Pressure on margins from increased competition and compliance requirements is forcing the industry to recalibrate its trade finance offerings. While institutions know that trade digitalisation is important for the future of the business, success relies heavily on deeper coordination and collaboration between the myriad participants in the trade finance ecosystem and technology enablers

Several key themes emerged amidst the many discussions by global leaders in payments, including QR code, blockchain, credit card schemes, fintech and data consolidation

While the growth of Alibaba and Alipay as well as Tencent and WeChat pay in China is well known, there have been questions about whether a similar model can succeed outside of China. Local players as well as those Chinese giants themselves are starting to show that a super-app may well succeed in other markets in Asia too.

Given that remittances are so lucrative in so many markets in Asia, and that new competitors are offering faster and cheaper services, banks will need to develop new models if they want to keep their customers.

The most competitive digital retail financial institutions come all but from China, and the elite club of the top 10, representing all non-bank financial players, are exclusively from China, Korea and Australia

Driven by competition and rapid disruption, banks increasingly spend on technology enabled models targeted to improve customer experience and service capability. What are the recent developments and top priorities of banks in 2018?

As real-time processing becomes the norm in domestic payments, how long would it take for cross-border payments to catch up?

Global and regional cash management banks across Asia-Pacific are making substantial investments in digital initiatives to enhance the overall transaction experience of their clients.

The discussion on cybersecurity is being given increased importance in the boardroom as cybercrime goes global and data protection comes to the forefront

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, joined the Asian Banker’s Emmanuel Daniel and Gordian Gaeta in a debate on the development of the internet, innovation in China, and what the financial industry can learn from both

Implications of new regulations and emergence of digital-only players were hot button issues discussed this year at the Asian Banker Future of Finance ‘Global Transactions Re-invented’ track

Pundits who see fintechs as the epitome of digital revolution need to pause and consider a simple fact, they may well be transitory and more dramatic changes are yet to come