PODCAST | How alternative lenders are changing trade finance

Alternative lenders - non-bank entities that provide financing outside traditional banking channels - are no longer peripheral to the trade finance ecosystem. Their increased presence reflects a structural failure: banks' declining ability to lend to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 

As the environmental cost of global supply chains – responsible for over 60% of global yearly emissions – becomes impossible to ignore, the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment (CBAM) is emerging as a central tool for aligning trade with climate objectives. On January 1, 2026, CBAM will move from a reporting framework and become a real financial liability for importers: those who haven’t secured authorised CBAM declarant status will face penalties, higher costs, and operational disruption. Trade Finance Global’s (TFG) Charles Osborne spoke with Adam Hearne, CEO and Co-founder of CarbonChain, about what this transition means in practice.

Resilience in global trade has moved beyond a defensive strategy. In an era defined by tariffs, technological developments, and shifting patterns of economic growth, it is now integral to sustainable expansion and long-term competitiveness across global supply chains.  In the debut episode of Trade Finance Global’s (TFG) new five-part podcast series, Future of Trade with Standard Chartered, TFG’s Mark Abrams sat down with Sofia Hammoucha, Global Head of Trade and Working Capital at Standard Chartered.

Factoring, a financial practice where businesses sell unpaid invoices for immediate cash, underpins trillions in global commerce, with global volumes nearing €3.8 trillion in 2023

At the 2025 Sibos conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Silvia Andreoletti, Senior Reporter at Trade Finance Global (TFG),  had the opportunity to speak with Ximena Alemán, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Prometeo, a Latin American payments network.

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.