Banks have access to an unparalleled amount of data, and are beginning to service clients beyond traditional financing. Anonymised and aggregated spending data can help businesses make more informed decisions.

Consider a corporate real estate company that is looking to open a new shopping centre; banks could support the client with data on the most popular geographical locations based on payment propensity. Once the shopping centre is open, banks can provide information on who is shopping there – and when, and even why.

“It’s an opportunity for banks to go beyond banking, and be a real strategic partner for our clients,” said Matt Burns, Managing Director, Transaction Banking Solutions, Lloyds Corporate & Institutional, at the BAFT Europe Bank to Bank Forum 2025 in Amsterdam.

Watch the full video for more.

The post VOXPOP | Matt Burns on FIs commercialising data appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

At Women in Trade, Treasury & Payments 2025, Bloomberg HT spoke to Sarah Murrow, CEO of Allianz Trade UK & Ireland and Head of Women in Credit Insurance at ICISA, about the importance of driving diversity and inclusion in the credit insurance sector.

1. Supporting women in credit insurance – Allianz Trade sponsors the Women in Credit Insurance Association, a working group within ICISA, to provide mentorship, training, and networking opportunities.
2. Closing the leadership gap – While pay equity is strong in the sector, fewer women reach senior leadership roles, highlighting the need for targeted career support. 
3. Building a community – Founded in 2023, the Women in Credit Insurance Association hosts virtual and in-person events to help women advance in their careers.
4. Mentorship matters – Structured mentorship programs can equip women with the skills and confidence to take on leadership roles.
5. Industry-wide commitment – Driving diversity and inclusion requires an ongoing effort from companies, policymakers, and industry groups.

Empowering women in trade and finance starts with action—mentorship, community, and commitment to change.

#AccelerateAction

The post VOXPOP | Sarah Murrow on the importance of driving diversity and inclusion in the credit insurance sector appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

This International Women’s Day, Bloomberg HT spoke to Emmanuelle Ganne, Chief of Digital Trade and Frontier Technologies at the World Trade Organization, about some of the challenges women face when accessing international trade markets.

1. Women-led businesses struggle to export – Only 15-20% of exporting companies are led by women, with barriers like operating in non-export-heavy sectors and being smaller in size.
2. Access to finance is a major hurdle – Many women face challenges securing funding due to shorter credit histories and assets often being registered in a man’s name.
3.  Policy matters – Governments can drive change by integrating a ‘gender lens’ into trade regulations, ensuring policies support women-led businesses.
4. Data drives action – Better gender-disaggregated data can help policymakers and organisations develop targeted solutions.
5. Digitalisation can be a game changer – Technology provides women with better access to international markets, trade information, and alternative financing solutions.
6. AI could unlock new opportunities – AI-powered alternative data can help assess creditworthiness, making it easier for women to secure funding.
7. Connectivity remains a challenge – For women in developing economies, limited Internet access still restricts their ability to leverage digital trade tools.

This interview was recorded at our inaugural event: Women in Trade, Treasury & Payments.

The post VOXPOP | Emmanuelle Ganne on the challenges women face when accessing international trade markets appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

Bidding 2024 goodbye is the perfect opportunity to reflect on the wonderfully unpredictable world of trade, treasury, and payments. TFG have been proud and excited to stand in the middle of a whirlwind of roundtables, interviews, conferences, and community participation. Here are some of our top trends and standout moments from last year:

Top highlights of 2024

• 65,000,000 organic impressions
• 1,737,014 readers
• 144,751 average monthly readers
• 32 podcasts
• 57 videos
• 6 magazines
• 6 guides
• Relaunch of TFG’s platform

Most trending hubs and topics on TFG

1. Incoterms 2020 rules
2. Letters of credit and UCP
3. Structured finance
4. Documentary collections
5. Electronic trade documents

Top Headlines

1. UK invoice financing startup Stenn put into administration after HSBC application
2. Lloyds Bank completes its first WaveBL electronic Bill of Lading transaction
3. France joins MLETR club, recognising ‘Titre Transférable Électronique’
4. EU confirms January 2025 start for final Basel rules
5. Choosing the right Incoterm: Ex Works (EXW) vs. FCA

Top Podcasts

1. Absa on the trade finance distribution revolution and closing the $2.5tn gap
2. Using deep-tier supply chain financing’s potential to unlock capital
3. Risk management in trade finance: How a CITR certification can help
4. Year ahead: Swift CIO on balancing uneven payments regulation and advancing CBDC
5. TXF’s Jonathan Bell reflecting on 10 years in the commodity finance industry, and 10 years moving forward

Top Videos

1. 20 years and counting: What does the future hold for CDCS and documentary credits
2. Corporate and bank perspective on adopting the ETDA: Use case with Trafigura
3. SACE: increasing Italian exports, the push strategy and greening supply chains
4. What does Basel IV look like for the trade credit insurance market?
5. Andrea Tang on the future of trade documents and digitalisation

Read our full ‘2024 unwrapped’ for the full charts here.

