These are exciting and transformative times for the trade finance community. City & Financial Global is delighted to shed some light on the implications of current developments with the launch of The Trade Finance Innovation and Regulation Virtual Summit.

After a couple of years of unprecedented upheaval and change – both in terms of regulatory and procedural reforms, structural upgrades and geo-political events – the sector as a whole can finally take stock and think about the future. Now is the time to properly focus on game-changing modernisation efforts, to plan ahead for increased competition and to prepare for further mandatory changes, driven by both regulatory developments and technological innovation.

The latter will drive the most exciting changes. FinTech and FinTech-related innovation are currently driving a technological revolution, both with regards to addressing global trade financing needs (within primary and secondary markets) through KYC registries, AML filtering and alternative financing, as well as with improving the user experience through big data, automation and APIs. Moving forwards, transaction data, trading platforms and machine learning are the key ingredients for effective innovation in trade finance whilst minimising disruptive change to the existing communications infrastructure.

The result is a primary shift in corporate clients’ expectations of all their trade services partners. The leading banks are on the verge of transforming trade finance from a paper-based system to a more efficient and transparent digitised model. With their counterparties, they are now looking to manage all transactions in an automated, end-to-end process across their entire business. In addition, as corporate clients look for new and innovative products and services, the parties that adopt the most efficient use of information and technology in order to automate traditionally manual trade finance processes are finding that they are able to build real, long-term competitive advantage. 
 
With keynote addresses from, amongst others, the WTO, the Virtual Summit will focus on offering practical ways for banks and corporations to concentrate on harnessing the benefits of digitisation for a more effective and transparent use of technology and data and a more streamlined approach to traditional business models.

At the summit, you will benefit from hearing the insights of our exceptional speaker panel, which includes regulators and financial institutions. They will focus on the latest developments within the international TF regulatory framework, the digitisation of trade finance, WTO E-commerce negotiations, regulatory compliance, risk management practices, FinTech innovation and their practical and long-lasting impact of all of these on the trade finance community. 

Through an unparalleled panel of speakers and panellists you will gain an in-depth understanding of:

• The current global trading economy and the banking industry's ability to meet demands for trade finance
• How international law and regulation will be strengthened for the new global trade finance environment 
• The benefits of digitisation through an industry-wide analysis
• Automated trading and trading strategies to stay ahead of new regulation and market structure changes
• How technology can help fight financial crime within the global trade and receivables market
• The potential of blockchain as a game changer by examining the practical use of blockchain and the different types of chains
• The potential of new risk management and assessment models that use AI and machine learning to analyse the global landscape 
• How the industry is transforming from a paper-based system to an efficient and transparent digitised model 
• How to benefit from advanced analytics by using data generated by digitalisation and data analytics
• The benefits of using FinTech solutions for supporting global trade financing, streamlining operations and improving user experience