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.

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.

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?

Despite concerns over recent regulatory changes, synthetic risk transfers remain a key driver for business lending in markets where private investment is underdeveloped.

Digitalization may be a hot topic in the treasury world, but many financial institutions remain unconvinced that the benefits justify the cost and disruption involved in moving away from in-house servers or manual signatures.

Wider adoption of digital letters of credit is being held back by limited standardization and lack of interoperability.

Banks have responded to fintech innovation in credit risk assessment by introducing more sophisticated processes for determining the financial health of trade finance customers.

Euromoney’s 2021 trade finance survey reflects an unprecedented year for the industry.

For years, trade finance and cross-border payments have looked ripe for disruption by distributed-ledger technologies. Asia provides some firm examples of breakthroughs, but – in the second of a two-part series – Euromoney asks whether trade finance will always be just that little bit too complicated for the blockchain?

If the market for sustainable finance is ever to achieve true scale, it needs to crack the tough nut of sustainable trade finance solutions.

Previously known as reverse factoring, sustainable supply-chain finance is one of the products currently generating the most interest among both banks and their corporate clients.

Fourth-quarter numbers from Asia’s biggest trade finance banks suggest that business in the region has bounced back rapidly. Corporates have changed their approach to their manufacturing bases and supply chains, and have accelerated their use of technology. In the first of a two-part series, Euromoney finds there are lessons here for the rest of the world when the pandemic eventually eases.

Trade deal brings together 15 Asian nations; banks jostle to benefit.

Have banks and corporates underestimated the sheer complexity of digitalizing trade transactions?

Fraud, commodity prices and concerns over defaults have created a perfect storm for commodity trade finance – and the capacity of trading firms and finance funds to support the market remains unclear.

Financial institutions have backed the International Chamber of Commerce’s call for governments to scale up their support for trade finance to meet post-coronavirus demand.

Naveed Sultan, head of treasury and trade solutions at Citi, says the overall default risk from coronavirus will remain low and will be limited to the SME sector.