Webinars https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/category/webinars/ Trade Finance Without Barriers Fri, 24 May 2024 14:40:27 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-TFG-ico-1-32x32.jpg Webinars https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/category/webinars/ 32 32 Tradecast – Desert dialogues: Pulse check on receivables finance https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/t10-desert-dialogues-pulse-check-on-receivables-finance/ Fri, 08 Sep 2023 14:45:56 +0000 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/?page_id=88907 read more →]]>

Desert dialogues: Pulse check on receivables finance

9 October 2023 – 09:00 WEST / 09:00 BST / 10:00 CET / 04:00 ET / 16:00 SGT

Partnered with FCI

Please note this livestream was recorded prior to the recent earthquake in Morocco. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic event. The TFG team.



The Panel

Host: Mr. Deepesh Patel, Chief Editor at Trade Finance Global. 

Featuring: 

  • Mr. Ahmed Attout, Ag. Director, Financial Sector Development, African Development Bank Group (AfDB)
  • Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Afreximbank
  • Mr. Peter Mulroy, Secretary General, FCI
  • Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, CEO, International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC)

Key Themes

  1. Receivables Finance: Back to Basics
  2. Legal Framework for receivables
  3. Development banks and their role in trade finance
  4. Digital platforms, marketplaces, and trade finance
  5. Closing Remarks


1,550 viewers

Live Tradecast

75 minutes

Streamed on LinkedIn Live


Partners


More from the TFG’s Payments and Treasury

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What Next for the Trade Documents Bill? https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/t8-what-next-for-the-trade-documents-bill/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 15:57:04 +0000 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/?page_id=88719 read more →]]> What Next for the Trade Documents Bill?

AIRED ON SEPTEMBER 13th, 12:00 – 14:30 BST, 07:00 – 09:30 EDT, 13:00 – 15:30 CET, 19:00 – 21:30 SGT

Partnered with UK Export Finance, Department for Business & Trade 

Sponsored by Sullivan, Lloyds Bank, ICC United Kingdom Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation and Technology (C4DTI), Wave BL, Enigio

Association Partners, ITFA, ICC United Kingdom, C4DTI, IOE&IT, DNI Initiative, BExA

TFG partnered with UK Export Finance and the Department for Business & Trade, following the enactment of the Electronic Trade Documents Bill. Now that the King has enacted the bill, the Electronic Trade Documents Act will become a part of UK and Common Law legislation on the 20 September 2023.

TFG held a half day live tradecast (webinar) with key stakeholders.


300+ viewers

Live Tradecast

2h 30m

Streamed on LinkedIn Live


Introduction

Host:

  • Deepesh Patel, Editorial Director, Trade Finance Global


Session 1: An Introduction to the Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA)

Speakers:

  • Lord Chris Holmes, Peer, House of Lords
  • Ada Igboemeka, Deputy Director for Digital Trade, Department for Business & Trade
  • Chris Southworth, Secretary General, ICC United Kingdom
  • Luca Castellani, Legal Officer, Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)
  • Geoffrey Wynne, Head of the Trade & Export Finance Group, Sullivan
  • Professor Sarah Green, Commissioner for Commercial and Common Law, Law Commission of England & Wales

Moderated by: Deepesh Patel, Trade Finance Global


Session 2: What are Financial Institutions (Bank and Non-Bank Lenders) Doing?

Speakers:

  • Andre Casterman, Board Member, ITFA
  • Jon Boran, Director, Trade Innovation and Solution Development, Lending & Working Capital, Lloyds Bank
  • Carl Williamson, Head of Trade Finance, UK Export Finance

Moderated by: Natasha Roston, Trade Finance Global


Session 3: Fireside Chat, ETDA Compatibility with Trade Rules

Speaker:

  • David Meynell, Digital Rules Advisor, ICC United Kingdom Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation and Technology (C4DTI)

Moderated by: Brian Canup, Trade Finance Global


Session 4: What’s Happening from a Shipping & Logistics Perspective?

Speakers: 

  • Grant Hunter, Director for Standards, Innovation and Research, BIMCO
  • Dominique Willems, Head of Public Affairs & Government Relations, Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA)
  • Boaz Lessem, General Counsel Head of Legal, WaveBL
  • Kevin Shakespeare, Director of Strategic Projects and International Development, IOE&IT

Moderated by: Natasha Roston, Trade Finance Global


Session 5: ‘Reliable’ Systems

Speakers: 

  • Nick Davies, Director, ICC United Kingdom Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation and Technology (C4DTI)
  • Patrik Zekkar, CEO, Enigio
  • Sean Edwards, Chairman, ITFA
  • Miriam Goldby, Professor of Shipping, Insurance and Commercial Law and Director of Research at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University London

Moderated by: Jyodh Bilan, Trade Finance Global


Sponsors and Partners


More from the TFG’s Trade and Supply Chain Finance Hub

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Tradecast – LGBTQ+ in Trade, Treasury & Payments https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/t9-lgtbq-in-trade-treasury-payments/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 10:20:50 +0000 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/?page_id=87976 read more →]]>

