As interest rate volatility persists, corporates are taking a hard look at their trade finance options.

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.

Twinco Capital facilitates access to sustainable funding by focusing on pre-production finance.

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.

HSBC’s global head of trade finance talks about how the bank has built 'the trade finance platform for the future'.

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.

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.

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.