TFG remain grateful to all our readers, viewers, listeners, followers, and subscribers. See you in 2025, for what promises to be another year of transformation, unpredictability, and inclusion in trade, treasury, and payments!

The post Trade Finance Global’s 2024 Year in Review appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

Global retailers have hundreds of millions of dollars worth of clothes on the sea at any given moment. 

Essentially, this money is just tied up. The retailer doesn’t need the clothes until they arrive; yet the clothes are still owned by them while travelling across the world, over long time periods.

This is where inventory solutions come in. The inventory partner would own the clothes as they traverse across the world, and sell them to the retailer upon arrival at the destination.

Deepesh Patel, Editorial Director at Trade Finance Global, spoke to Dhiresh Dave, Chief Legal Officer & Managing Director—Legal, Compliance & Governance, at Falcon Group to discuss the benefits and use cases of inventory finance.

Watch the full interview for more insights.

The post VOXPOP | Dhiresh Dave on inventory finance appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

The credit specialties space, at the “nexus of trade, investment, and finance,” has great potential for social transformation.

To discuss this further, Deepesh Patel, Editorial Director at Trade Finance Global, spoke to Angela Duca, Global Specialty Head, Credit Specialties at Marsh.

The sector’s power lies not just in financial metrics, but in its potential for social transformation. Credit specialties can connect public agency clients with investors, developing solutions that extend beyond traditional financial boundaries.

In an era of polycrisis, Duca encourages industry professionals to look beyond current practices. “Think about what’s next and how we take what we do now and make the world a better place later,” she emphasises.

This approach represents more than corporate social responsibility—it sees financial instruments as tools for broader societal development in post-disaster areas.

Watch the full interview for more insights.

The post VOXPOP | Angela Duca on credit specialties appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

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2024 has been a tumultuous year for the treasury industry, marked by impediments to trade, new and unfamiliar regulations, geopolitical risk, and numerous other challenges.

This makes it nearly impossible to predict how the industry will look by this time next year. 

But we have enough to speculate on what forces will steer treasury in 2025.

Eleanor Hill, Trade Finance Global’s (TFG) treasury guru, identified five key factors: 

• Artificial intelligence (AI) alongside other technologies;
• Data becoming a corporate asset;
• A resurgence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) among the community – especially the G;
• Similarly for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI);
• Focus on soft skills to balance the growth of tech.

Watch the full video for more.

The post VOXPOP | What treasury trends will shape 2025? appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

A big part of bridging the trade finance gap can be accomplished by connecting disparate parties together. 

“Usually, both communities have never met,” said André Casterman, CEO of TFD Initiative and Chairperson of the ITFA Fintech Committee, at the 2024 Trade Finance Investor Day conference in London.

One manner to overcome this is by connecting asset managers with SME-focused originators, business-to-business platforms, alternative lenders, and so on.

This bridge between these communities can be built using asset-backed securitisation: “transforming SME high-yield, low-risk trade assets into notes that investors can get exposure on, at a junior level or senior tranche level.”

Watch the full interview for more.

The post VOXPOP | André Casterman on bridging the trade finance gap appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

Most industries worldwide are undergoing significant automation, transforming by embedding AI at various stages. Suchi Guharoy, Head of Global Solution Consulting at Surecomp, elaborated on the digitalisation of trade finance operations.

Across the industry, the technological revolution should enhance operational resilience by improving data accuracy and reducing costs.

Guharoy highlighted trade guarantees as a “classic case” of AI’s potential. “Embedding artificial intelligence and automation throughout the whole process can significantly improve operational KPIs,” she explained.

Banks are integrating AI in risk assessment and credit evaluation workflows: critical areas in the broader industry push toward enhanced operational efficiency.

With institutions increasingly recognising the value of automated processes in streamlining operations and improving decision-making capabilities, AI-driven solutions are set only to grow in value.

The post VOXPOP | Suchi Guharoy on embedding AI appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

At ITFA’s 50th annual conference in Cyprus, Trade Finance Global’s editor Deepesh Patel, sat down with NLN Swaroop, Global Product Head for Sustainable Trade Finance, Innovation, Financial Institutions, Capital Management and Asset Distribution, HSBC Board Member, Trade Finance Investment Ecosystem (ITFIE) at ITFA.

They discussed ITFA’s Trade Finance Investment Ecosystem—or ITFIE—an industry group of trade finance practitioners that focuses on developing trade as an asset class. 

The intention is to facilitate and expand how capital is brought to trade finance, by developing enabling frameworks and solutions.

The initiative should accelerate the rollout of trade finance solutions across the industry.

Swaroop detailed the parties involved in ITFIE: “We have a group of institutional investors, banks, fintech, and capital providers (such as pension funds, insurance treasuries, and family offices) coming together in this group and looking at challenges more closely in a collaborative way to find solutions for the future.”

Watch the full interview for more.

The post VOXPOP | NLN Swaroop on trade finance investment appeared first on Trade Finance Global.