According to numbers from the Banco Central do Brazil, 76.4% of the country’s 211 million population now use Pix, followed by debit cards at 69.1% and cash at 68.9%.

“Pix has transformed the Brazilian economy; it expanded financial inclusion, formalized part of the informal economy, and gave the government greater visibility into transactions,” explains Reginaldo Nogueira, national director at the Brazilian Institute of Capital Markets (Ibmec).

“It’s not just a payment innovation; it’s a structural reconfiguration of how money circulates and how the state collects revenue,” he adds. According to the Brazilian Banking Federation, there were 68.7 billion Pix transactions in 2024 alone, a massive 52% increase from the prior year, reaching roughly $5 trillion in value.

The massive uptick was due to increasing person-to-business transactions via the system, which recorded a 90% year-on-year jump in 2024, according to a study by Matera Research.

Pix recorded its largest one-day volume on December 20, 2024, when the system handled 252.1 million transactions.

“The central bank’s digitalization agenda, led by Pix, is in full swing and transforming how Brazilians make payments,” said Rodrigo Teixeira, director of administration at the central bank. The central bank aims to expand PIixs functionalities into the credit side, incorporating features such as installment payments and enabling future Pix transactions to be accepted as collateral in lending transactions.

Pix is also growing on the stablecoin side, with the central bank recording a massive increase in Tether (a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar) transactions over Pix this year. Courtnay Guimarães, head of Digital Assets at Bradesco Bank, explains, “With a crypto account and Pix, anyone can convert funds in real time, gaining access to up to 180,000 assets globally.”

Much of the disruption begins in the US, where President Donald Trump’s abrupt, aggressive shift in trade policy has injected a new volatility into global markets. His “Liberation Day” tariff package, unveiled April 2, aimed to revive domestic manufacturing by imposing steep duties on imports, promising a new “golden age of America” powered by reshored jobs and greater market access for US goods abroad.

Rather than resetting the global playing field, Trump’s trade shock has set off a cascade of recalibrations. The US dollar has weakened, its role as a reserve currency is being reevaluated, and foreign investors are quietly retreating from US assets. At its lowest point in early May, the US dollar index had fallen 8.9% year-to-date before partially recovering. Treasury bonds, once a byword for safety, are being shed at an accelerating pace.

“We have been arguing over the last few months that the market is reducing its willingness to fund the US twin deficits,” George Saravelos, global head of foreign exchange research at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a recent note. “We worry this is brewing a major problem for the dollar—and potentially the US bond market too.”

As the US continues one-on-one tariff negotiations with China and more than 100 other governments, other countries aren’t waiting for Washington to set the rules. From Latin America to Asia and the Middle East, trade alliances are being redrawn and export strategies are shifting. The map of global commerce is changing in real time.

Call it the Great Realignment.

For over 50 years, the US has occupied a peculiar place in the global trading landscape, importing vast volumes of consumer goods and relying on foreign capital to finance the resulting trade deficits. Foreign governments bought trillions in US Treasury bonds, cementing the dollar’s dominance as a global reserve currency. That “exorbitant privilege,” as it’s sometimes called, is now under pressure.

“China doesn’t mind the decoupling; it’s only the speed that is upsetting them.”

Andrew Polk, Trivium China

Washington’s pivot toward tariffs and economic nationalism is forcing allies and rivals alike to reconsider their exposure to the US system.

“Unpredictable and maximalist US policies, such as claims on territory owned by traditional US allies, serve to increase concerns about coercion and lead states to insure against it,” Deutsche Bank’s macro strategists, Oliver Hardy and colleagues, wrote in a May note, “e.g., by reducing reliance on the US financial system and the dollar as a medium of exchange and store of value. Moreover, as alternatives become more developed, the opportunity cost of moving away from US financial networks declines.”

The US-China dynamic remains central. After the US imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing responded with 125% levies on US exports. A 90-day truce was agreed to in Geneva in May, scaling back tariffs to 30% and 10%, respectively. While the deal provides temporary relief, it has not erased concerns that the world’s two largest economies may be heading toward a long-term decoupling.

Other governments aren’t standing still. Even as the US pursues a broad slate of trade talks, it has announced only one new agreement so far—a framework deal with Britain, signed in May, many details of which have yet to be worked out. Meanwhile, many countries are accelerating their own trade diversification strategies to hedge against further disruptions.

The effects of this realignment are already playing out on the ground, nowhere more clearly than in Latin America, where some of the biggest beneficiaries of the Trump policy are located. As US trade relationships grow more uncertain, many of its former hemispheric partners are deepening ties with China and other global players to safeguard their export markets.

Even before the current tariffs were announced, Chinese imports of US agricultural products had declined 14% to $29.25 billion in 2024, which followed a 20% decline in 2023, a legacy of the first Trump Administration’s earlier round of tariff hikes targeting Beijing. By contrast, Brazil exported $49.7 billion in agriculture to China last year, with soybeans the main export crop. Eyeing an opportunity to replace US farm exports to China, Brazil sent a 150-member trade delegation, its largest ever, to Beijing in May, headed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and opened a new office in Beijing to promote coffee and other exports.

Meanwhile, China signed a letter of intent with Argentine exporters to buy $900 million worth of soybeans, corn, and vegetable oil to avoid sourcing them from US farmers, putting further pressure on Washington.

It’s not only the Chinese who are shopping for South America’s agricultural products.