LGTBQ+ in Trade Treasury & Payments

AIRED ON 19 September 2023 – 9:00 EDT / 14:00 BST / 15:00 CET / 21:00 SGT

Partnered with A&O Shearman, Asian Development Bank, JP Morgan, Lloyds Bank, Visa

Missed the livestream? Catch up below:


The Panel


Key Themes

  • Welcome and Introduction by Deepesh Patel
  • Theme 1: Personal perspectives and the intersection of LGBTQ+ in Trade, Treasury, and Payments
  • Theme 2: The role of allies in the finance industry
  • Theme 3: What the industry could/should do to move forward
  • Q&A Session
  • Closing Remarks


1,550 viewers

Live Tradecast

75 minutes

Streamed on LinkedIn Live


Partners


The power of allies: navigating LGBTQ+ inclusion in trade, treasury, and payments

Being LGBTQ+ in trade, treasury and payments: Sibos livestream


More from the TFG’s Payments and Treasury

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Tradecast – Credit insurance, export credit and funds: How do we solve the African trade finance gap? https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/t7-credit-insurance-export-credit-agency-funds-african-trade-finance-gap-tinubu/ Mon, 10 Jul 2023 12:09:38 +0000 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/?page_id=85774 read more →]]> Credit insurance, export credit and funds: How do we solve the African trade finance gap?

AIRED ON 10 July 2023 – 7:00 EST / 12:00 BST / 13:00 CET / 19:00 SGT

Presented by Trade Finance Global and Tinubu

Missed the Live Tradecast? Watch on YouTube


Trade Finance Global and Tinubu hosted a webinar exploring the challenges and opportunities for the African credit insurance industry. While the African market is very promising, it has been ignored by many major economies. However, there are signs of market shifts, with intra-African trade increasing after the expansion of the AfCTFA, and the work of multilaterals and international financial institutions.

Although there are signs of new and expanded market opportunities, to create a sustainable and successful trade credit insurance industry, there are many questions that need to be discussed, and much collaboration is needed. 

This Tradecast aims to bring together leaders from the public and private sectors, to discuss how to expand an open, sustainable, and successful trade credit insurance market in the African continent.

The tradecast touched on:

  • Brief overview of private/public trade finance and credit insurance landscape across Africa
  • Geopolitical and macroeconomic and sovereign debt/defaults overview and how this impacts the credit insurance landscape in Africa – deep dive into MENA, West, East and South Africa
  • Opportunities in the African continent (including AfCFTA): the untapped market for new investors.
  • How could new technology improve opportunities?
  • Access to finance and liquidity in the market: how to increase capital in Africa – a multistakeholder approach
  • The business case for the creation of new ECA’s in Africa, as well as exploring opportunities credit insurance
  • Local development: how African finance players can emerge to help support intra-African trade, SMEs and boost growth at a grassroots level
  • What are sustainable ways for increased external investment? How to avoid the trap of external stakeholders over-imposing themselves on regional actors/countries?
  • Governance: role of national governments and multilaterals in supporting African trade.


The Panel

The Panel

1,550 viewers

Live Tradecast

75 minutes

Streamed on LinkedIn Live


Introduction

  • Introduction to the Panel
    • Adedayo Adesanmi, Transactor/Specialist Energy & Infrastructure, Trade Finance,Standard Bank
    • Shuichi Hayashida, Head of West and Central Africa, MIGA
    • Jérôme Pezé, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Tinubu
    • George RR Wilson, Head Institutional Trade Finance, Investec
    • Richard Wulff, Executive Director, ICISA
  • What causes the African trade finance gap? (Discuss domestic, regional, and deep sea nuances)
  • Can trade credit insurance help African companies access finance? How does it derisk transactions for corporate buyers and enable trade credit in Africa?
  • What are the main barriers for local banks providing trade finance to MSMEs? How does this differ from other markets?
  • How can we address the African trade finance gap? What challenges do they face and what are the nuances?
  • Should we approach this problem regionally or through governments, sub-sovereign entities, and financial institutions? How do we tackle local currency and USD clearing/liquidity issues?
  • Could you give a brief explanation of the World Trade Board’s “Financial Inclusion of Trade” pillars with regards to fixing the African trade finance problem?
 


Digital Infrastructure

  • How can the implementation of digital tools, specifically tools like e-invoicing and digital legal entity identifiers, contribute to improving financial inclusion in trade, especially for African SMEs?
  • What tools could be used to help understand the use of proceeds and flow of funds, and how will this help increase the market for African trade?
  • Has the adoption of these technologies helped increase access to trade finance, or is the adoption still too slow to make a noticeable change?


Legal and Regulatory Infrastructure

  • Will the AfCFTA, the African Continental Free Trade Area, make a significant impact in advancing access to capital and flow of goods?
  • What are the key regulatory considerations for fostering financial inclusion in trade, particularly within the African MSME context?
  • How can additional legal/regulatory infrastructure provide security to insurers and reinsurers who are apprehensive to enter the African market?


