow down transactions and undermine their security. 

Finastra is determined to drive digitalization of Trade by offering more agile innovative solutions that address these key challenges and more, we achieve this through our suite of products or via best-in-class strategic fintech partners. Regulatory Policy continues to lag innovation and tends to focus on compliance and placing a continued onus and cost impact onto the Financial Institutions.

We know that there is financing gap, via the Asian Development Bank most recent report this is indicated as $1.5Tn but could widen significantly and we need to work together to address this.

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of Finastra?

We are looking forward to;

Continuing to open-up Fusion Trade Innovation via FusionFabric.cloud to our clients and Fintech Partners via OpenAPI’s.

Building out our Supply Chain Finance offering to meet our strategy of “One Platform, Two Products”.

Taking our cloud offering and partnering with two key partners to offer Trade as a Service to a new series of clients..Continuing our track record by ensuring that Fusion Trade Innovation will be SWIFT certified for the SWIFT Standards release in November 2020.

As VP of Trade & Supply Chain Finance of Finastra, what is the strategic focus of the company in the short to medium term?

We will continue to develop our offerings via FusionFabric.cloud with our commitment to open up our core platforms and to extend the Trade Digital Ecosystem for our clients.

Our current systems and business architecture will evolve significantly over the next twenty four months, this change is already in flight.

We are defining how we can extend our current product offering into other areas that we view as complementary or extensions, with a number of key partners.

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Middle East and North Africa Specific Categories

Best Trade Financier in the Middle East and North Africa – First Abu Dhabi Bank

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of First Abu Dhabi Bank?

• Maintaining cost and risk discipline
• Strengthening our leading position in the UAE by growing market share in chosen segments, and deepening client relationships
• Enhancing and rolling out product capabilities across our global network to support fee-based business, client flow activity, and cross-sell
• Accelerate growth in strategically-targeted markets
• Continuing to invest in key strategic and digital initiatives to support business growth and efficiencies

What is the strategic focus for First Abu Dhabi Bank in the short to medium term?

• Our vision is to create value for our customers, employees, shareholders and communities to grow stronger through differentiation, agility and innovation.
• As a leading and responsible bank, our long-standing commitment to sustainable finance is firmly embedded in our business model and strategy.
• As the UAE approaches its Golden Jubilee, FAB will continue to be a key partner to support the government’s long term sustainable growth agenda, and help build a better world for future generations
• Looking ahead, we remain firmly committed to maximising shareholder returns, and supporting our employees, customers and the communities we operate within as we grow stronger, together

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Best Trade Financier in Africa

Trade and Development Bank

What are the biggest challenges that TDB faces in relation to international trade or finance right now?

Overall Africa’s share in global trade is still less than 5%. Along with other challenges, for example in infrastructure and availability of foreign exchange reserves, lower levels of development of the African banking sector and skills available on its market, are barriers to the expansion of intra and extra-African trade.  

Likewise, an increasing number of large correspondent international banks are responding to the call of regulators and shareholders to reduce risks, and as a result severing relationship with African banks, and in some cases, closing shop in Africa. 

Africa’s trade finance deficit is estimated by the International Chamber of Commerce at US $110 billion to $120 billion – representing about 25 per cent of the demand for trade finance in Africa.

It is both an opportunity for, and the duty of African investment-grade banks such as TDB to play a greater role in facilitating and de-risking trade finance in more challenging environments, through innovative solutions, which will ultimately serve to reduce the trade finance gap. 

As such, working with trusted partners and clients from around the globe and in the region, TDB has become the ideal intermediary for global and regional capital in the region.

Along with significant increases in levels of disposable income on the continent, African trade has come a long way, increasing almost 5-fold as compared to 2001 as a result of diminishing transaction costs including tariffs, opening of financial borders, and mostly, of the reality of the ‘Africa rising’ story. Much remains to be done but there is reason to be optimistic about the future of African trade and development as a whole. 

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of TDB?

Our current Corporate Plan VI (2018-2022) lays out the strategic and corporate objectives of the bank, which are to continue mobilizing resources to support growth in trade and development financing for a range of priority sectors. The Bank will be looking for its financing and interventions to advance greater development impact and address inclusiveness and sustainable growth in the region, with a focus on economic transformation through infrastructure, enterprise and trade financing, including in growth sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.

In 2020 we will take stock of our progress towards achievement of these strategic objectives while continuing to execute our current pipeline to deliver sustainable, high impact interventions.

As President and Chief Executive of TDB, what is the strategic focus of the company in the short to medium term?

Our trade finance business has three primary strategic drivers. First, leveraging our investment grade credit rating, we are expanding our Financial Institution strategy to provide funded and unfunded solutions to address the African trade financing gap caused by the pullback of funding by global banks. Second, we are partnering with strategic suppliers selling into or exporting out of our Member States, to ensure the availability of vital commodities and the growth of foreign exchange earning export industries. Third, we are advancing introduction of open account trade solutions such as receivables financing and invoice discounting. Through these strategic objectives, we intend to facilitate greater intra and inter-African trade, facilitate increased regional integration and position our business to capitalize on future opportunities arising for secular industry trends.

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Best Islamic Financier

International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation

What are the biggest challenges that ITFC faces in relation to international trade or finance right now?

