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LATEST ARTICLES
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Digital negotiable instruments offer the prospect of improved working capital and better liquidity, but they face implementation challenges.
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The decision by the US SEC to drop mandatory Scope 3 reporting weakens global emissions reporting standards. However, many corporate issuers are already using Scope 3 performance targets on sustainability-linked transactions for non-regulatory reasons. Are the debt and equities markets leading companies onto ESG ground upon which regulators fear to tread?
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The German lender’s decision to put its chips on southeast Asia is paying off handsomely. Under the leadership of Asia CEO Alexander von zur Mühlen, Deutsche Bank has doubled its capital in Vietnam and Indonesia, with more to come, moved a host of global roles to the region, and has seen Asean eclipse its India and China business in terms of growth and absolute numbers.
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There was a big rise in the number of respondents to Euromoney’s Trade Finance Survey 2024 who received an increase in credit from their trade banks last year – 45.7%, up from 41.8% in 2023.
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More than 60% of respondents to Euromoney’s 2024 trade finance survey expect an increase in use of trade financing over the next three years.
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Some 50.6% of respondents to this year’s Euromoney Trade Finance Survey say the cost of credit from their trade banks has increased over the past 12 months, compared with 45.4% in 2023.
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Trade-receivables securitization transactions are flourishing as corporates seek more affordable access to long-term financing.
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The commodities firm still needs large banking groups and a range of options when it comes to supporting its operations.
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Data hoarding, ESG illiteracy and credit risk are roadblocks for regional banks looking to establish sustainable supply-chain financing programmes in the Gulf, just as COP28 approaches.
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While banks have accelerated digital solutions across business lines, accomplishing end-to-end digitalization of global trade remains far beyond their reach. The complexity of supply-chain finance remains a challenge, and banks continue to hunt for scalable solutions. Embedded finance could be the answer.
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The inability of trade-finance participants to fully leverage the value of the data generated by transactions remains a source of frustration, particularly for small businesses.
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Widespread use of ISO 20022 could have a far-reaching impact on supply-chain finance by facilitating faster processing of transactions.
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While foreign investment in China has fallen, supply-chain shift is a different story. Rather than transferring their main production away from China, manufacturers are cultivating deep regional supply chains across Asia and beyond.
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Beneath the Great Game geopolitics of US-Vietnam relations, there are some intriguing possibilities in the detail.
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For decades, transaction banking was a profitable but largely ignored corner of the banking industry. Then Covid happened. Today, bank chiefs see it as critical to everything they do. Given the challenges ahead – collaborating with fintechs and embedding ESG principles in global supply chains – the revolution under way in this business is unstoppable.
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Providers of trade finance remain bullish despite predictions that growth in global trade will stagnate during the remainder of this year.
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Banks must address the nature and quality of trade finance roles to address staff longevity concerns.
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Sinan Ozcan, senior executive officer of DP World Trade Finance – part of the company that handles around one-eighth of global trade volumes – talks to Euromoney about its plans to finance these volumes as well.
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High interest rates and low bank appetite for risk have created the perfect conditions for a renaissance in invoice factoring.
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The green transition is boosting demand for key metals and Africa’s commodity markets are under pressure to increase extraction. But buyer awareness of Scope 3 emissions means that processes need to be cleaned up and fast.
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Better AML controls across traditional financial systems have increased the appeal of international trade as a conduit for fraud.
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Most leading providers of trade finance have welcomed changes to disclosure rules despite research suggesting they could negatively impact demand.
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As interest rate volatility persists, corporates are taking a hard look at their trade finance options.
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The banking sector appears to be quietly confident that the European Commission will row back on new regulation that, if enacted, could notably increase the cost of some trade-finance instruments.
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Twinco Capital facilitates access to sustainable funding by focusing on pre-production finance.
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Business-to-business buy-now-pay-later providers are optimistic that economic uncertainty and higher interest rates will drive corporates to pay suppliers sooner and secure inventory more rapidly.
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HSBC’s global head of trade finance talks about how the bank has built 'the trade finance platform for the future'.
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The impact of the supply chain disruption that was such a notable feature of last year’s trade finance survey continues to be felt as banks widen the range of services designed to improve corporate resilience.
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Big transaction banks are responding to corporate customer demand for sustainability linked supplier-finance programmes by extending the geographical availability and range of the products they offer.
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Strategies and financing need to be radically reassessed to achieve sustainability in a rapidly changing world.