Data Infrastructure

  • How should the industry approach building and improving data infrastructure? How important is a well-established data flow for insurers looking to get involved in African trade finance?
  • What is the right balance between providing African companies, specifically SMEs, with sufficient capital vs. insurers/reinsurers having enough risk information about the clients, and how can data technology help create this balance?
  • Can you touch on how improved data can address corruption problems, and what impact that will have on the credit insurance appetite in Africa?


Technical Assistance

  • What measures of support can be given to SMEs to ensure they are given more capital, and have the most pertinent information for how to get access to this? How can this impact different lengthed/sized facilities?
  • How has MIGA approached the government or sub sovereign clients and provided assistance and what would be the successful approach?
  • Is there currently a lack of assistance in this area? While it is great to talk about what could help, we need to address what is actually happening. If there is a lack of assistance on emerging technologies and strategies, how detrimental is it to the efforts of closing the African trade finance gap?


New Funding Sources

  • What strategies and steps would you recommend for expanding the credit insurance market that could provide guarantees to sellers or banks in Africa, targeting both deep-sea companies and domestic transactions? Is there a role in governments to help secure new funding streams?
  • How can TCI backstop corporates and banks to bridge the trade finance gap? Do you have any examples of markets where this has worked?
  • Do you have any examples of failed efforts to inject liquidity into the African trade finance market, and how can future sources learn from these failures?
  • What is needed for new players to enter the market and provide additional liquidity and financing to African governments, companies, specifically SMEs? How does the industry need to reframe the issue of the African trade market, and move forward with innovative ideas?
  • Should we look at accelerating the development of trade finance as an asset class?


Panel Questions and Answers

1. Some countries such as Zimbabwe are considered high risk and certain insurers in African countries are not covering these high risk jurisdictions. What can be done to capacitate insurers across Africa to at least consider covering certain credible buyers within high risk jurisdictions


Richard Wulff: That depends on why insurers do not provide cover. When countries do not have hard currency, a good risk doesn’t address the concerns. We do see cover on African conglomerates with treasury outside the home country, in order to become independent of these issues.


Check Out Related Articles Below

Credit insurance, export credit and funds: How do we solve the African trade finance gap? (Part 1)

Credit insurance, export credit and funds: The 5 pillars to help the African trade gap (Part 2)


Thank you to our sponsors and partners

2022_Tinubu_logo

More from the TFG’s Trade Credit Insurance, Export Finance and ECA Hub

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Live! Launch of 100 Women in Trade, Treasury & Payments 2023 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/t6-women-in-trade-treasury-payments-2023-international-womens-day/ Mon, 06 Mar 2023 12:39:13 +0000 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/?page_id=79287 read more →]]>

Trade Finance Global is proud to launch our video to celebrate the upcoming International Women’s Day on March 8, 2023.

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2023, we highlight the careers, experiences, and achievements of women across the industry to #EmbraceEquity. Despite progress, the gender pay gap and representation in the finance sector is still a significant issue that needs to be addressed.

TFG’s Women In Trade, Treasury & Payments (WITTP) campaign aim’s to celebrate all women; to learn from their challenges, to hear their stories and to share their successes.

We hope to inspire other women to pursue careers in this trade, treasury and payments – but more than that, to showcase the importance of trade for female economic empowerment across the globe.


Some of our panellists

Angela Ellard

DDG Angela Ellard

Deputy Director General, World Trade Organization

Reta Jo Lewis

Chair Reta Jo Lewis

President and Chair of the Board of Directors, US EXIM

Mencia Bobo

Mencia Bobo

Global Head of Trade & Working Capital Solutions, Santander

Natalia Clements

Natalia Clements

Senior Trade Finance Product Specialist, Swiss Re

Other panellists featured in this video include:

  • Catherine Lang-Anderson: Allen & Overy
  • Gwen Mwaba: Afreximbank
  • Helen Jones: Visa
  • Kimberley Botwright: World Economic Forum (WEF)
  • Lorna Pillow: London Forfaiting Company/International Trade and Forfaiting Association (LFC/ITFA)
  • Lynette Thorstensen: Fairtrade International
  • Nathalie Louat: International Finance Corporation (IFC)
  • Neha Noronha: Asian Development Bank
  • Raelene Martin: International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)

We explored the following topics:

  • Though there are some large, industry wide challenges that women face, what are some examples of day-to-day challenges for women in the workplace?
  • ASEAN countries have much better gender equity stats than many other regions, what can you attribute this to?
  • How has COVID changed the workplace dynamic for women? Does remote working decrease or increase the burden placed on women?
  • Do you believe that investing in women-led enterprises can help close the gender gap globally?
  • How do we start equity initiatives to society as a whole, and specifically to the younger generation?
  • What is an example of a successful initiative that has helped elevate women in Africa?
  • The Financial Service Industries (FSI) is notorious for having poor gender diversity numbers, what can this industry do to promote women in the workplace?
  • How can we make sure that the industry addresses diverse female challenges (e.g women from minority backgrounds, women with/without children)?
  • How can we get more women involved in the international trade and trade finance industry and what role do governments play in this process?
  • What are the similarities and differences that women in developing countries face in terms of gender equity in their work?
  • In your experience, do female leaders have a larger impact on sustainability and ESG efforts than their male counterparts?
  • How can men overcome internal biases that are harmful to women? How do we approach this issue with men who are uncomfortable with this topic?

