Press Releases

New BAFT, BIAN, and IBM Study Examines How Evolving Technologies are Changing Trade and Supply Chain Finance

WASHINGTON, D.C. – BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade), the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN), and the IBM Institute for Business Value , today released Corporate Banking Beyond the Transaction, new research examining how corporate banks and their clients are navigating rapid changes across trade and supply chain finance. 

The global study, based on surveys of 500 CFOs and treasurers and 250 corporate bankers, finds that corporate clients increasingly want greater control over how they access and manage banking services, shifting the point of engagement toward digital platforms and technology-enabled models. A majority (57%) of corporate CFOs and treasurers surveyed prefer either a dynamic orchestration model, in which AI enables near-real-time management of payments, liquidity, treasury operations and financing needs, or a platform-first ecosystem model, in which multi-bank digital platforms serve as the primary interface for financial services. As corporate clients increasingly leverage technology and transactions become more commoditized, banks face a growing need to redefine their role. The research identifies an opportunity for bankers to become trusted partners in intelligence, risk and execution, with AI and tokenization integrated into business and operating models and embedded within clients’ trade and supply chain finance workflows. 

“Corporate banking stands at an important inflection point as clients gain greater control over how and where they consume financial services,” said Tod Burwell, BAFT President and CEO. “The findings emphasize the opportunity for banks to deepen their role as strategic partners to corporate clients. By combining financial expertise with emerging technologies, banks can create new sources of value while remaining central to the way businesses manage trade, liquidity and risk.” 
 
The research also highlights an opportunity for banks to take a more expansive approach to AI. While banks continue to invest in AI, fewer than 20% of banking executives surveyed identify revenue generation as the primary outcome of AI adoption, with most focused on automation, cost reduction and risk management. 
 
At the same time, tokenization and payment stablecoins could reshape the economics of corporate banking. Seventy-two percent of bankers surveyed expect stablecoins to improve efficiency in clients’ treasury and finance operations, while 75% of surveyed corporate clients expect lower transaction costs. The study finds that banks’ role in emerging tokenized ecosystems could influence where those benefits ultimately accrue. 
 
Corporate Banking Beyond the Transaction explores these shifts and outlines how banks can respond as corporate clients adopt new technologies and seek greater control over financial services. 

Read the full report here.   

Study Methodology:
The IBM Institute for Business Value, in cooperation with Oxford Economics, conducted two global surveys in June and July 2026. The research included 250 senior corporate banking executives from banks across 29 markets with more than $10 billion in assets and 500 CFOs and senior finance leaders from organizations that use corporate banking services.  

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About BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade)
BAFT is the leading global industry association for international transaction banking. Bringing together financial institutions, service providers, and the regulatory community, BAFT provides thought leadership, advocacy, education, and a platform for collaboration to promote sound financial practices that foster innovation, efficiency, and commercial growth. The association engages in a broad range of issues affecting transaction banking, including trade finance, payments, and compliance, helping members navigate a rapidly evolving global landscape. For more information about BAFT, visit baft.org, or follow BAFT on X (Formally Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

About the IBM Institute for Business Value 
The IBM Institute for Business Value, IBM’s thought leadership think tank, combines global research and performance data with expertise from industry thinkers and leading academics to deliver insights that help business leaders make informed decisions. For more information, visit www.ibm.com/ibv. To receive more insights, subscribe to the IdeaWatch newsletter: https://ibm.co/ibv-ideawatch.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade), the leading global industry association for international transaction banking, has named Alexander Malaket as its new head of trade. Malaket will lead the association’s trade-focused policy, practices, and education initiatives, and will support its trade-related councils and committees. He succeeds Craig Weeks, who has retired from BAFT after 43 years of industry service that included senior leadership roles at global banks, insurance companies and trading companies. 

Malaket will work with industry stakeholders to advance the goals of the trade and supply chain finance industry through defining best practices, formulating policy recommendations and providing education on matters related to trade and supply chain. 

“Alexander is a great addition to BAFT,” said Tod Burwell, BAFT President and CEO. “He has extensive policy engagement experience and has worked with organizations across the globe to build consensus-driven solutions to industry problems. We are going to miss Craig but are fortunate to now have another individual with strong knowledge of the major issues in trade to continue the industry work and advocacy.” 

Prior to joining BAFT, Malaket was the founder of Opus Advisory Services and has accumulated over 35 years of banking and consulting experience in trade, supply chain, trade financing, trade-development and sustainability. He has engaged in policy advocacy with global and local policy makers, working with top-tier global banks, ECAs and multilateral institutions in over 40 countries. He served on several boards, advisory bodies, task forces and organizations around the world. Malaket is the author of “Financing Trade and International Supply Chains”, Taylor & Francis UK, 2014, several white papers and guidance documents, and has served as a regular speaker at leading industry and policy forums. Malaket holds an Honors Degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Toronto, the Certified Trade Finance Professional designation from ICC Academy, and Board Designation in ESG and Sustainability from Competent Boards, Toronto. 

