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Investment in trade finance assets has made a number of headlines in recent months, denoting the growing awareness of the benefits of such assets in the investment community. The first crypto wallet that allows users to invest in trade finance assets from multiple markets will go live in October. Also Federated Investors launched the first sovereign energy trade finance fund in the world.

Tradeteq, the trade finance distribution platform, has raised US$6.3mn of equity investment in a seed extension funding round, led by ADV. The financing will be used for the expansion of Tradeteq’s platform, and for the release of new applications and data services. Several of Tradeteq’s existing investors also participated in the seed extension round.

The news that Tradeteq raised US$6.3mn of equity investment in seed extension funding round, led by ADV, was covered by a variety of media outlets.

Michael Boguslavsky speaks to Global Banking and Finance about Tradeteq's credit analytics model.

Artificial intelligence is widely expected to become commonplace within institutional investors by 2020. What specific applications can we expect?

A new study by Technavio came out at the end of May, stating that the global trade finance market would grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3.75% between 2018 and 2022. The prediction is based on market analysis with inputs from industry experts including key financiers like BNP Paribas, Citigroup and HSBC, amongst others.

Last month, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the OECD’s Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) published adamning reporton the cost of regulatory divergence in the financial sector. The survey of over 250 experts and business leaders revealed that financial institutions on average lose 5% to 10% of their annual turnover because of having to reconcile different legislations in their transactions. This amounts to no less than US$780bn a year.

The release of Tradeteq's white paper 'Machine Learning Credit Analytics for Trade Finance', authored by Tradeteq head of AI Michael Boguslavsky, was picked up by a variety of news outlets.

Access to trade finance is crucial to SMEs’ internationalisation, particularly in emerging markets, yet they often struggle to get bank support due to their limited collateral. Making it easier for banks to distribute trade finance risk with institutional investors has the potential to change this dynamic and revive trade growth on a global level.

The ASEAN-Australia Digital Trade Standards Initiative is yet another proof that Asia is one step ahead when it comes to innovation in trade finance. Announced last month at the ASEAN-Australia Summit in Sydney, the initiative aims to “provide a framework for Australia and ASEAN countries to cooperate in developing, adopting and using international standards that promote digital trade and support inclusive economic growth in the region”. It is the first multilateral government initiative to standardise the booming digitisation of trade.