Hosted and presented by

Natasha Roston, Trade Finance Global


359 registered attendees

35 banks & funders

90 minute webinar

Streamed to 12 countries

Sponsors and partners

sponsors

More from Women in Trade

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Tradecast – The umbrella that doesn’t open? The future of credit insurance https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/t5-future-of-credit-insurance-tinubu/ Tue, 30 Aug 2022 15:25:03 +0000 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/?page_id=68657 read more →]]>

The umbrella that doesn’t open? The future of credit insurance

Presented by Trade Finance Global and Tinubu

TFG has joined forces with Tinubu to present a virtual tradecast, looking at 4 different sectors of the trade credit insurance industry, and how they have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical issues and inflation.

The tradecast will touch on:

  • A trade credit insurance industry outlook
  • How public and private credit insurance support global economies and trade
  • Risk appetite, claims, payouts: how to make trade credit work for everyone, everywhere
  • Outlook, innovation and sustainability in trade credit insurance
  • Expert perspective: banks & lenders, insurtechs, associations, and ECAs


The Panel

Jerome Peze Tinubu Webinar

Gary Lowe

Janusz Wladyczak

Richard Wulff

Moderated by Deepesh Patel, Editor, Trade Finance Global


864 viewers

Live Tradecast

75 minutes

Streamed on LinkedIn Live

Sponsor

2022_Tinubu_logo

Introduction

  • Introduction to the panel
    • Gary Lowe, global head, global credit insurance group, Standard Chartered,
    • Jérôme Pezé, CEO, Tinubu,
    • Janusz Władyczak, CEO, KUKE S.A,
    • Richard Wulff, Executive Director, ICISA
  • What is trade credit insurance is and how does it underpin global trade?
  • Why do banks utilise trade credit insurance?
  • How do ECAs work? What is the difference between OECD operating ECAs and ECAs based in developing countries?


Perspectives – trade credit insurance

  • How has the market fared with unprecedented challenges around inflation, war and political risk and through the disruption of supply chains?
  • There has been a massive wave of states withdrawing their support to private businesses, what do you expect the repercussions of this to be?  
  • What’s happened from a claims and payouts perspective? 
  • Has risk appetite changed and how has this impacted claims from a private market perspective?

Summary article: Resilience, technology, and risk appetite: credit insurance experts weigh in on current trends. Read here


Risk appetite in the context of claims

  • What is the current general consensus on risk appetite? 
  • How willing are ECAs in encouraging collaboration and sharing risk? 
  • How will the rise in digitalisation help mitigate common risks associated with credit insurance?


Where is the industry heading? Future outlook and innovation

  • Managing capital and improving returns through less traditional avenues. Thoughts on capital calls, new economy, renewable energy and private equity
  • How will customer needs be met in terms of buyers of CPRI?
  • How will the capacity of risk evolve and where will this take the market?

Panel Questions and Answers

Q. Is it possible to comment on the role of “Credit Guarantees” in SCF? If we consider a chain of suppliers ending to a manufacturer which sells the finished product, and a credit given to this manufacturer transferred to chains before (i.e. suppliers), how a credit guarantee institution can help the finance of this chain?

RW: Trade credit insurance is about helping to finance the whole supply chain. Whilst we do not finance, sellers in every part of the chain can and do buy trade credit insurance which enables their financiers to provide terms.

Response: Thanks a lot. What you said, it is exactly done in traditional sense. Now, we have some digitalized platforms of supply chain, the final buyer or manufacturer applies for credit and the banks issues BPO , this BPO is transferred from one chain (supplier) to the other (instead of each chain asks independently for credit using credit insurance/guarantee). So this BPO will be cashed at Bank’s counter on due date by the last chain (if not discounted in between). Now if a credit guarantee is issued for the manufacturer to receive the BPO, shall CG be transferred along with BPO via chains? Or not at the due date, just the manufacturer is responsible for honoring the debt of BPO? And if the debt is not paid, then CG will be called.

RW: Interesting thought! Would need some work as the insurance is assessed on the payment of the next debtor/link in the chain.

Q. With the impending stock market crash and the BRICS countries moving away from the petro dollar and moving to precious metals backed currency, what are your thoughts on western economies ?

JP: Likely stagflation (recession+inflation), potential stress on public debt issued by already highly indebted countries, and -with a time-lag- increase of defaults by corporation in Europe, in a tense social environment. A key element regarding the timing and the extent will depend on governments and BCE policy.