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About BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade)
BAFT is the leading global industry association for international transaction banking. Bringing together financial institutions, service providers, and the regulatory community, BAFT provides thought leadership, advocacy, education, and a platform for collaboration to promote sound financial practices that foster innovation, efficiency, and commercial growth. The association engages in a broad range of issues affecting transaction banking, including trade finance, payments, and compliance, helping members navigate a rapidly evolving global landscape. For more information about BAFT, visit baft.org, or follow BAFT on X (Formally Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade), the leading global industry association for international transaction banking, today announced the release of its latest industry white paper, Trade Finance Sustainability Guidelines for Transaction Banking. The Guidelines help banks assess sustainable trade finance transactions in a practical, proportionate and globally applicable way, creating a minimum baseline for credible decision-making in a complex and fast-evolving market. 

The Guidelines address a critical gap in the sustainable finance landscape by translating broad sustainability principles into practical guidance for transaction banking — a business defined by short tenors, high transaction volumes, multi-party structures, complex supply chains and activity across multiple jurisdictions. While sustainable finance frameworks have advanced significantly since 2023, much of the focus has remained on investment banking strategies, term lending and asset-based approaches. Trade finance requires a more nuanced, operationally workable approach that reflects how transactional banking is delivered in practice. 

The Guidelines are designed to complement existing standards while offering a practical alternative where those standards may not fully reach, including SMEs, developing markets and high-volume, low-value trade flows. They were drafted to provide financial institutions in markets at different stages of development with a minimum baseline to assess the sustainability of trade transactions consistently and uniformly, while preserving flexibility for local market context and existing due-diligence processes. 

The key added-value features of the Guidelines are as follows: 

1. Sustainability is broader than climate. The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) extend beyond environmental considerations alone, and trade finance frameworks need to recognize initiatives that deliver social, economic and environmental impact across the full SDG spectrum; 

2. Trade finance delivers on the SDGs. Trade finance contributes positively to several of the UN SDGs, particularly in developing markets. The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Fifth Trade Finance Report (May 2026) puts unmet African demand at USD 74-92 billion for 2024; 

3. Fit for purpose, market by market. Sustainability priorities vary across markets, and assessment approaches need to be fit for purpose in light of those market factors: assessment by the bank that knows the client, knows the local market, acting within its existing due-diligence processes and three lines of defense, with process integrity verified by international counterparties; 

4. Complementary guidance where existing frameworks do not fully reach. The Guidelines provide governance guidance and practical alternatives for markets where existing frameworks are insufficient, including SMEs, developing markets and high-volume, low-value trade. Institutions applying the ICC Principles for Sustainable Trade Finance, the EU Taxonomy or the Equator Principles can continue to use those frameworks in addition to the BAFT Guidelines, with the BAFT Guidelines serving as a complementary minimum baseline. The clearest gap they fill is depth across the trade chain: they provide a basis for one bank to consider a sustainability designation made by another bank earlier in the chain, with responsibility ultimately remaining with the relying bank; 

5. Safeguards built into the minimum baseline, proportionately. The Guidelines propose embedding a proportionate do-no-significant-harm screen and greenwashing controls into the baseline itself, helping ensure that broader inclusion does not mean a lower standard; and 

6. An agenda for further work, and delivery on commitments already made. More work is needed on models that weigh social, economic and environmental trade-offs and can be implemented in local markets. The Guidelines give the industry a concrete instrument for the Sevilla Commitment’s call to strengthen trade finance for developing-country MSMEs and the Washington Declaration participants’ aim of halving the trade finance gap by 2030. 

The Guidelines reflect BAFT’s ongoing commitment to advancing practical thought leadership on the future of transaction banking. They are intended to support members by providing a clear industry reference point for client engagement, internal governance, consistent transaction assessment and greenwashing risk mitigation — without creating unnecessary administrative burden or imposing a one-size-fits-all standard. 

BAFT Trade Finance Sustainability Guidelines for Transaction Banking is available to BAFT members and the broader financial services community through the BAFT website. 

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About BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade)
BAFT is the leading global industry association for international transaction banking. Bringing together financial institutions, service providers, and the regulatory community, BAFT provides thought leadership, advocacy, education, and a platform for collaboration to promote sound financial practices that foster innovation, efficiency, and commercial growth. The association engages in a broad range of issues affecting transaction banking, including trade finance, payments, and compliance, helping members navigate a rapidly evolving global landscape. For more information about BAFT, visit baft.org, or follow BAFT on X (Formally Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube.