Media Appearances

ECI Underscores Women’s Shift from Participation to Strategic Leadership at 2026 BAFT MENA Forum

via Middle East News 247

Speaking at a panel discussion titled ‘From Inclusion to Influence: Women Driving Corporate Transformation in MENA,’ at 2026 BAFT MENA Forum, Yasmin Bahgat emphasised that this shift reflects a broader regional ambition to build future-ready, inclusive, and resilient economies, where leadership is defined by capability, perspective, and long-term value creation.

She added that this progress aligns closely with ECI’s sustainability mandate, particularly as women globally continue to lead climate action, community development, and social innovation initiatives. Highlighting ECI’s role within the Net-Zero Export Credit Agencies Alliance, Ms Bahgat reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to supporting climate-resilient, future-proof trade ecosystems.

The session also discussed the UAE as a leading model for embedding inclusion and gender balance into national development, supported by visionary leadership that places women’s empowerment at the heart of nation-building. This commitment is reflected in policy, representation, and expanded opportunities across key sectors, including finance, trade, and economic leadership, notably through initiatives such as the ‘Mother of the Nation’s 50:50 Vision’, aimed at advancing women into leadership roles.

Read the full article here.

Instant payments, instant risks: Banks’ perspectives in the payments revolution

via Trade Finance Global by Deepa Sinha

  • Instant payments are transforming transaction banking by compressing settlement cycles.
  • Banks face mounting pressures to overhaul liquidity management, shift to 24/7 continuous settlement, and balance seamless payments with safeguards against fraud and bank runs.
  • Stricter regulation, real-time FX risk and rising fraud threats mean more is demanded within instant payments demand advanced technology.

Instant payments are being hailed far and wide as the new frontier in transaction banking, making transaction fees and processing times as much a relic of the past as travellers’ cheques and bank tellers. 

However, things are not quite so frictionless as they seem behind the scenes, with banks having to grapple with the risks associated with instant payments – from fraud to bank runs – while adapting to a brand new settlement regime and evolving regulatory standards.

A new whitepaper by BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade) explores the key issues faced by banks in the era of instant payments and what they can do to adapt while still keeping up with the markets. 

Read the full article here.

Whitepaper | From lenders to leaders: Banks in flux

Via Trade Finance Global (TFG)

From a TFG and BAFT roundtable, this whitepaper examines the evolving role of banks in global trade as they navigate unprecedented disruption. Based on a discussion held during the BAFT Global Councils Forum 2025, it features insights from leaders in major global banks and institutions covering tariffs, shifting ESG priorities, regulatory complexity, financial crime, and rapid digitization in 2025.

Download the whitepaper here.

Podcast | The G20 Roadmap and the Future of Cross Border Payments

To explore how far the industry has come since the G20 Roadmap for Cross Border Payments was endorsed in 2020, and how much more remains to be done, Trade Treasury Payments (TTP) spoke with Deepa Sinha, Senior Vice President for Payments and Financial Crimes at BAFT, and Shriyanka Hore, Global Head of Industry Engagement at Swift.

Via Trade Treasury Payments by Deepa Sinha

Amid four packed days at Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, experts from across the transaction banking space came together to discuss (among many other topics from a long agenda) how to make cross-border payments better. Today, trillions of dollars move across borders each day and global commerce has become more digital than ever, which means that implementation is becoming a central priority.

In the final hours of the conference, Trade Treasury Payments (TTP) made time to sit down with Deepa Sinha, Senior Vice President for Payments and Financial Crimes at BAFT, and Shriyanka Hore, Global Head of Industry Engagement at Swift, to discuss how far the industry has come and how far it still has to go.

The G20 roadmap for cross-border payments, endorsed in 2020, set a collective goal of making international payments faster, cheaper, more transparent, and more accessible by 2027. Even in 2025, fragmented regulations and differing market practices mean that a cross-border payment can look very different depending on where it starts and ends.

Read the article and listen to the full episode here.

Banking in an uncertain world: How geopolitics and technology are rewiring transactional finance

Via Trade Finance Global by Doga Usanmaz

  • Geopolitical tensions and shifting trade corridors are requiring banks to adapt to political risks and regional economic changes.
  • Europe’s focus on financial sovereignty is driving strategic investment into sectors like energy and defense.
  • Regarding digitalisation, challenges remain in balancing technological innovation with social impacts, particularly in developing regions

Rerouted trade corridors, regional fragmentation, a currency arms race… these are no longer distant possibilities. They are active geopolitical and macroeconomic forces, reshaping transactional banking. 

At this year’s BAFT Global Council’s Forum in Frankfurt, Germany, a panel of senior leaders from prominent global and regional banks explored how shifting political tensions and economic dynamics are creating deep uncertainty for the industry, and how banks are adapting their strategies, infrastructure, and client relations in response.

The panel, moderated by Nick Smit, head of financial institutions at ING Bank and chair of BAFT’s board, found that transactional banks are being rewired to confront political risk, digitisation, and technological disruption. The panel provided a region-by-region exploration of the subject, and some interesting parallels came up.

Read the full article here.

Net Zero Banking Alliance closure shows hurdle of setting single standards, industry body says

Via Global Trade Review by Jenny Messenger

The demise of the UN-backed Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) has highlighted how difficult it is to create single standards for the global financial sector, the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (Baft) has said.

The NZBA officially shut down earlier this month after members voted to end the alliance and instead use its guidance as a framework for setting net-zero targets.

The decision, which comes after a rocky year for the organisation in which several major banks exited, illustrates the challenges of aligning multiple banks across the globe, says Baft.

“What the disbanding of NZBA shows is the difficulty of establishing single standards that are flexible enough to accommodate the many bank operating models and regional variances on sustainability goals,” says Andy Price, vice-president, international policy, and sustainability and ESG lead at Baft.

Read the full article here.