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DeFi is touted as a solution to the multi-trillion dollar global trade-finance gap, despite tech concerns.
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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.
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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.
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Rising interest rates and macroeconomic uncertainty mean that corporate cash balances are at very high levels.
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The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have brutally exposed the fragility of global supply chains.
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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.
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More awareness by corporates of the role played by small suppliers has boosted early payment programmes.
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Technology advances and positive ESG considerations could help private credit reduce the global trade finance gap.
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The failures of we.trade and HSBC’s Serai highlight the challenges that blockchain-based solutions face.
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Several FIs hope to capitalize on an easing in physical supply-chain constraints to extend trade-finance offerings.
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Supply-chain disruption has driven up corporate stock holdings. Firms may move excess inventory off balance sheet.
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Spikes in shipping prices have hit mid- and lower-tier commodity trading companies at a time of bank caution.
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The UK Electronic Trade Documents Bill is expected to greatly improve access to trade finance, particularly for contracts that use English law.
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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.
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A combination of geographical position and commodity strength is working in the country’s favour.
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Corporates want to improve sustainability in their supply chains, but, if anything, the barriers to doing so are getting worse.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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There is no shortage of great ideas in digitalizing trade finance. If only all these systems and programmes would talk to one another.
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Private wealth clients, niche asset managers and sophisticated trading firms could all have appetite for tokenized trade finance.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Banks are taking a more proactive approach to sustainable trade finance, recognizing that their responsibilities extend beyond simply providing financially competitive products.
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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?
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Despite concerns over recent regulatory changes, synthetic risk transfers remain a key driver for business lending in markets where private investment is underdeveloped.
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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.
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Wider adoption of digital letters of credit is being held back by limited standardization and lack of interoperability.
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Banks have responded to fintech innovation in credit risk assessment by introducing more sophisticated processes for determining the financial health of trade finance customers.
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Euromoney’s 2021 trade finance survey reflects an unprecedented year for the industry.
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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?
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If the market for sustainable finance is ever to achieve true scale, it needs to crack the tough nut of sustainable trade finance solutions.
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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.
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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.
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Trade deal brings together 15 Asian nations; banks jostle to benefit.
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Have banks and corporates underestimated the sheer complexity of digitalizing trade transactions?
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Buoyed by relatively healthy balance sheets, corporates have demonstrated a willingness to directly support the financial health of their supply chains since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
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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.
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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.
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Customers are starting to embrace digital forwarders that provide supply chain finance services as well as digitized freight forwarding.
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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.
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The leading banks in Euromoney’s Trade Finance Survey 2020 comment on the highlights of the last 12 months and their expectations for the year to come.
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HSBC takes the top spot in Euromoney’s survey for the third year in a row.
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Voted for by more than 7000 treasury professionals, find out which banks rank top in the Euromoney Trade Finance Survey 2020.
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Will it be the banks that have built strong, steady relationships or those with big budgets that take transaction banking into the future?
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A lack of regulation and standardization creates opportunities for businesses that can create a one-stop shop for all blockchain trade finance needs. So who is doing it?
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Trade finance is gaining momentum as a securitized asset class – the resultant increased liquidity may offer corporates access to trade finance much more easily and quickly, especially as digital solutions streamline the process. Will SMEs, which have traditionally found it harder to access the market, be able to reap the benefits as well?
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There has been a distinct shift towards collaboration rather than competition as new distributed ledger technology platforms continue to emerge and more established platforms extend their reach.
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Its strong performance in Euromoney’s trade finance survey – despite its recent difficulties – has left some rivals scratching their heads. What lies behind its high placing?
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Digital innovation has the potential to transform international trade, yet many argue that banks are lagging in replacing antiquated systems for trade with smart solutions. What is behind the delays?
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Banks and traders tout efficiency and the trust benefits of a new fintech platform, but key absentees mitigate the hoped-for 'network effect'.
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Seven firms launch trade finance platform to improve efficiency and services, especially for SMEs.
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Recommits to holding top spot; mid-tier of most concern as oil traders struggle.
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The threatened imposition of US-China trade tariffs this week is the most obvious sign of increasing protectionism, resulting in a push towards regional trade, but with consumers prioritizing speedy delivery, the move to source locally has other drivers.
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Trade finance has emerged as an asset class with appeal for institutional buyers, but needs to have some issues ironed out before it becomes palatable to a broad investor base.