Key Takeaways From Recently Held GTR Asia 2020

Following the changes of rules around gathering amidst the breakdown of the Novel Coronavirus, the Global Trade Review (GTR) 2020 was held in a virtual format recently. The event which was held from September 8-11 laid emphasis on the global trade flows which now shows signs of settling in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The new initiative was considered to be a product of live-streamed and pre-recorded content that was supported by strong networking via GTR’s virtual event platform. The virtual event hosted a commendable presence of 1,600 participants where the participants of the meeting were the local and international banks, some renewed multinational corporations, and even SMEs. Some other range of attendees involved independent financiers, commodity brokers, and ECAs among several other multilaterals who joined the discussion.

Besides that, we would like to highlight some of the major take aways that were discussed at the wrap up of the event.

The impact laid by the frauds caused in the commodity sector:

The current turn of events where a majority of the world’s largest trade finance banks have been going through rough trials of fraudulent cases had let the community think about the current market situations in Asia. The sudden collapse of sound and notable names in the commodity industry raised concerns about the systematic collapse that might take place in the near future.

Talking about the situation, Baldev Bhinder, managing director at Blackstone & Gold, kept his view saying that, “My view is that it’s time for a review, a revamp and perhaps even a reboot of trade finance,”. He exclaimed how he does not resonates with the recent turn of events and added. “If we have learned anything from 2020 is that once liquidity is threatened, we get to see some very ugly sides to trade finance and commodity trading.”

Sustainability is a major concern:

Now that countries and industries around the world are ready to plan their acceleration towards a world that is covid free, stabilizing the collateral damage caused over the months seems to pose a challenge.

Pointing out the window of opportunity, Roberto Leva, trade and supply chain finance at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) explained. “It is clear to everyone in the world that there is an interconnection between what is happening somewhere else in the world and what is happening in your own country. The need for transparency and mapping supply chains has become vital.”

Digitization might be a boon as well as bane:

While the way digitization has aided the entire process of trade might be a silver lining, it might even bring potential risks to the table. The current situations of digitization have lead to a spike in cyber crimes across the globe.

Lastly, the session began on a much positive note and a plethora of topics that were affecting the current global trade ecosystem. However, amidst the topics that ranged from the impact of Covid-19 in Asia to the fall-out from recent high-profile fraud cases in the commodity sector.

Source: https://www.gtreview.com/news/asia/top-takeaways-from-gtr-asia-2020
https://10times.com/asia-trade-finance