We caught with Trade Finance Global’s Head of Trade Finance, Mark Abrams, discussing the latest on mid market access to trade and receivables finance, in light of trade wars and geopolitical uncertainty, particularly Brexit. The interview was held at ExCred Commodities in London.

We caught up with the President of the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT). We talked about the balance of human capital and technology in the international transaction banking, about the amendments of the funded master risk participation agreement and how trade-based money laundering can be eradicated.

We interviewed Geoff Brady, Head of Global Trade & Supply Chain Finance (GTS) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. We talked about the physical and financial aspects of the supply chain management, about the importance of Blockchain Consortia in the trade finance space and the BAML’s agenda for the rest of the year.

TFG heard Judd Holroyde, Head of Global Product Management, Wells Fargo. We talked about the changing payments landscape, about SWIFT and SWIFT Gpi and how the FinTech creativity can be used as a customer value proposition messenger.

We caught up with the Head of Trade Finance at Asian Development Bank, Steve Beck. We talked about the newly published Trade Finance Gaps, Growth, and Jobs Survey.

We caught up with the Head of Trade Origination & Advisory at Natwest Bank, to talk about trade in the UK, given the current uncertain geopolitical climate around Brexit. We asked Rowan Austin about the current outlook for UK SMEs, trade barriers and how the bank is approaching trade and transaction banking digitisation through some of its initiatives at Sibos 2019.

TFG heard from Joel Schrevens Global Solutions Director of China Systems about the state of the trade and supply chain finance ecosystem. Established in 1983, China Systems is a leading trade services solutions vendor. The company is fully focused on providing an integrated front-end and back-office platform catering for internal and external deployment at a domestic, regional or global level.

TFG heard from Alexander Goulandris the co-CEO of essDOCS about the different solutions for paperless trade.

Existing systems are woefully inefficient, siloed or still paper-based and many of them have not improved for decades. The Marco Polo Network is working with Financial Institutions, Corporates and Technology & Service Providers to remove the barriers preventing them from operating at their best.

AGTB: New kid on the block. TFG heard from Daniel Gould, Deputy CEO of Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank, and its new digital offering for trade finance in the UAE and MENA region. Building a trade bank from scratch without relying on legacy technologies has enabled AGTB to reimagine trade finance, building a competitive product for the corporate banking space.