Trade & Supply Chain

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.

Inside Sibos | Day 2
If digital tracking can be baked into the physical flow of goods, via the IoT, then many of the bottlenecks to trade financing can be removed.

Emerging nations are replacing the Americas as the continent’s largest trading partners.         

The real question for Africa now is not so much about past economic performance but about what’s coming next.

Yin Fong Lum, global head of product management for cash management and trade finance, Global Transaction Services, DBS Bank, lays out the benefits and challenges of regional treasury centers.         

In the race to attract foreign direct investment, countries are opening SEZs at a furious rate. Winnowing down the choices requires some serious due diligence.