Factoring, a financial practice where businesses sell unpaid invoices for immediate cash, underpins trillions in global commerce, with global volumes nearing €3.8 trillion in 2023

At the 2025 Sibos conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Silvia Andreoletti, Senior Reporter at Trade Finance Global (TFG),  had the opportunity to speak with Ximena Alemán, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Prometeo, a Latin American payments network.

Over the last decade, a new world order has been trying to emerge from the cracks of enduring systems. When Nick Szabo proposed the idea of “bit gold” in 1998, he opened the portal to inventions that changed how humans thought and dealt with money forever. 

The global trade finance gap persists at around $2.5 trillion, leaving businesses - especially small-and-medium commodity traders - struggling to pay suppliers, ship goods, and keep cash flowing while they wait for buyers to pay invoices.

From soaring price volatility and shifting geopolitical tensions to the urgent need to decarbonise, companies across the energy sector are facing risks on multiple fronts. Energy trading contracts can stretch for years, while market shocks can happen overnight. 

In a grocery store in Cape Town, Korean instant noodles and ice cups sit alongside local biltong. “The younger generation is observing on social media, and has now created a demand for, these items,” observed Zaynab Hoosen, Senior Africa Analyst at Pangea Risk, of her home town. It’s a retail revolution spurred by cultural curiosity, and it stands as a microcosm of newfound Asian investment strategies in Africa. From aid-driven investment during the mid-twentieth century to construction and development projects in the 2000s and 2010s, it appears that capital is now being deployed with the vast African consumer market and manufacturing capabilities in mind. And, with benefactors beyond China and their notorious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Since US President Donald Trump came to office in January 2025, not a day goes by without some mention of ‘tariffs’ in the news. International markets have reacted to landmark shifts initiated by US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policies. Tariffs have evolved from a more specialised economic tool to one gaining political and ideological ramifications, generating renewed and expanded interest in them.   At the 51st Annual International Trade and Forfaiting Association’s (ITFA) Conference in Singapore, Mahika Ravi Shankar, Deputy Editor at Trade Finance Global (TFG), sat down with Craig Weeks, Senior Vice President for Trade at BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade), to discuss the impact of tariffs from a banking and trade finance perspective. 

The energy transition appears to have been a constant back and forth between opportunities and complex regulatory and ESG challenges, and nowhere is this more pertinent than in commodity finance. Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke with Christine Dirringer, Global Head of Trade and Commodity Finance at Rabobank, about how the industry is evolving to meet these demands.

Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke to Patrik Zekkar, CEO of Enigio, and Steven Zhou, Executive Director of TradeGo, to learn more about the Europe-China digital trade corridor and the potential of digitalising trade documents.    Read Here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-opening-doors-of-opportunity-along-the-europe-china-digital-trade-corridor/

At the annual Women in Trade, Treasury, and Payments Conference on 27 February, Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke to Sanda Blanco, Head of Structured Credit, Political Risks and International Bonding at Howden, about the most important political risks of our time and how bespoke insurance can help businesses thrive in face of them.   Read here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-thriving-amidst-turbulence-the-role-of-bespoke-insurance/

To discuss these dualities and gain insight into how to strike a balance, Trade Finance Global’s (TFG) Carter Hoffman spoke with Emmanuelle Ganne, Chief of Digital Trade and Frontier Technologies at the World Trade Organization (WTO).    Read here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-will-ai-help-or-hinder-international-trade/

“For individually issued receivables, there is still no reliable legal structure in place”, said Melih Esmer, a legal researcher at EBS University who specialises in electronic negotiable instruments. In Germany, the problem runs deeper than simple modernisation, and into the fundamentals of bills of exchange: should Germany update its century-old bill of exchange law or create entirely new legislation for the digital era?   https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-approaches-to-mletr-adoption-in-germany/

A red wave swept over the USA on 5 November 2024 as the Republican Party under former president Donald Trump won the presidential race and claimed a majority in both houses of Congress. If Trump’s campaign rhetoric is to be believed, then his return to the White House will bring with it a renewed commitment to protectionism, an upheaval of trade norms, and significant implications for economies worldwide.  To discuss these potential implications and explore how a second Trump presidency will reshape global trade, finance, and geopolitical dynamics, Trade Finance Global spoke with Rebecca Harding, Economist at Rebeccanomics; Robert Besseling, CEO at Pangea Risk; Alisa DiCaprio, former Chief Economist at R3; and Simon Everett, Trade Policy Expert on the day the results were announced. https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s2-e29-tariffs-trade-wars-transformation-next-4-yrs-trump/

At the International Trade Forfaiting Association’s (ITFA) 2024 Christmas party, Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke with Sean Edwards, Chairman of ITFA, and Dhiresh Dave, Chief Legal Officer and Managing Director - Legal, Compliance and Governance at Falcon Group, to discuss a financing tool that might come in handy for Saint Nicholas: inventory finance.    https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s2-e28-inventory-finance-a-stocking-filler-for-2024/ 

As global supply chain disruptions and geopolitical tensions continue to impact trade routes, boardroom discussions are also changing. Corporate insolvencies are yet to return to pre-pandemic rates in the UK and other major economies, and inflation remaining high. Meanwhile, businesses are starting to redefine success beyond just financial performance. How will the future workforce navigate the evolving trade and credit landscape? Beyond shareholder value, how can large financial institutions, credit insurers, and multilaterals address their social responsibilities? How do we manage systemic risks while supporting the communities involved in global trade? As part of our C-Suite Leadership Series, Deepesh Patel, Editorial Director at Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke with Angela Duca, Global Specialty Head, Credit Specialties at Marsh, to help answer some of these and other pressing questions. https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s2-e27-c-suite-speaks-in-poly-crisis-lies-poly-opportunities/ 

At the 2024 Trade Finance Investor Day (TFDI) conference in London, TFG’s editor Deepesh Patel spoke with Nick Stainthorpe, Partner at Reed Smith, on ways to unlock capital investment into the trade finance and receivables world. As banks’ distribution capabilities plateau, the trade and receivables finance industry is constantly on the lookout for alternative sources of investment capital but often faces challenges due to its perceived complexity compared to traditional asset classes.    https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s2-e26-securitising-trade-finance-unlocking-hidden-potential/ 

TFG spoke to Federico Avellán Borgmeyer, Chief Partner Officer at efcom, at the FCI Conference in Prague to learn more about this year’s developments in factoring and receivables and what’s in store for 2025.   Read here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-factoring-and-receivables-whats-in-store-for-2025/

Trade Finance Global’s Assistant Editor Mahika Ravi Shankar sat down with TFG Researcher Carter Hoffman to discuss his research paper entitled ‘The unseen side of trade digitisation: Data inequality and the global economic divide’. It focused on the sustainability and equitable growth of digital trade in a disparate global market. https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-s2-e25-bridging-divide-digitalisation-trade-emerging-markets/ 

As we get ready for 2025, Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke with Eleanor Hill to explore the biggest trends in the world of treasury: technology, ESG, DEI, and the power of people.   Read more: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-tfgs-treasury-treasure-trove/

To help answer these questions and more, Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke with Sarah Green at the Law Commission, Susan Ashworth, Senior Trade Finance Specialist at Matalan, and Surath Sengupta, Head of Trade And Working Capital Product at Lloyds.   Read here: https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/podcast-unpacking-the-impact-of-the-etda/