Media Appearances

PODCAST | Banking on the Present with BAFT E1: Straight-talking stablecoins

via Trade Finance Global by Deepa Sinha, Martin Cannings, Mahika Ravi Shankar, and Silvia Andreoletti

  • Stablecoins are fully backed digital assets that provide stable value, enabling near real-time, cost-efficient cross-border payments on blockchain networks.
  • Their most effective use cases lie in sectors with high payment friction, such as remittances, commodity trading, and interbank liquidity transfers.
  • Regulatory clarity and interoperability between systems will be critical to unlocking stablecoins’ long-term adoption and integration into global banking.

Fully transparent, programmable, secure digital money that maintains a stable value: 20 years ago, stablecoins sounded about as realistic as flying cars and holograms. But recent technological advancements and regulatory innovation have made this once-distant dream a reality, turning it into one of banking’s hottest topics.

However, as with much almost too-good-to-be-true tech, it can be hard to separate hype from substance. And the more hype, the further from the fundamentals we stray. For the first episode of Trade Finance Global’s (TFG) new podcast series with BAFT, Banking on the Present, Mahika Ravi Shankar, Deputy Editor at TFG, sat down with Deepa Sinha, Senior Vice President, Payments & Financial Crimes, and Women in Transaction Banking, and Martin Cannings, Co-Chair of Payments, at BAFT, to dissect the stablecoin: what they are, who they’re for, and where they’re really headed.

Listen to the full episode here.

Trade finance left largely untouched in US Basel plans

via Global Trade Review by Jacob Atkins

US banking regulators have proposed maintaining the current capital treatment of key trade finance products as part of the country’s adoption of the latest tranche of Basel reforms.  

If the proposals unveiled on March 19 are implemented, trade-related contingent instruments with a maturity of one year or less will retain a 20% credit conversion factor (CCF), which denotes how much capital must be held against a given exposure. 

Transaction-related contingent items with a maturity of more than one year, such as performance standby letters of credit, performance bonds and bid bonds, will retain a CCF of 50%.   

Read the full article here.

From a question to a global movement: The rise of BAFT Women in Transaction Banking

via Trade Finance Global by Deepa Sinha

  • BAFT Women in Transaction Banking was created to address the absence of a unified platform supporting women across trade and payments within transaction banking.
  • The initiative focuses on networking, education, mentorship, and public speaking to promote women’s professional growth and visibility in the industry.
  • Since its launch, WTB has expanded globally, hosting numerous events and establishing a cross-institutional mentorship programme to strengthen female representation in senior roles.

When I joined BAFT in March of 2022, I confess that though I was a subject matter expert on all things payments and cash management, I wasn’t too knowledgeable about trade and its role in transaction banking. As I began to research, join various trade-related committees and council meetings, and speak with my counterparts, I realised that there was a whole other world in the banking sphere. 

Nearly every product we buy and use is a result of transaction banking. While I’m still nowhere near a trade expert, I have a much better understanding of how trade, payments, and operations all play an integral part in the world’s economy. And I continue to learn more every day.

Read the full article here.

Why AI collaboration is key to fighting fraud

via FINTECH GLOBAL

AI is no longer a pilot project in financial services. That was the clear message from the 2026 BAFT International Trade & Payment Conference, where a panel on AI in compliance and fraud detection focused less on experimentation and more on execution.

According to Quantifind, moderated by BNY senior vice president of global payments and trade Ryan Lastra, the discussion brought together Quantifind vice president of strategic client partnerships Teresa Buechner and BNY senior vice president of domestic payments Sumner Francisco to explore how institutions must now govern, explain and collaborate around AI in an increasingly networked risk environment.

The debate has moved on from whether AI belongs in payments and compliance. It is already embedded across transaction monitoring, fraud detection and case management workflows. Instead, the panel centred on what comes next: how firms govern their models, how they ensure explainability, and how they work across institutional boundaries as financial crime becomes more interconnected. The era of speculative AI use cases has ended. The operational phase has begun.

Read the full article here.

AI governance takes centre stage in payments

via RegTech Analyst

AI is no longer a pilot project in financial services. That was the clear message at the 2026 BAFT International Trade & Payment Conference, where a panel on AI in compliance and fraud detection explored what comes next for banks and payments providers.

According to Quantifind, moderated by BNY senior vice president of global payments and trade Ryan Lastra, the discussion brought together Quantifind VP of strategic client partnerships Teresa Buechner and BNY senior vice president of domestic payments Sumner Francisco.

What stood out was not a debate over whether AI belongs in financial services. That argument has already been settled. Instead, the focus shifted to governance, explainability and collaboration in a world where financial crime operates across networks, not institutions.

Read the full article here.

AI Isn’t the Experiment Anymore. Governance and Collaboration Are.

via QUANTIFIND by Jason Palleschi

At the 2026 BAFT International Trade & Payment Conference, a panel on AI in Compliance and Fraud Detection brought together leaders from across the payments and risk ecosystem. The discussion was moderated by Ryan Lastra, Senior Vice President of Global Payments and Trade at BNY, and featured Teresa Buechner, VP of Strategic Client Partnerships at Quantifind, alongside Sumner Francisco, Senior Vice President of Domestic Payments at BNY.

What stood out wasn’t a debate about whether AI belongs in financial services. That question has already been answered. The conversation focused instead on what comes next:

  1. How institutions govern AI
  2. Explain its decisions
  3. Collaborate across organizational boundaries in an environment where financial crime and fraud are increasingly networked

Read the full article here.