GTR Trade Talks

In the latest episode of the Trade Talks podcast, we reflect on GTR's return to the live events space with the 2021 instalment of GTR UK, which welcomed over 400 delegates in London last week. We're joined on the podcast by the chair of the event, Adam Marshall, a senior advisor to Flint Global and HSBC UK, and who until fairly recently was Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce. He gives an overview of some of the main “takeaways” from the day, including the two different languages being spoken in the UK trade sector, growing efforts to digitise trade and bolster supply chain resiliency, and how inflation could hit British businesses in the year ahead.

In this latest installment of the Trade Talks podcast, we hear from various experts who joined GTR's recent Trade Finance Funds 2021 webinar, exploring the increasingly central role of funds in the trade finance ecosystem, from differing business models to changes in investor sentiment and the role of ESG, technological advances and the ongoing need for transparency and due diligence.

In this new GTR podcast, Tedd George, Founder and Chief Narrative Officer of Kleos Advisory provides an overview of key themes from GTR's recent Africa-focused virtual events, which took place in October 2020, from geopolitical trends to intra-bank collaboration and digitisation drives.

2020 saw headwinds continue to buffet the global commodity financing sector. In this GTR podcast, Tedd George, Founder and Chief Narrative Officer of Kleos Advisory highlights some of the crucial themes, from industry efforts to build resilience to ongoing tech development and ESG initiatives.

In this latest podcast instalment, GTR speaks with Rajiv Biswas, Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at IHS Markit on the impact of COVID-19 on trade and global supply in East Asia. Among the key points covered: Where do from here? Assessing the risk of financial crises arising due to deep global economic shocks How long can the lockdown of major economies continue as global unemployment and government debt levels soar? To what extent does the current situation demonstrate the importance of robust value chains? Are we likely to see a change in the approach to dealing with China going forward? Has the pandemic exposed flaws in the 'just in time' inventory model particularly in the supply of essential products? What are the likely political consequences of the huge expenditure undertaken by nation states to prop up their economies?

In this latest podcast instalment, GTR gathers a number of experts together to assess the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, lockdowns and economic turbulence on the African market. Where are we now? Dr Robert Besseling, Executive Director of EXX Africa, and Memeh Onyebuchi, Head of Trade for South Africa and Southern Africa at Standard Chartered, provide an overview of the current situation. Is the farm still reaching the fork? Antonella De Cunha of Capespan, a fresh fruit supplier, and Louw van Reenen of South African meat producer Beefmaster, speak about how the pandemic is impacting on their business processes. The role of export credit: With strong ECA support required in this time of great uncertainty, Gabby Buck of GKB Ventures and Angelica Adamski of the Sweden-Africa Chamber of Commerce survey the current state of the market. Closing summary: Duarte Pedreira of Crown Agents Bank, Vinod Madhavan of Standard Bank and sustainability practitioner Mandy Rapson provide perspectives on free trade, digitisation and the need for Africa to move up the value chain.  

Looking back to the GTR Nordics 2019 conference in Stockholm last November emphasises just how much priorities have changed across the trade sector during the first half of 2020; though many of the ‘old normal' challenges discussed will inevitably persist into the future. In this latest podcast episode we recap highlights selected from 2 of the event's keynote sessions, and catch up with the team at blockchain consortium we.trade on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic: Known knowns and known unknowns: Ryan Fayhee, Partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed and Daniel Nord, Legal Counsel, Trade Compliance at Ericsson share their perspectives on the unintended consequences and practical trade challenges arising from the global sanctions regime Joined-up thinking: Journalist and broadcaster Mia Odebas joins Ville Sointu, Nordea's Head of Emerging Technologies, discussing the need for digital network building to harness the full potential of digitisation for the trade sector. Jumping forward to April 2020, we caught up with we.trade Chief Financial Officer Eimaar Kelly and Chief Executive Officer Ciaran McGowan on how the current crisis is impacting we.trade's operations and their wider network.

Though the world has changed in many ways since, before the implications of COVID 19 took hold February's 800-plus gathering of leading trade finance professionals had much to discuss. In this latest podcast episode, we recap some of the highlights selected from 4 distinctly different sessions: Seizing opportunity: Dr Karen Remo, Founder and CEO of New Perspective Media and Laura Lane, Global President of Public Affairs at UPS, focus on the importance of creating a more conducive environment for entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs in particular. Dubai Expo: A panel of experts focus on preparations for "the world's greatest show" with tremendous positivity over the potential implications for trade, as well as considering the wider legacy. Digital transformation: Tackling one of the most prevalent industry-wide issues in the market at present, that of digital disruption and its transformative nature on what has historically been a traditional paper-based industry. The role of China: Particularly prescient in the current climate, the issue of Chinese engagement in the region on a geostrategic level was already a fascinating one. Here we delve deeper into key trade trends.

