Basle III bears down on trade finance

“Trade finance is under threat from Basle III,” says Markus Wohlgeschaffen, head of global trade finance and services at UniCredit. “Indeed, it is the greatest – unintended – potential threat to the global recovery that [is related to] world trade.” In contrast, Adnan Ghani, head of global trade finance, GTS, at RBS, says: “There is a reason for regulations such as Basle III. Trade has been conducted for 5,000 years and it will go on for another 5,000 years regardless of the regulatory measures introduced.”