Strategies and financing need to be radically reassessed to achieve sustainability in a rapidly changing world.

DeFi is touted as a solution to the multi-trillion dollar global trade-finance gap, despite tech concerns.

Brazil’s agribusiness sector is booming on the back of sky-high commodity prices. The public banks that have long financed the sector now face a wave of new private-sector competitors.

Both HSBC and JPMorgan have recently boosted their digital trade finance offerings, as the ICC Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation commenced testing of digital trade systems between Singapore and the UK.

Rising interest rates and macroeconomic uncertainty mean that corporate cash balances are at very high levels.

The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have brutally exposed the fragility of global supply chains.

While the impact on energy is centre stage, the war in Ukraine is also wreaking havoc on soft commodity prices and trade routes. Trade in agricultural commodities is taking a hit. The pool of banks financing these commodities is already dwindling, while the risks for those that remain are growing.

More awareness by corporates of the role played by small suppliers has boosted early payment programmes.

Technology advances and positive ESG considerations could help private credit reduce the global trade finance gap.

The failures of we.trade and HSBC’s Serai highlight the challenges that blockchain-based solutions face.

Several FIs hope to capitalize on an easing in physical supply-chain constraints to extend trade-finance offerings.

Supply-chain disruption has driven up corporate stock holdings. Firms may move excess inventory off balance sheet.

Spikes in shipping prices have hit mid- and lower-tier commodity trading companies at a time of bank caution.

The UK Electronic Trade Documents Bill is expected to greatly improve access to trade finance, particularly for contracts that use English law.

In a momentous year for the industry, the top tier of trade finance banks remained remarkably stable in this year’s Trade Finance Survey. Supply chain disruption will continue to bedevil the sector and liquidity provision together with digital innovation will place sizeable demands on trade finance banks in 2022.

A combination of geographical position and commodity strength is working in the country’s favour.

Corporates want to improve sustainability in their supply chains, but, if anything, the barriers to doing so are getting worse.

Despite China’s ambitious plans for its digital currency, the e-yuan will struggle to become a lead player in international trade finance without notable changes, most importantly to capital controls.

In just a few years, the New Eurasian Land Bridge, which conveys rail freight between China and Europe, became a key part of Beijing’s fading Belt and Road Initiative. Thanks to sanctions levied against state operator Russian Railways, that vital trade link threatens to be disrupted – and possibly severed.

Treasury teams across the energy sector need to make better use of data if they are to make sense of a market that is becoming more complex.

Global supply-chain bottlenecks have profound implications for how and where companies will fund their operations in the future. As the lines of ships lengthen outside ports, there’s a macroeconomic cost for banks weighing on loan demand and perhaps asset quality. However, some trade and logistics financing businesses that were previously on the margins of banking are now seizing their moment.

The World Trade Organization has suggested that the worst of the global supply chain crisis is over, but that will be of little comfort to corporates facing continued uncertainty and extra costs.

There is no shortage of great ideas in digitalizing trade finance. If only all these systems and programmes would talk to one another.

Private wealth clients, niche asset managers and sophisticated trading firms could all have appetite for tokenized trade finance.

Citi hopes to gain an edge in the highly competitive – and lucrative – securities services market by teaming up with data cloud company Snowflake to improve information flows across transactions.

Francesca Nenci, the recently appointed global head of trade finance at UniCredit, talks to Euromoney about the bank’s trade finance business and the client trends that will shape her approach to her new position.

A joint venture between the Asia-heavy bank and a Chinese supply chain tech player aims to make trade finance an alternative asset class with digital efficiency.

Easier access and growing awareness among investors of the potential returns on offer are driving the use of trade receivables securitization by small and mid-sized corporates.

Banks are taking a more proactive approach to sustainable trade finance, recognizing that their responsibilities extend beyond simply providing financially competitive products.

Given the standardization and interoperability challenges facing digital letters of credit, could wider use of digital trade finance platforms accelerate the development of alternative solutions?