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In the closing months of 2025, a Bloomberg survey of over 300 senior decision-makers from across Europe's financial services industry underscored a defining shift in the sector's strategic outlook: artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer an aspirational add-on but a commercial imperative that financial institutions must grasp if they are to remain competitive and relevant.
As we reach the end of the first month of 2026, one of the most consequential global developments for trade finance is no longer theoretical or preparatory: carbon border adjustment mechanisms are moving into their first operational phase, with direct implications for pricing, risk assessment and financing structures in international trade.
In late December 2025, a Reuters analysis highlighted a development that has direct and growing relevance for global trade finance: the accelerating push by major banks towards tokenised deposits as a new settlement layer, even as operational constraints threaten to slow deployment.
In the closing days of 2025, China enacted a revised Foreign Trade Law, set to take effect on 1 March 2026, marking a significant policy shift with implications for global trade finance structures, risk management, and cross-border capital flows.
In the past year, the momentum behind the use of blockchain and digital asset technologies to transform global trade finance has become unmistakable. While trade finance has traditionally relied on a highly paper-based, institution-centred architecture, recent developments signal a structural shift towards distributed technology that promises greater speed, transparency and inclusion.
In December 2025, the United Nations (UN) adopted a landmark international instrument designed to modernise the legal treatment of documents of title in global trade: the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents, informally referred to as the Accra Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents.
Digital identity has long been discussed within financial services, but over the past year it has moved firmly into the operational core of global trade.
A recent report from the United Nations Trade and Development agency (UNCTAD) underscores something few practitioners like to acknowledge: the global financial system, including trade finance, is not immune to macro-economic, regulatory and structural stress.
One of the most notable shifts in trade finance over the past 12-18 months is the entry of institutional investors into trade-finance assets. This reflects a broader trend across global finance: as traditional fixed-income and public markets face low yields, regulators tighten bank capital, and volatility increases, investors are looking for alternative but stable returns.
UK Export Finance (UKEF) has backed British companies in Saudi Arabia with deals totalling £6.4 billion following the UK Finance Minister's visit to Riyadh in October 2025. The package includes £5 billion of export-finance support aimed at winning large-scale Saudi infrastructure and technology contracts.
In a bid to accelerate its global trade ambitions and reduce foreign-exchange friction, India has inaugurated a foreign currency settlement system at Gujarat International Finance TecCity (GIFT City), its designated international financial services centre (IFSC). Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman led the launch in October 2025, describing it as a "step-change" in how India will handle inbound and outbound trade flows.
The world of trade finance is witnessing an interesting development: Tether Holdings SA is moving decisively into the realm of commodity trade lending. The stablecoin issuer recently disclosed that it has extended about US $1.5 billion of credit to commodities traders and intends to "dramatically" scale up further.
In a significant development for global trade-finance flows, DBS Group of Singapore and Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) of Saudi Arabia have entered a strategic partnership designed to enhance trade settlement, financing and payment flow efficiency across Asia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
The Paperless Trade Pilot Playbook, issued in October 2025 by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) in collaboration with Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the Metals and Mining Digitalisation Forum (MMDF) offers a concise yet comprehensive roadmap for governments, banks, logistics operators, and technology providers seeking to implement practical paperless trade pilots.
The Commonwealth Model Law on Digital Trade and Guide to Enactment (2025) provides a comprehensive legal framework designed to enable, harmonise, and secure digital trade across Commonwealth member countries. Developed by the Commonwealth Secretariat in alignment with UNCITRAL model laws, it modernises legal systems to recognise electronic documents, communications, and signatures as legally valid and enforceable equivalents to paper-based processes.
In its October 2025 Global Trade Update, UNCTAD underscores that global commerce continues to perform robustly, despite rising policy uncertainty, tariff shifts, and geopolitical frictions. The paradox is that while headline trade volumes and values remain strong, the underlying currents suggest growing stress and structural challenges for many economies.
China is imposing sweeping new export controls on rare earth materials and related tech components, citing national security reasons. The rules will require licenses for any foreign company exporting products containing minimal amounts of Chinese-origin rare earths or using Chinese processing technologies.
As trade tensions intensify across global markets, developing countries are responding not with retreat but with renewed determination to strengthen their trading ties. At a recent meeting in Geneva of the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP), members reviewed progress towards activating a long-awaited agreement that requires only one more ratification to enter into force.
