Bridging the commodity trade finance gap with transparency and innovation

Over the last decade, a new world order has been trying to emerge from the cracks of enduring systems. When Nick Szabo proposed the idea of “bit gold” in 1998, he opened the portal to inventions that changed how humans thought and dealt with money forever. 

The global trade finance gap persists at around $2.5 trillion, leaving businesses - especially small-and-medium commodity traders - struggling to pay suppliers, ship goods, and keep cash flowing while they wait for buyers to pay invoices.

From soaring price volatility and shifting geopolitical tensions to the urgent need to decarbonise, companies across the energy sector are facing risks on multiple fronts. Energy trading contracts can stretch for years, while market shocks can happen overnight. 

In a grocery store in Cape Town, Korean instant noodles and ice cups sit alongside local biltong. “The younger generation is observing on social media, and has now created a demand for, these items,” observed Zaynab Hoosen, Senior Africa Analyst at Pangea Risk, of her home town. It’s a retail revolution spurred by cultural curiosity, and it stands as a microcosm of newfound Asian investment strategies in Africa. From aid-driven investment during the mid-twentieth century to construction and development projects in the 2000s and 2010s, it appears that capital is now being deployed with the vast African consumer market and manufacturing capabilities in mind. And, with benefactors beyond China and their notorious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Since US President Donald Trump came to office in January 2025, not a day goes by without some mention of ‘tariffs’ in the news. International markets have reacted to landmark shifts initiated by US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policies. Tariffs have evolved from a more specialised economic tool to one gaining political and ideological ramifications, generating renewed and expanded interest in them.   At the 51st Annual International Trade and Forfaiting Association’s (ITFA) Conference in Singapore, Mahika Ravi Shankar, Deputy Editor at Trade Finance Global (TFG), sat down with Craig Weeks, Senior Vice President for Trade at BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade), to discuss the impact of tariffs from a banking and trade finance perspective. 

The energy transition appears to have been a constant back and forth between opportunities and complex regulatory and ESG challenges, and nowhere is this more pertinent than in commodity finance. Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke with Christine Dirringer, Global Head of Trade and Commodity Finance at Rabobank, about how the industry is evolving to meet these demands.

Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke to Patrik Zekkar, CEO of Enigio, and Steven Zhou, Executive Director of TradeGo, to learn more about the Europe-China digital trade corridor and the potential of digitalising trade documents.    Read Here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-opening-doors-of-opportunity-along-the-europe-china-digital-trade-corridor/

At the annual Women in Trade, Treasury, and Payments Conference on 27 February, Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke to Sanda Blanco, Head of Structured Credit, Political Risks and International Bonding at Howden, about the most important political risks of our time and how bespoke insurance can help businesses thrive in face of them.   Read here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-thriving-amidst-turbulence-the-role-of-bespoke-insurance/

To discuss these dualities and gain insight into how to strike a balance, Trade Finance Global’s (TFG) Carter Hoffman spoke with Emmanuelle Ganne, Chief of Digital Trade and Frontier Technologies at the World Trade Organization (WTO).    Read here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-will-ai-help-or-hinder-international-trade/

“For individually issued receivables, there is still no reliable legal structure in place”, said Melih Esmer, a legal researcher at EBS University who specialises in electronic negotiable instruments. In Germany, the problem runs deeper than simple modernisation, and into the fundamentals of bills of exchange: should Germany update its century-old bill of exchange law or create entirely new legislation for the digital era?   https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-approaches-to-mletr-adoption-in-germany/