Financial services staff and systems are already facing intense pressure amid the Covid-19 pandemic, but no-one knows what the economic effects of locking-down economies for an extended period will be. So what are trade finance banks and businesses throughout global supply chains doing to prepare, train and educate within the market?

TXF’s ‘in viro veritas’ series looks at the effects of the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic on trade and export finance. The first in the series was an early stage call to action, the second showed ECAs picking up their activities and this, the third, looks at more a coordinated response from institutions.

Tat Yeen Yap. the former head of product management Asia, trade finance, for Societe Generale, argues that the crisis could be a catalyst for electronic presentations of trade instruments. India’s lockdown will be a test case.

TXF spoke with Valentino Gallo, founding partner at Javalyn Partners, an independent structured asset management firm that specialises in infrastructure and trade finance, to discuss the real impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the trade and export finance market.

Export Development Canada (EDC) has given Canadian exporters advice on how to manage their business risk strategy during the Coronavirus Covid-19 crisis. That guidance bears sharing to a wider audience of exporters globally.