International debt collection requires an understanding of local laws, cultural norms and repayment practices to maintain trust and secure payments across borders.

• Stablecoins can make trade finance faster, cheaper, and more transparent, improving access to liquidity for SMEs.
• Tokenisation can democratise investment in real-world assets by allowing investors to purchase fractional ownership of assets with significantly lower minimum investments.
• Despite their benefits, digital assets carry operational and regulatory risks, making thorough due diligence essential.

A financing shortfall is choking trade. Funding is disproportionately allocated to richer nations and large corporations with more developed export credit infrastructure and strong credit histories.

Against this backdrop, multilateral development banks (MDBs) can bridge finance gaps through capital provision, regional involvement, and coalition building, which lower investment risks for private capital. MDBs step in where traditional finance fails.

In the latest episode of Trade Finance Talks, Doğa Usanmaz, Reporter at Trade Finance Global (TFG), spoke with Steven Beck, Head of Trade and Supply Chain Finance at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Beck, one of the architects of ADB’s annual gap study, discussed the inception of the ‘trade finance gap’, the role of digitalisation, and the ongoing impact of war in the Middle East.

According to Beck, as the war in the Middle East surges and key commodity prices continue to soar, another gap in trade finance is emerging.