Documentary trade is facing COVID-19 too – how can technology and policy help?

Documentary trade practices rely heavily on the exchange of paper documents. The recent disruption of international courier services and the sudden move to working-from-home, are seriously impacting traditional banking operations in this area. Whilst transmitting documents in a timely manner poses a real challenge, getting them to the right destination – the home of the document checker – looks like the new mission impossible.
 
Will this unprecedented period become a catalyst for increased use of technology in banking operations? Are the needed technology solutions available? Can electronic signatures help? Does digital delivery introduce new risks? Can digital document-checking technology help? What is holding increase use of technology in documentary trade? Do trade rules and policies allow for increased use of available technologies? How are fintechs adapting to this sudden shift? Should the industry unite efforts during this crisis?
 
ITFA members can join us on April 9^th at 13:00 UK time / 14:00 CET / 08:00 EST / 20:00 SGT for an ITFA webinar where leading trade practitioners will debate current challenges with regards to ensuring continuity of trade operations. You will hear about their resolution strategies, the latest about “force majeure” and expectations from both technology and policy perspectives. Please bear in mind that this webinar is for ITFA members only.
 
The session will be moderated by André Casterman, Chair Fintech Committee, ITFA and feature the following practitioners:

• Jari Hänninen, Head of Structured Finance, Credit Products, Nokia Corporation
• John Ahearn, Vice Chair, Global Trade, Citibank
• Samuel Matthew, Global head of documentary trade, Standard Chartered Bank
• Vinod Madhavan, Group head trade finance, Standard Bank
• Sean Edwards, Chair, ITFA and Head of Legal and Special Adviser Trade Finance, SMBC Europe
• Jacco de Jong, Global Head of Sales, Bolero International
• Uzair Bawany, Chief Revenue Officer and Co-founder, Traydstream.

 To book your place, please confirm your registration by email to info@itfa.org.
 
We look forward to seeing ITFA members join the webinar and benefit from your insights and questions to enrich the debate. This session will feed ITFA’s on-going talks with policy makers. It will be recorded to enable playback.