With few events taking place worldwide right now, we thought we would take a look back at one of GTR's biggest in 2019. In this podcast episode, Tedd George, Founder & Chief Narrative Officer of Kleos Advisory, gives us a recap of some of the highlights from last year's GTR Africa conference in London. Judith Prior, Board member of US Exim talks about their history of in Africa, US initiatives on the continent and the bank's plans going forward including the level of US content required to benefit from their support. The debate: Two teams of experts argue whether China's extensive investment in Africa can be considered positive or negative, discussing concerns over the quality of Chinese-made infrastructure and the influence large scale investment brings. The ‘solar panel': With millions of people and businesses in Africa still lacking a reliable power supply, this discussion focusses on two solar suppliers, Azuri Technologies & SunCulture, providing insight into their journeys developing crucial infrastructure in Africa. Tech innovation: Four developing fintech providers provide summaries from their roundtable discussions. Hear insights from TradeAssets, Orbitt Capital, Trade Finance Market and Cognissys.  

One of the key consequences of various developments in the region is the ongoing rerouting of many of Asia's supply chains, seen as only likely to continue in the current climate. This podcast, a featured session from GTR Asia 2019, will address the following: To what extent are firms restructuring their supply chains in order to avoid tariffs on Chinese products? How successful has the sourcing of alternative options proved? Have we already seen greater focus on sourcing goods from markets such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam? How hard is it to repeat the scale of China and how can others compete? How significant are cost issues, particularly bearing in mind increasing wage structures in many markets? Are more manufacturers either looking for cheaper hubs or greater process automation? Are more adopting a ‘China Plus' strategy? Are more companies now looking at reshoring or nearshoring to reduce supply chain disruption? How expensive and time-consuming is it to shift production in an uncertain climate? What role do financiers have to play? How important is clarity and transparency over where products and goods are sourced from in the current climate? What role can technology play in the process? Moderator: Puja Kumar, Director, Head of Trade Risk Distribution APAC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Munish Kaushal, Area Finance Director & CFO, GSK Southeast Asia Larry Sloven, President, Capstone International HK Sanjay Tiwari, Head of Implementation, Maersk Trade Finance Anupam Verma, Chief Executive, ICICI Bank Singapore Malini Hariharan, Head of South Asia Markets, ICIS Independent expert: Rebecca Harding, Chief Executive Officer, Coriolis Technologies; Author, ‘The Weaponization of Trade'

A lot can happen in a year! GTR Asia 2018 was dominated by the backdrop of ongoing trade tensions and potential ramifications of a full-scale trade war between the US and China. So what is new 12 months later? During GTR Asia 2019, the world's largest international gathering for the trade finance community, six experts come together to reflect on a range of topics including: Trade tensions and the geopolitical environment: Have things simmered down somewhat? Are we back to a new normal or is there even a ‘normal' to return to? Are technology transfer and IP likely to remain as key sticking points? With initiatives such as Belt & Road shifting economic activity eastwards, how are banks and corporates responding? Is greater collaboration required and if so how has the stated shift from multilateralism to bilateralism impacted? What are the key sectors that have been identified as being ripe for PPPs and other scalable commercial opportunities (digital transformation, cybersecurity, digital economy, smart cities, renewable energy)? Where are technology and innovation leading the market? Data and digitisation have proved key but is there sufficient regulatory oversight? Where is Asia leading the way and where does it need to catch up? Analysis by: Michael Every, Head of Financial Markets Research, Asia-Pacific, Rabobank Moderator: Parag Khanna, Founder & Managing Partner, FutureMap; Global Strategy Advisor & Author, ‘The Future is Asian' Ajay Sharma, Regional Head of Global Trade & Receivables Finance, Asia Pacific, HSBC Timothy Stratford, Managing Partner, Covington & Burling; Former Assistant US Trade Representative Vishal Kapoor, Managing Director, Asia Trade Head, Citi Claire Thompson, Executive Vice-President, Enterprise Partnerships, Mastercard