The slow growth of Global Trade:

Because of the high degree of uncertainty associated with trade forecasts under the current circumstances, the estimated growth rate of global trade in 2019 has been within the range of 0.5 percent to 1.6 percent. Member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have also had their share in declining growth rate projections. The average overall GDP growth of the Member is at 2.7 percent in 2019 lower than the 3.4 percent growth in 2018

The fall in energy commodities  prices: 

The negative outlook is expected to continue to 2020 in most of the commodity prices as stated by the World Bank in its recent statement end of October 2019. After falling sharply in 2019, energy and metal prices will continue to fall due to weak global growth expectations and the consequent decline in demand.  According to the bank’s experts, crude oil prices are expected to average $ 60 a barrel in 2019 and then fall to $ 58 a barrel in 2020. These forecasts are $ 6 and $ 7 a barrel lower than expected in their statement in Q1 2019. Overall, energy prices, which also include natural gas and coal, fell by about 15% in 2019 compared to 2018 and continue to fall in 2020.

The fall in agriculture commodity prices

Agricultural commodity prices fell in 2019 but expected to stabilize in 2020. Resolving trade tensions could lead to higher prices for some agricultural commodities, such as soybeans and corn, while lower energy prices could lower fuel and fertilizer costs, reducing energy-intensive crops such as oilseeds.

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of ITFC?

In 2020, ITFC is embarking on offering new products to add to the range of products that are provided to our clients and will witness the launching of innovative Shariah compliant trade financing products. 

More intra-regional integration through flagship programs led by ITFC such as the Arab Africa Trade Bridges (AATB) Program and others. To support global and regional initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and contribute to the SDGs.

Work closer with the strategic partners to alleviate poverty and generating job and employment through women empowerment and youth, SMEs development and food security.

ITFC is now placing emphasis on ‘future-proofing’ the business by exploring new opportunities across Digitalization, Innovation and Trade Advisory. The purpose is to augment ITFCs Vision in the market as the “Leading Provider of Trade Solutions for OIC Member Countries’ Needs”.  

What is the strategic focus of ITFC in the short to medium term?

focus on :

• Enhancing Intra-OIC trade

• Contribute to the Growth in Islamic Trade Finance

• Supporting the Diversification of Member Countries Economies (through trade financing)

Specifically, ITFC’s Strategic Objectives are supported through three Strategic Pillars:

Private Sector Development:

• • • ITFC’s contribution to private sector development within member countries is significant, given that trade is the most significant driver of economic development. 

Co-operation between Member Countries: 

• • • Expanding co-operation between member countries is facilitated by ITFC’s trade solutions, which specifically aims to increase trade between member countries. 

Islamic Trade Finance Development: 

• • ITFC focuses on developing Islamic Trade Finance solutions both through its own provision of products, as well as by working with local banks to increase their capacity to provide such products.  

“ITFC’s overarching goals are directly aligned with the UN SDGs. Our mandate is to advance trade and improve lives in all OIC member nations.

Our goal is to support member countries’ strategic sectors and to improve their trading capacity.

A key component in our strategy is to work through strategic partnerships with key stakeholders with vested interest in the socio-economic development in Member Countries. This allows ITFC to develop Integrated Trade Solutions with Trade Finance and Trade Development components to help remove barriers to trade while providing stronger access to the financing of new trading opportunities. ” – Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, CEO

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MENA Fintech Innovator Award

komgo

What should we be looking forward to in 2020, and what are the short to medium term priorities of komgo?

• Continue growing the komgo network
• Servicing our clients across all geographies (Americas, EMEA and Asia)
  Refining our product offer

As Chief Executive Officer of komgo, what is the strategic focus of the company in the short to medium term?

With an established community of users across Europe and the UK, and growing adoption in Asia and the US, global expansion of the platform that is becoming the central one stop shop in the trade finance community

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Methodology and Process

Trade Finance Global (TFG) takes the judging of the International Trade Finance Awards to be a serious matter. In the interests of transparency around the selection process, the methodology is detailed below.

TFG have a team of both in house analysts and external consultants who would’ve conducted a mixture of quantitative and qualitative reviews on a number of trade finance banks and liquidity providers, as well as SAAS companies, fintechs / non-bank liquidity providers, law and insurance firms.

1. TFG announced a ‘call for award nominations’ on the 2nd December 2019, which was published through TFG’s email, social and online channels, as well as BAFT’s channels. Nominations were put forward by both TFG and nominees (i.e., companies self nominating)

2. The award nominations window closed on the 20th December 2019. Nominations that were received were also selected are then sorted into respective award categories. A staff member passed these nominations to the first stage TFG internal judging team and then to an internal member of staff to further judge

3. The TFG judging team, independently of each other, read each of the submissions and decide if it (A) Meets the criteria of the category (B) Is worthy of being a finalist

4. The TFG judging team grades each submission 1 to 5 (with 5 being the most suitable for the finalist list). The first stage judges pass on the top five nominations for each category to the steering committee. If there are less than five entries all nominations go on to the second stage of judging

5. The above marking criteria (point 4) was based on a mixture of, public information on deal volumes, and transactions numbers by market, as well as the company’s ability develop innovative finance structures and products in the changing market

6. TFG also looked at public reviews on client satisfaction, the quality of, and content produced (on site) around their products, as well as brand share in the category, looking extensively at social coverage and brand advocacy

7. The TFG steering committee members then take part in the judging process, selecting winners from the shortlist. The steering committee board members are industry experts from the field and academia in structured trade and commodity finance, fintech and technology or law. A staff member sends an information guide of the finalist selections to each advisory board member for each award category they have selected to judge

8. With attention to confidentiality, the awards submissions are returned to TFG staff members who sorted the information. Data is then cleaned (any conflicts of interest or votes being abstained)

9. In the unlikely event of a tie following the second stage of judging, the tie will be broken by an impartial industry expert on the TFG staff or contributing editorial board

10. TFG collates quotes and assets from the winning companies under embargo, for release on the 19 March 2020

See the full terms and conditions here.

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