Trade Finance Talks

Future of Trade with Standard Chartered E1: Powering resilience

Resilience in global trade has moved beyond a defensive strategy. In an era defined by tariffs, technological developments, and shifting patterns of economic growth, it is now integral to sustainable expansion and long-term competitiveness across global supply chains. 
In the debut episode of Trade Finance Global’s (TFG) new five-part podcast series, Future of Trade with Standard Chartered, TFG’s Mark Abrams sat down with Sofia Hammoucha, Global Head of Trade and Working Capital at Standard Chartered.

The success factor: Future trends in factoring

Factoring, a financial practice where businesses sell unpaid invoices for immediate cash, underpins trillions in global commerce, with global volumes nearing €3.8 trillion in 2023

Regional rising star: Latin America’s payments success

At the 2025 Sibos conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Silvia Andreoletti, Senior Reporter at Trade Finance Global (TFG),  had the opportunity to speak with Ximena Alemán, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Prometeo, a Latin American payments network.

A stroke of GENIUS? Implications of digital assets policy

Over the last decade, a new world order has been trying to emerge from the cracks of enduring systems. When Nick Szabo proposed the idea of “bit gold” in 1998, he opened the portal to inventions that changed how humans thought and dealt with money forever. 

Bridging the commodity trade finance gap with transparency and innovation

The global trade finance gap persists at around $2.5 trillion, leaving businesses - especially small-and-medium commodity traders - struggling to pay suppliers, ship goods, and keep cash flowing while they wait for buyers to pay invoices.

You can’t predict the weather, but you can insure for it: Credit insurance and the future of energy

From soaring price volatility and shifting geopolitical tensions to the urgent need to decarbonise, companies across the energy sector are facing risks on multiple fronts. Energy trading contracts can stretch for years, while market shocks can happen overnight. 

Notches on the Belt and Road: Asian approaches to investment in Africa

In a grocery store in Cape Town, Korean instant noodles and ice cups sit alongside local biltong. “The younger generation is observing on social media, and has now created a demand for, these items,” observed Zaynab Hoosen, Senior Africa Analyst at Pangea Risk, of her home town. It’s a retail revolution spurred by cultural curiosity, and it stands as a microcosm of newfound Asian investment strategies in Africa. From aid-driven investment during the mid-twentieth century to construction and development projects in the 2000s and 2010s, it appears that capital is now being deployed with the vast African consumer market and manufacturing capabilities in mind. And, with benefactors beyond China and their notorious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Tariffs, inside and out

Since US President Donald Trump came to office in January 2025, not a day goes by without some mention of ‘tariffs’ in the news. International markets have reacted to landmark shifts initiated by US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policies. Tariffs have evolved from a more specialised economic tool to one gaining political and ideological ramifications, generating renewed and expanded interest in them.
 
At the 51st Annual International Trade and Forfaiting Association’s (ITFA) Conference in Singapore, Mahika Ravi Shankar, Deputy Editor at Trade Finance Global (TFG), sat down with Craig Weeks, Senior Vice President for Trade at BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade), to discuss the impact of tariffs from a banking and trade finance perspective. 

Sowing the seeds for sustainable finance

The energy transition appears to have been a constant back and forth between opportunities and complex regulatory and ESG challenges, and nowhere is this more pertinent than in commodity finance. Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke with Christine Dirringer, Global Head of Trade and Commodity Finance at Rabobank, about how the industry is evolving to meet these demands.

Opening doors of opportunity along the Europe-China digital trade corridor

Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke to Patrik Zekkar, CEO of Enigio, and Steven Zhou, Executive Director of TradeGo, to learn more about the Europe-China digital trade corridor and the potential of digitalising trade documents. 
 
Read Here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-opening-doors-of-opportunity-along-the-europe-china-digital-trade-corridor/