International trade underpins the Dutch economy: in 2024, the combined value of Dutch imports and exports reached approximately EUR1.6 trillion, almost four times the country's GDP. With pressures rising from geopolitical shifts, trade fragmentation, and competition from neighbouring hubs, the Netherlands risks losing ground unless it modernises its legal foundations for digital commerce. That is the core message delivered by ICC Netherlands in a white paper submitted to the Dutch Parliament calling for the rapid adoption of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR).
BNP Paribas has recently opted to rescind its longstanding policy barring finance to companies dealing in "controversial weapons." The bank cited ambiguity in defining the term and the need to differentiate between sanctioned weapons and those used in legitimate defence supply.
In a move with potential implications for trade finance, the United Kingdom and United States have established a Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future. This initiative is designed to harmonise regulations, ease capital market access, and coordinate oversight of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies.
Companies trading with the European Union face an evolving regulatory landscape. The EU's upcoming requirement for Digital Product Passports (DPPs) mandates that products (initially in textiles, construction, electronics) carry digital records of their supply chain, composition, and environmental footprint. From 2027, these passports must be presented at EU borders via QR codes or barcodes.
Global shipping and trade are entering a turbulent era, and trade finance instruments are feeling the strain. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), increased geopolitical tensions, notably in the Middle East, ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, and instability in the Red Sea corridor, are causing dramatic shifts in shipping routes and freight costs.
The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) has entered into a significant agreement with Al Baraka Bank Egypt by signing a Documentary Credit Insurance Policy (DCIP) valued at US$50 million.
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has reported a robust financial performance in the first quarter of 2025, with net interest income reaching US$411.2 million, marking a 4.53 per cent year-on-year increase. This growth underscores the bank's strategic initiatives and its pivotal role in facilitating trade across the African continent.
A notable signing of a multi-billion US dollar letter of credit (L/C) facility helped the Saudi Export-Import Bank (Saudi EXIM) achieve a significant milestone in 2024 by more than doubling the amount of credit facilities it had ever extended in a single year.
Hatton National Bank (HNB), one of Sri Lanka's leading private sector banks, has launched TxB TradeX, a next-generation digital trade finance platform developed in collaboration with Infinity Global and powered by Finastra technology.
Concerns have been raised in the Nigerian media about a Supreme Court ruling in Nigeria involving Owigs & Obigs Nigeria and Zenith Bank. The dispute centres on a US$64 million international trade contract for the export of tin, columbite, and tantalite ores to Chinese buyers.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and Bank of Africa Benin (BOA-Benin) have signed a 15 million euro (EUR 15 million - US$16.2 million) trade finance guarantee agreement in the Beninese capital, Cotonou.
A significant increase in letter of credit (L/C) commissions has helped Nigeria's Fidelity Bank to report robust financial performance for the first quarter of 2025, highlighting a strategic shift by the bank towards enhancing non-interest income streams.
South Korea's Hana Bank has announced the launch of the country's first non-face-to-face artificial intelligence (AI) export letter of credit (L/C) purchase review service, marking a significant advancement in the nation's financial sector.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a US$40 million trade finance transaction guarantee facility for Dashen Bank, a leading private bank in Ethiopia.
HSBC has introduced TradePay for Import Duties, a digital trade finance solution tailored for US importers grappling with the financial implications of recent tariff increases imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Maus Coex Capital, a Spanish-Mexican private bank established in 2001, has announced the expansion of its Global Private Banking Services. The expansion places a significant emphasis on trade finance instruments, particularly standby letters of credit (SBL/Cs) .
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police has arrested a Singaporean national, Mukesh Gupta, for orchestrating an international trade fraud involving forged shipping documents and fraudulent letters of credit (L/Cs), resulting in a loss of approximately 10 crore rupees (US$1.18 million) to an Indian company.
Malaysia has officially launched the Malaysia Blockchain Infrastructure (MBI), a national platform developed collaboratively by MIMOS Berhad and digital services provider MyEG Services Berhad.
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has launched a US$3 billion Revolving Intra-African Oil Import Financing programme aimed at reducing Africa's dependency on imported refined petroleum products and enhancing intra-African trade.
The Central Bank of Libya (CBL) has appointed the American advisory firm K2 Integrity to monitor its financial transactions, particularly focusing on letters of credit (L/Cs).