Closing the trade finance gap – Innovative tools and future challenges

Events / 03-12-21 / Share Link

Country and FX risks, fraud concerns and massive capital outflows have combined to exacerbate an acute shortage of African trade financing. Development finance and digitisation initiatives have played a crucial role in mitigating immediate impacts, however urgent and significant innovation is required to prevent further collateral damage to Africa’s SMEs, trade growth and economic recovery prospects.

Sheleena Govind (Transactor, Debt & Trade Solutions, Financial Institutions Group, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB)), George Wilson (Head, Institutional Trade Finance, Investec), John Lentaigne (Head of Credit & Political Risks, Tysers), Simon Cook (Partner, Sullivan & Worcester UK) and Natalia Solokova (Head of Multinationals & Financial Institutions, Zenith Bank (UK)) pinpointed the tangible progress made by DFIs, commercial banks and tech providers in addressing the challenges posed by the pandemic, with a focus on the innovative trade finance structures and solutions successfully injecting liquidity into key African markets.