Four trends shaping the global trade landscape
Temerging trend is digitisation with digital adoption accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Milo says the bank s clients are increasingly looking for opportunities to automate their environments to create internal efficiencies and cost savings. There is an emerging trend towards adoption of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics in the international trade environment, he says. In addition, Standard Bank is partnering with third-party platform providers and fintech companies to develop best-ofbreed trade finance solutions for the local market.
The third emerging trend is the focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG)
considerations. As well as ensuring suppliers abide by key ESG criteria, there is increased awareness of sustainability issues related to the firm s operation, the promotion of supply chain continuity and the attainment of specific ESG related KPIs set by executive management, reveals Milo. “The promotion of supply chain continuity has various dimensions, including environmental resource utilisation, the use of sustainable materials and the carbon footprint of the supply chain but, also importantly, preferential procurement, the extent of domestic (or regional) trade and payment terms offered to SME suppliers. All too often the needs of a large corporate and their SME suppliers are at odds: SMEs want to be paid as soon as possible while large corporates want to enhance their balance sheet through longer creditor repayment terms. Standard Bank’s supplier financing solution addresses this challenge, says Milo. The solution enables a large corporate buyer to negotiate extended terms with the SME supplier, with the understanding
the SME
