At the 2023 ITFA Trade and Investment Forum in London, Trade Finance Global spoke with Alexander Malaket, president, OPUS Advisory Services, to learn more about trade finance as an asset class, the promise of a standardised rating system, and the role of ESG as a catalyst for investment

In 2023, environmental and climate issues will again be at the top of the policy agenda in the Middle East and North Africa. The upcoming COP28 climate conference in Dubai and the rapid growth in the renewables sector in Egypt and North Africa both point to the growing power of MENA states within global climate politics.

Quite often, trade does not happen directly between the producer of the raw material, the manufacturer and the end user. The supply chain process involved are complex, with each point in the journey ‘adding value’ and potentially adding to the “sustainability footprint” of the product. 

In this episode of Trade Finance Talks, Deepesh Patel, editor at TFG was joined by Chris Southworth, co-chair of Legal Reform Advisory Board at ICC Digital Standards Initiative, and Nick Davies, director of the Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation.

The financial services industry (FSI) has changed dramatically over the past decades due to technological developments in telecommunications, information technology, and financial practice.

Today, the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat and the World Bank Group announced their pilot initiative, Action on Climate and Trade (ACT), to help developing… read more →

British trade minister Nigel Huddleston signed a trade deal with the U.S. state of Oklahoma while in Washington. The British embassy noted that while on the trip, Huddleston hailed another… read more →

Trade is critical in advancing economies, including those in the MENA region. At the same time, trade finance presents unique opportunities for criminal exploitation, also referred to as Trade Based Financial Crime (TBFC).

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Citi are jointly supporting the rollout of a sustainable supply chain finance programme for Finnish technology and services company Metso Outotec… read more →

ESG is certainly not a new development, but its growth and importance in financial services have never been higher. Whilst there has been a big focus on the “E” in ESG, we’re also seeing a lot of progress in tackling other aspects, such as social action to address societal challenges. One of the biggest social challenges in global trade is the huge, and growing, finance gap.