Thank you to our sponsors and partners

2022_Tinubu_logo

More from the TFG’s Trade Credit Insurance Hub

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Sibos Tradecast – the future of global trade and supply chain finance https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/t5-future-of-global-trade-supply-chain-finance-bank-of-america-2/ Sat, 09 Oct 2021 13:31:27 +0000 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/?page_id=51646 read more →]]> Sibos Tradecast – the future of global trade and supply chain finance
Supply Chain Finance

Presented by Trade Finance Global and Bank of America

Trade Finance Global hears from global experts in trade and tradetech, giving a helicopter view on global trade and supply chain finance, long lasting changes to international trade and the future views of a fully digitalised trade landscape.


The Panel

Geoff Brady

Madhav Goparaju

Chris Doroszczyk

Moderated by Deepesh Patel, Editor, Trade Finance Global


864 viewers

Live Tradecast

75 minutes

Streamed on LinkedIn Live

Sponsors and partners

Bank of America

Introduction

  • Introduction to the panel
    • Geoff Brady (GB), Head of Global Trade & Supply Chain Finance, Bank of America
    • Madhav Goparaju (MG), Head of Digital Transformation – Trade and Supply Chain Finance, Bank of America
    • Chris Doroszczyk (CD), Head of Strategy & Business Development  – Cloud, IBM

Panel Questions and Answers

What are your views on shipping companies and customs that still used paper throughout the pandemic?

MG: For digitisation and the ecosystem of shipping companies and customs, COVID-19 will accelerate digital adoption, with the aid of local governments and regulatory agencies. It will continue to need to be a hybrid of digitisation and all digital solutions. Digital transformation will continue to get accelerated.

GB: It’s a great question, and I think illustrates why the ecosystem is what is important. A drive to paperless, digitalisation, etc., isn’t going to fully succeed unless it is accessible for all relevant parties. We’re only going to be as digital as the most analogue part of the process, and if logistics providers, shippers, and ports aren’t included in the overall efforts, we’re not going to invoke positive change.

What are your views regarding the security of digital transport documents and how they can affect trade finance operations in future?

MG: Historically, the challenge for transport documents (e.g. Bills of Lading) has always been either at the beginning of the shipping process, or at the end of the delivery process for three-way matching. Where fintechs etc. can help, is to track goods and provide real-time, in-transit data that helps strengthen the financial decision-making process for banks.

GB: Greater adoption will tell the story, but I think we can see how this can and will be useful, as transport documents today still tend towards paper, and, as such, constitute their share of the friction in the process. Again, this is why logistics providers, shippers, and ports need to have a seat at the digitalisation table.


The impact of COVID-19 on global value chains

  • What’s the current state of global trade and how has this affected trade finance?
  • Has supply chain disruption, be that shortages and delays to the transport of goods, or near shoring and reshoring disrupted supply chain finance programmes?
  • What are the biggest lessons to be learnt from the pandemic?

Panel Questions and Answers

Q. The world is currently experiencing supply chain crises that are deeply affecting African trade, and this is happening despite the waning of the pandemic. What are trade professionals doing to ensure sustainability in African trade?

GB: Africa has been a particular focus for the World Bank and other multilateral organisations, as well as export credit agencies for many of the developed companies. That said, we saw that the Asia Development Bank just estimated the global trade finance gap to have increased to $1.7 trillion – a good portion of which is undoubtedly attributable to Africa. Clearly, there is more work to be done here.

Q. Will real-time, business-to-business (B2B) payments change the way treasurers think about optimising working capital, i.e. the classic way of delaying paying accounts payable (AP), and speeding up collecting accounts receivable (AR)?

GB: The goal would be optimising economic value, wherein there might be both delayed payments on one side, and the acceleration of receivables on the other, in such a way that these two things, facilitated by something like supply chain finance or reverse factoring, will create more economic value than existed in the original transaction. In a digital environment, the concept of “float” might be less impactful.

MG: B2B, real-time payments will help accelerate the push for driving digital, end-to-end optimisation of the procure to pay/order to cash cycles. If the upfront process is very paper-intensive, it will slow the various use cases that could be adopted. Also, the use case adoption continues to be fragmented by region and by industry, etc. This will definitely bring supply chain digitisation and real-time payments closer together.


Access to finance

  • How do banks respond to unprecedented fiscal support from governments, an increased risk of lending to MSMEs due to the pandemic, and a decline in trade volumes?
  • How did corporates respond to the pandemic, with regards to their suppliers and supply chain finance programmes?
  • Is supply chain finance changing or evolving? How can it better serve the corporate customer?
  • How can governments, world banks and IFIs help?

Panel Questions and Answers

Q. Where does SCF stand in Asia?

MG: The need for supply chain financing in Asia will only accelerate. With it going deeper into the financing chain, it has become more urgent than before to strengthen the entire chain.

