Trade & Supply Chain

From Bigger Yields To Better Yields: Lively competition from strong and agile smaller banks is driving big trade-finance providers to focus on profitability rather than market share.

James Rausch, head of Canadian client coverage and global head of transaction banking for banks, brokers and exchanges with RBC Investor & Treasury Services, speaks with Global Finance on bespoke customer service, innovation and trade flows.

Ad van der Poel, senior vice president, financing services at Basware, winner of Global Finance's 2017 award for Best Web-Based Supply-Chain Financing Solution, explains how data aids collaboration, transparency and financial agility.

Robert O’Donoghue, ING’s global head of working capital solutions, explains the importance of a full view of the supply chain and reasons for growth.

Global Finance announces our picks for the world's Best Trade Finance Providers for 2017, including both bank and non-bank financial institutions. 

Global Finance magazine names the world's best supply chain finance providers for 2017, considering both banks and non-bank financial institutions. 

A Q&A with Henry Oroh, CEO of Zenith Bank, which won Global Finance's 2017 award for Best Trade Finance Provider in Ghana, about prospects for increased trade and greater uptake of documentary finance instruments in the coming year.

Much has been said about the brave new world of transaction banking—robots and blockchains replacing humans and inefficient paper. Incorporating artificial intelligence and Big Data enable smarter, more strategic, enterprise-wide efforts.

Ludovic Subran, chief economist at credit insurer Euler Hermes, speaks with Andrea Fiano, editor of Global Finance, about a changed trade outlook after the US elections.

Rising oil demand has some countries hoping that commodity prices will rebound. 

Big profits from managing short lead times helped Amancio Ortega—Spanish business magnate, founder and chairman of the Inditex fashion group—recently pass Bill Gates’s fortune for the second time. 

After 17 years of construction, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, connecting Northern and Southern Europe through the Alps, opened to great fanfare on June 1, and shone a light on years of lax investment in infrastructure by European nations generally. 

Amid the surge in global trade, financial institutions are revisiting the way they conduct transaction banking.

Blockchain, the Cloud and the Internet of Things are luring trade finance away from its reliance on paper.

Trade finance is behind some other banking sectors in transitioning to paperless documents and digital distribution, but it’s catching up.

A new era kicked off on December 31, 2015, for the 10 countries that are part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: The alliance launched the Asean Economic Community (AEC), a trade bloc aimed at creating a unified, cross-border market where labor, services and capital can flow without restrictions.

World trade growth is slowing. Its future may depend on internal trade within a handful of discrete, powerful regions—especially Asia. 

Management | Trade Negotiations
Corporations’ business decisions depend on regulatory certainty, but as the passing of TPP legislation faces various hurdles, corporate decision-making processes will need to remain flexible.

José Antonio Ocampo Gaviria, professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, says the slowing of international trade since the financial crisis is a major threat to the world economy.

With interest rates bottoming and the market jittery, treasurers are seeking more unconventional and versatile means for managing stockpiled war chests of liquidity.