Trade Finance Talks

Global Trade & Treasury Mid-Year Outlook from Bank of America Merill Lynch

Lesley McNamara, Head of Strategy and Product, Global Trade & Supply Chain Finance, Bank of America Merrill Lynch spoke to TFG on Transaction Banking Trends, with a Global Trade & Treasury Mid-Year Outlook. The life of a corporate treasurer is changing, and so is transaction banking. Amidst the current macroeconomic and geopopolitical climate, banks, treasurers and corporates must adapt. More than ever before, corporates are demanding more flexibility on working capital solutions and new opportunities for on-going investment in their businesses. This is forcing banks to innovate, both in supply chain finance and trade finance. We hear the latest from BAML on integrating product offerings, digital banking trends, corporate treasury and trade updates. 
See the full transcript here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e15-bank-of-america-lesley-mcnamara-trade-treasury-supply-chain/

Artificial Intelligence and Trade Finance

TFG were live at the Telegraph’s Future of Trade & Export conference, joined by Michael Boguslavsky, Head of AI at Tradeteq. There are a number of disruptive opportunities to digitise trade finance, including, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, natural language processing. The International Data Corporation predicts that worldwide spending on cognitive and AI systems will reach $77.6 billion USD by 2022. It is clear that AI has much to offer to the trade and receivables finance area, and in this podcast we explore these opportunities.
See the full transcript here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e14-artificial-intelligence-ai-trade-finance-michael-boguslavsky-tradeteq/

Easternisation: Blood and Silk, Power and Conflict: The Role of Modern Southeast Asia in the Global Economy

TFG reports live from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's financial centre, at FCI's 51st Annual Meeting. Southeast Asia is one of the world's fastest growing regions, yet is one of the most complex, and diverse. Editor Deepesh Patel heard from experienced author, journalist and conflict moderator, Michael Vatikiotis, talking about the world's largest economic trading hub, religious conflict in Asia, divergence and polarisation of the East and West and the role of the business community in championing global commerce.
See the full transcript here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e13-role-of-modern-southeast-asia-in-the-global-economy-vatikiotis/

ICC, On Banking Regulation And The Campaign To Mitigate The Unintended Consequences For Trade Finance

The trade finance gap lies at around $1.5tn USD. Regulation and compliance, whilst set in best interests, may however be leading to the exacerbation of this trade finance gap. So, how do we ensure that regulation does not hinder the provision of trade finance and promote its fair regulatory treatment? The International Chamber of Commerce Banking Commission recently released a whitepaper urging the trade finance industry to work together, ensuring that regulation doesn’t hinder the availability of trade finance. Here to discuss their recent report, Banking Regulation And The Campaign To Mitigate The Unintended Consequences For Trade Finance: is Olivier Paul, Director of Finance for Development at the ICC, joining us from Paris.
See the full transcript and whitepaper here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e12-the-unintended-consequences-of-regulation-on-trade-finance-icc-olivier-paul/

Rewiring Trade Finance - TradeIX’s Dave Sutter on the Evolution of Networks and Consortia

During Consortia 2019, Deepesh Patel heard from Chief Strategy Officer Dave Sutter from TradeIX, discussing the key requirements for the true digitalisation of trade finance, and what interoperability means for the networks and consortia within the blockchain / DLT trade space.
See the full transcript here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e11-rewiring-trade-finance-tradeixs-dave-sutter/

Riding the Blockchain Wave – komgo unchained

Commodities have always been very difficult and complex products to finance. Commodities are typically low margin high volume, and are frequently traded cross-border, facing much higher transaction risk. Can DLT promise increased margins profitability, trust and better traceability of trade flows? In this TFG exclusive with komgo, we heard from CEO Souleïma Baddi talking about bringing blockchain and distributed ledger technology to commodity finance. We hear the key differences between VAKT and komgo, and how the komgo network helps banks, traders and all other participants to transact on the same secure software.
See the full transcript here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e10-blockchain-komgo-ceo-souleima-baddi/

All Change in Africa: EXX Africa’s Dr Robert Besseling on the Business Sentiment in Africa

TFG's exclusive interview with Robert Besseling covers the latest macro-economic factors at a regional level in Africa's key economies. The podcast includes an overview of debt and reform in Ethiopia and Angola, the opportunities and challenges around trade wars, Brexit, high interest rates and recovering oil prices on certain economies in Africa. Besseling also talks to TFG about IMF US dollar deonominated debt; the buzzword in many African economies right now. TFG also had an update on the latest crises in Zimbabwe and Gabon, as well as how political changes in Sudan, Algeria and Libya are affecting the economy.
See the full transcript here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e9-exx-africas-dr-robert-besseling-on-the-business-sentiment-in-africa/

The Hype Behind Hyperledger: Nitin Gaur on Pioneering Blockchain for Business

Since 2016, the international trade and finance market witnessed a flood of new blockchain projects in cryptocurrencies entering the market, all part of a wider vision to digitize and transform trade. Blockchain has been frequently touted as the solution for bridging the $1.5 trillion US dollar trade finance gap. Technology for trade finance is hard, and blockchain offers potential for enabling trust, transparency and security and the $9 trillion US dollar open account trade finance space. We heard from Nitin Gaur, Director of IBM Digital Asset Labs last week at the ICC Banking Commission's Annual Meeting.
See the full transcript here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e8-the-hype-behind-hyperledger-ibm-nitin-gaur-on-blockchain-dlt-for-business/

Islamic Finance, Sukuk and Shariah – Vineeta Tan on How Islamic Finance is Changing in 2019

As TFG prepare for IFN Asia, in Kuala Lumpar, TFG heard from Islamic Finance News Managing Editor, Vineeta Tan, who gave a brief overview of the Islamic Finance and Shariah market, as well as share what’s in stock for the conference. With Islamic faith spanning nearly 2bn adherents today, experts around the world tend to agree Islamic Finance emphasises the two main principles around risk-sharing and ethical investment. Vineeta is the managing editor of (IFN), the world’s leading Islamic finance news provider, and, IFN Fintech, the industry’s first and only publication dedicated to fintech for Islamic finance.
See the full transcript here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e7-vineeta-tan-ifn-sukuk-islamic-finance-shariah-fintech/

Turning trade tensions into opportunities - Tariffs, Education & 3D Printing

International trade continues to gain more headlines than ever before, with a fast-moving and increasingly complex global environment posing a range of challenges, from increasing concerns over protectionism and trade tensions to ongoing industry discussion over market disruption, disintermediation and the role of technology. TFG heard from Lionel Taylor and John Bugeja at Trade Advisory Network on the global outlook for trade, what's changed, and how companies are shifting their supply chains to counter the macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges today
See the full transcript here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s1-e6-john-bugeja-lionel-taylor-3d-printing-tariffs-education/