GB: SCF has always provided an important source of liquidity on the supplier side, particularly for suppliers to large global importers. The recent shift we have seen has been much greater adoption on the buyer side. Asian multi-nationals are implementing SCF in ever greater numbers, especially as working capital optimisation proved so important over the last 18 months. The challenge to more widespread adoption will be the lack of standardisation across Asia, with each jurisdiction requiring its own specificity.


Technology

  • Has the pandemic accelerated the digitalisation of trade finance?
  • How do banks go about choosing platforms?
  • Given the accelerated drive to digitally transform, how do you see cloud computing enabling this evolution for Corporate Banking within GTB teams?
  • Is there not a legal issue around acceptance of documents?
  • With increased focus on Cyber Threats and focus on public vs private clouds for financial data, what are the key differentiators in this space?

Panel Questions and Answers

Q. What key policy changes are needed for banking systems to address capital and liquidity vulnerabilities, and also encourage faster digital implementation?

MG: Title documents which can be produced in digital formats need uniform acceptance in many jurisdictions. This is often a legal problem and can be sped up by making relevant policy changes.

GB: Interesting. Those are two different things, but not necessarily mutually exclusive. What you hope is that the capital and liquidity policies, which typically relate to a bank’s balance sheet, don’t conflict with what might facilitate greater adoption of digitisation standards that will allow for faster implementation. Some of this you can control, and some of it you can’t. We’ve already made strides during the pandemic with things like e-signatures, etc., so we have cleared some paths, but the mission will be global standards that will accommodate this digitisation.

Q. Will interoperability and connectivity among players lower the risk of the banks vis-à-vis the borrowers, thanks to data availability and hence fees?

MG: It absolutely will, given that a wide variety of ecosystem players drive the data decisioning. To strengthen and enhance the risk-based decisioning, interoperability of digital data makes that more transparent and effective, and should have a positive impact both for our customers to drive financing to where it is needed, plus economics from the banks’ perspective, as the decisions are now based on digital data rather than pieces of paper.

GB: Time will tell. Data security will certainly be a part of this evolution, and this is where the implied security of blockchain is promising.


Future view

  • A view on cryptocurrency and digital assets within the trade and SCF space
  • What can both banks and corporates expect for the post-pandemic period, and how should they prepare for continued uncertainty in global trade and supply chains? 
  • With trade still being so heavily dependent on paper from different ecosystem players, what can be done to help drive digital transformation adoption?

Panel Questions and Answers

Q. Looking at the next step of digitalisation, and as receivables has more liquidity and visibility for the ecosystem, is there a trend to create a sort of auction around receivables, to bring more value to them and to reduce the commissioning that has been taken by financial institutions?

GB: A great outcome for the market would be accessing and including as much of the potential investor base as possible. There is a sizable global trade finance gap, but there is also a deep pool of investors, bank market, capital markets, etc., that are looking to invest in trade finance.  This is where the visibility and liquidity of a marketplace would be impactful. 

Q. How does the climate change movement impact certain industries in the supply chain market?

GB: I think we’ve seen a greater focus on environmental – the “E” in ESG – and sustainable supply chains, and I think we’ve seen this across industries. Corporations want to diversify their supply chains, and they want to ensure – to the extent that they can – that their supply chains reflect the values of the corporation when it comes to sustainability. Not just for themselves, but also their buyers and suppliers. This has challenged the banks and providers to keep pace, in order to help them facilitate their supply chain goals.

Thank you to our sponsors and partners

Bank of America

More from the TFG’s Trade and Supply Chain Finance Hub

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Tradecast – Supply Chain 4.0 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/t4-supply-chain-4-2021/ Wed, 08 Sep 2021 12:32:18 +0000 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/?page_id=50295 read more →]]> Supply Chain 4.0 – Optimising the chain
Tradecast

Presented by Trade Finance Global and Finastra

COVID-19 has shifted global value chains in unprecedented ways which will likely see no new ‘normal’. As behaviours, purchasing trends and trade are completely shifted, this Tradecast will explore how corporates are reacting to new levels of volatility, and ultimately, how technology and innovation could help build an inclusive, resilient global value chain.

This Tradecast analyses the impact of recent events on new behaviours, purchasing trends and trade, as well as the focus on building back recovery and creating sustainable jobs. Be that through public-private partnerships to mobilize finance, creating transparency through marketplaces and B2B platforms or building resilient supply chains, how do we build back a stronger economy which is more inclusive, resilient and sustainable?


The Panel

Brian Edmonson

Finastra

Susan Starnes

Susan Starnes

Natasha Condon

Natasha Condon

Claire Thompson

Claire Thompson

Moderated by Deepesh Patel, Editor, Trade Finance Global


425 registered attendees

Live Webinar

60 minutes

Streamed on LinkedIn & YouTube

Sponsors and partners

sponsors

Introduction and the impact of COVID-19 on global value chains

  • Introduction to the panel
  • Overview of the impact of COVID fallout on access to trade and supply chain finance
  • How does the current shock compare to the global financial crisis?


