As head of
BNP Paribas’ Trade Filiere Competence Center, Marguerite Burghardt has seen how
trade finance is being shaped by both technological and economic developments.
The following four forces are rapidly changing the landscape and present both
opportunities as well as complexities:
1. Banks have to tackle a paradox
Banks are both service providers and
data companies, where customer experience is key. The challenge banks face is
creating intimacy with their clients, whilst balancing the need to be aggregators
of services that go beyond just traditional banking products.
2. Transaction Banking ecosystem is a
moving target
A structural shift in traditional positioning of players. Clients and fintechs
could enter the market, and also present an opportunity for collaboration and
co-creation with banks. A prime example is the growing cooperation among banks
in trade finance with inter-bank projects currently in the market.
3. Technology is an enabler
Technology is a means to go from
point A to point B. Remaining focussed on the destination of travel and
improving the customer journey is crucial, and having a modular approach that
is also application programming interface (API) driven will become the new
competitive advantage.
4. Sustainable trade finance growth
The opportunity for green value
chain financing is significant. In particular greening the supply chain and
utilising distributed ledger technology (DLT) will help corporates to embed
sustainability within their trade financing activities.
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