GTR News Brief Episode 17

Host Felix Thompson gives a breakdown of the major stories in trade and trade finance news this week.

A new report from security think tank RUSI warns against a blanket approach to free trade zones, but says many risk exposing banks to trade-based money laundering, as well drugs, weapons and counterfeit goods trafficking.

Oswald Kuyler, the newly appointed managing director of the Digital Standards Initiative, spoke to GTR about efforts to scale up the digitalisation of trade in Asia.

In other news, Singapore’s financial regulator has called for a move away from paper-based trade transactions in a bid to reduce fraud, after a series of high-profile scandals in the city state’s commodities sector.

Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a goal of carbon neutrality for his country by 2060.

However, the move has been met with scepticism from experts, given that Chinese creditors have given billions of dollars to fossil fuel projects around the world through the country’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Senior reporter John Basquill also provides a closer analysis after a group of major banks launch a blockchain-based registry for trade finance transactions in Singapore.

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