Access to finance: MSME perspective

  • How can the trade industry support financial inclusion to those hardest hit?
  • How is supply chain finance evolving to meet the needs of all organizations across the value chain?
  • How can we democratise the industry to ensure smaller banks get access to SCF and other types of financing?
  • Correspondent banks and access to finance in emerging markets and developing countries


More from our sponsor

Webinar

Webinar: Networks of Networks: Tomorrow’s trade ecosystem

Finastra invites you to watch this on-demand webinar to hear from our experts who will be exploring what this means for the trade and supply chain industry and how banks can transform their business to be part of tomorrow’s ecosystem.


Technology and using partnerships networks & marketplaces to build resilience

  • What role can data play in advancing access to trade finance? (Example)
  • Can AI and ML help with credit decision making and risk?
  • Is this causing polarisation (large banks versus small banks)?
  • What were the main challenges to digitisation during the pandemic?
  • Can partnerships, networks and B2B marketplaces build resilience and increase choice without creating digital islands?
  • How does this all work from a data-sharing perspective and what are the biggest challenges you see?


More from our sponsor

Trade Finance

White paper: Trade finance: the departure from relationship models

At a strategic level, Finastra’s research shows that of the three options open to banks – product provider, relationship builder and platform player – corporate banks across the world are set to favour the platform player approach. Finastra’s new research shows how to deliver integrated and connected trade finance to businesses.


The evolution of Supply Chain Finance

  • What role can data play in advancing access to trade finance and what’s the opportunity with open banking?
  • What criteria are best to ascertain the level of sustainability of a business?
  • What’s your forward-looking future view on digital trade, and what do we need to see happening?

Thank you to our sponsors and partners

sponsors

More from the TFG’s Supply Chain Hub

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Tradecast – Sustainable Trade Finance https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/t3-sustainable-trade-finance-2021/ Fri, 23 Apr 2021 16:02:22 +0000 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/?page_id=45163 read more →]]> Sustainable Trade Finance
ITFA

Presented by Trade Finance Global and ITFA

Trade finance has a significant role to play in sustainable development and ESG, which extends to addressing global challenges around climate change, human rights and biodiversity.

The banking industry is certainly making progress towards their sustainability mandates, which is no longer a ‘nice to have’, rather, a business imperative. But if we are to jointly work towards the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, raising truly understanding the benefits of sustainable trade assets, understanding the appetite from the investment community, and sharing best in class practices that are being applied locally and globally is critical.


The Panel

Johanna Wissing

ITFA

Board Member, ESG, ITFA

NLN Swaroop

NLN Swaroop

Director, Alternate and ESG Distribution, GTRF, HSBC, ICC Sustainable Trade Finance Working Group

Anne Maria Cronin

Anne Maria Cronin

Director, Quarter Penny Consulting

Katharina Michael

Katharina Michael

Unicredit, ICC Sustainable Trade Finance Working Group

Moderated by Deepesh Patel, Editor, Trade Finance Global


Tradecast Agenda

In this Tradecast by Trade Finance Global and ITFA, we discussed:

  • The definition of sustainable trade finance assets
  • The true business benefits of sustainable trade finance
  • Has the pandemic accelerated considerations for sustainability in supply chains?
  • Understanding risk when it comes to environment and sustainability
  • How sustainable trade finance assets are evaluated and understanding the risk
  • Investment appetite towards these assets in the investment community – differentiated treatment for sustainable trade finance assets
  • Education and sharing best practices within the community
  • A roadmap for sustainable trade finance


575 registered attendees

2,579 video views

90 minute webinar

Streamed to LinkedIn Live

Sponsors and partners

sponsors

Introduction: and definition of sustainable trade finance

  • An introduction to sustainability and green finance and its relevance to international trade trade finance
  • How do we define sustainable trade finance?
  • Do we need to establish a common framework for sustainable trade finance?
  • How does this relate to the UN sustainable development goals and climate change?


Business benefits

  • What are the business benefits and rationale for sustainable trade finance?
  • How do banks and corporates take a risk-based approach towards sustainable trade?


Incentives and pricing

  • Should we decentivise unsustainable trade or incentivise green trade? What does that actually mean?
  • How should financial institutions be promoted to grow sustainable financing? Are incentives the right model?
  • Is there a consensus on this subject? What is the possible direction of travel for sustainable trade financing and its capital treatment?


Regulatory treatment of sustainable trade finance assets

  • How can we bring sustainable trade finance assets to capital markets (e.g. pension funds)?
  • From a secondary trade finance/distribution perspective, how do you see this market developing?
  • How is trade finance uniquely placed?


Standards in sustainable

Resources

Article: Leveraging credible data to monitor sustainable trade and finance

Sustainable Trade Criteria: Customer Due Diligence Guidelines (ICC)

Can’t see this? Watch on YouTube

Creating standards in sustainable trade finance

  • How can we define taxonomies and mapping out standards to ensure standardisation in sustainable trade finance?
  • Do these standards need to be interoperable?
  • Where are we at with standards in sustainable trade finance right now, and what’s left to do?


Education and learning

  • As we build a roadmap for sustainable trade finance, how can we share best practices within the trade finance community?
  • Where do others sit within this broad debate (e.g. rating agencies, multilaterals, the private sector and regulators)?


Fintech, partnership and the future

  • How can fintechs work to help banks lend to sustainable businesses?


Thank you to our sponsors and partners

sponsors

Next webinar to be announced shortly

More from the TFG Sustainability hub

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Tradecast! MSME inclusion in global trade https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/t2-msme-inclusion-in-global-trade/ Mon, 05 Oct 2020 14:26:09 +0000 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/?page_id=37272 read more →]]> Tradecast – Count us in! MSME inclusion in global trade
MSME

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are one of the strongest drivers of economic development, innovation and employment. Access to finance is often identified as a critical barrier to growth for MSMEs. Creating opportunities for MSMEs in emerging markets is key to advancing economic development and reducing poverty. 

However, there is an MSME financing gap, to the magnitude of over $5 trillion. Some 200 million businesses worldwide need financing to invest, grow and create new jobs, and they account for 9 out of 10 businesses, half of global GDP, and two-thirds of jobs worldwide.

Added to this, countries have taken unprecedented and drastic measures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic by restricting the physical movement of goods and people, disrupting millions of MSMEs around the world.

How can governments, policy makers, financiers and business come together to better support all members of the global supply chain, especially MSMEs? How can digitisation open the global marketplace for organisations large and small and start to address historic barriers to dynamic trading relationships and essential capital for MSMEs?


The Panel

Claire Thompson

Claire Thompson

Executive Vice President, Enterprise Partnerships – Mastercard

Mastercard

Nana Khurodze

Nana Khurodze

Investment Specialist, Asian Development Bank

ADB

George Wilson

George Wilson

Head of Institutional Trade, Absa, Board Member, ITFA

absa

Chris Southworth

Chris Southworth

Secretary General, ICC United Kingdom

ICC

This Tradecast explored:

  • The need for liquidity to reduce insolvencies – disbursing support and the need for  public-private partnership
  • MSME access to credit and microfinance
  • How innovative technologies enable SMEs to trade internationally (e.g. e-commerce, digital payments aligned with flow of goods, etc.)

Hosted and presented by

Deepesh Patel, Editor, Trade Finance Global


359 registered attendees

35 banks & funders

90 minute webinar

Streamed to 12 countries

Sponsors and partners

sponsors

Introduction: Key Challenges around MSME Financial Inclusion

What are the challenges in MSME financial inclusion and access to finance?

  • Given the there is a $120tn trade finance gap in Africa, what are the key challenges from a bank perspective?
  • The MSME trade finance gap is $500tn in Asia – and most definitely growing since the start of the pandemic. As a DFI, what’s the role of Asian Development Bank in supporting the real economy and MSMEs? 
  • What were the biggest challenges for MSMEs over the past 6 months?
  • Why are MSMEs left out of global value chains and the trade financing market?
  • From a regulatory perspective, has regulation failed this industry – did Basel III or LDG requirements post 2008 really cause the trade finance dilemma we are now in?


Regulation, Policy and Trade Reform Perspective

  • Multilaterals such as WTO, ICC and UNCITRAL have undergone a number of initiatives to reform trade. Is there a disconnect between what’s going on, perhaps in Brussels and Washington, and on the ground?
  • The low risk nature of trade finance assets are very well documented, yet MSMEs, particularly in some of the emerging and developing markets are problematic. What can DFIs do to accelerate and promote better trade policy that enables trade finance access to MSMEs?
  • How can public-private partnerships help accelerate this?


Digital Trade Perspective

  • Has COVID-19 accelerated the uptake and movement around digital trade – is it all just hype?
  • Where are the challenges here, are these projects interoperable, or do you think we are seeing digital islands / siloes appear?
  • What is the ICC DSI initiative?
  • What is the ICC Digital Trade Roadmap?
  • How can we use the numerous data points we now have to look at risk from a completely different perspective?


Liquidity & Finance Perspective

  • Is there another angle we can look at with regards to trade finance assets for SMEs, perhaps portfolio securitisation of a pool of MSME trade assets?
  • What are the likelihoods of regulators rolling back on capital requirements and LDG ratios on trade finance, knowing the inappropriate burdens and implications this has had on MSME access to trade finance?


Survey / Questions and Answers

  • What are the practical uses of technology to address resiliency challenges? – Are we being overly optimistic that COVID-19 can lead to a new inclusive future for global trade?
  • Given the pandemic has forced us all to really rethink the way we do business, can you give one or two pieces of advice to a trading company, navigating the current, very uncertain environment?

Send us your questions and the panel will endeavour to answer, email us on: tradecast@tradefinanceglobal.com.

Thank you to our sponsors and partners

sponsors

Poll and Survey Results


Introductory Questions – About the audience


Challenges


More from Trade Finance Talks

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