“There are increasing opportunities for Latin American countries to strengthen trade links with both Asia and Europe,” says Andrés Abadía, chief Latin America economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. The EU signed an agreement with the Mercosur countries—Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay—in December, he notes, creating a free trade area between the two blocs, a market encompassing a quarter of global GDP. The pact, when ratified, will remove 90% of tariffs on agricultural exports to Europe and the EU’s industrial exports to Mercosur countries.

The new attention is welcome in Latin America—up to a point.

Asian countries are strengthening trade ties with the economies of Peru, Chile, and Colombia. But with Chinese exports to the US becoming problematic, more cheap goods from China could be entering the Latin American region, “which could cause problems, especially for emerging Latin American manufacturing sectors,” Abadía warns.

The first signs of this shift emerged in April, when China reported a 21% decline in goods shipments to the US. At the same time, exports to Latin America were $43.8 billion, more than double the $21.2 billion reported in the same period in 2024. Chinese exports to Europe rose to $46 billion in April, up from $43 billion in April 2024.

The Europeans are also concerned about a flood of cheap Chinese imports. In April, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with Chinese Premier Li Qiang about preventing a repeat of the wave of Chinese goods that washed over the EU during the first Trump presidency. There is a need for “a negotiated resolution” to the growing trade imbalance, von der Leyen warned. In an apparent olive branch to the Europeans, China lifted sanctions on several members of the European Parliament.

The European Union is also trying to broaden its trade relations elsewhere by putting finishing touches on a free trade deal with India, which it hopes to conclude by the end of this year.

“We both stand to gain from a world of cooperation and working together,” von der Leyen said when she met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in February to discuss the agreement. The EU is India’s largest trade partner, importing $77 billion worth of goods in 2024, eclipsing both the US and China.

Canada offers another example of diversification away from the US. While Canadian goods exports to the US fell 6.6% in March, the biggest drop since the start of the pandemic, exports to other countries rose 24.8%, driven by commodities like oil and gold, which nearly offset the loss from the US market. A big part of the export decline consisted of a decrease in automobile shipments, which now face a 25% tariff.

Not only did Canadians buy fewer US goods, but fewer Canadians chose to vacation in their neighbor to the south in response to President Trump’s comments about annexing Canada as the 51st US state. In March, the number of Canadians crossing the border by car fell 32% compared to a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada; air travel fell 13.5% in the same period.

Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, visited Trump in Washington in early May, but they did not announce any progress on a trade deal.

China has been taking steps to prepare for a trade war with the US ever since Trump’s first term, notes Andrew Polk, cofounder of Trivium China, a business consultancy in Beijing.

“They have already reordered their trade flows and will do more with Europe and Southeast Asia,” he observes. “They don’t mind the decoupling all that much; it’s only the speed with which it happened that is upsetting them.”

As noted earlier, China is quickly replacing the US as a source of agricultural products, with increased imports from Latin America, Canada, and Australia. The Chinese are keenly aware that midwestern US farm states tend to vote Republican and hope the loss of business will bring pressure to bear on the Administration.

But China is also eager to develop new markets to replace the US, which imported $438 billion worth of Chinese products last year. Soon after Trump declared “Liberation Day” in April, putting heavy tariffs not only on China but on exports from Vietnam and Cambodia, Premier Xi Jinping visited Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia to demonstrate that China is a more reliable partner, signing 45 cooperation agreements covering trade, infrastructure, science and technology, and supply chains.

Southeast Asian countries are in a bind since they depend on China for investment and inputs and the US as a market for their finished goods.

The Trump Administration is attempting to crack down on the practice of transshipment, whereby partially finished Chinese goods are sent to Vietnam and Cambodia and then re-exported after minor changes. Trump announced a 45% tariff on Vietnamese products, for example, but paused it for 90 days while a trade deal is being negotiated. US imports from Vietnam in April were up 34% from a year earlier, driven by US companies frontloading orders ahead of the new tariffs.

Washington, of course, would like to isolate China economically from other Asian countries. But Rajiv Biswas, CEO of Asia-Pacific Economics, a Singaporebased consultancy, doesn’t think that policy is likely to succeed.

“China is such an important market for many countries, I don’t think any of the countries in East Asia want to choose sides,” he says, noting that while Australia is a close security partner of the US, China buys one-third of the country’s exports. “They’re very uncomfortable with the situation where they’re being asked to pick.”

Similarly, while China and Japan have their political differences, China is Japan’s largest trade partner and Japan is China’s second largest.

And when Chinese businesses suffered a virtual shutdown in trade, Beijing responded with an economic stimulus plan that included a 10-basis-point cut to the key policy interest rate, a reduction in banks’ reserve requirements—freeing up $138 billion in additional liquidity—and a mortgage rate cut to support home purchases.

Historically, China has allowed the yuan to weaken against the dollar to blunt the impact of US tariffs. That dynamic briefly held in early 2025, when the yuan dipped to 7.33 to the dollar after Trump’s tariff plans were unveiled. But as the dollar began its own slide, the picture shifted. By later May, the yuan had appreciated to 7.20, reflecting broader pressure on the greenback.

The dollar’s decline has spurred rapid shifts in capital flows. Japanese investors—long major holders of US Treasuries—began selling off US assets and repatriating funds, driving up the yen. The Taiwan dollar surged more than 9% in two days of trading in May, its sharpest rise since 1988, as insurers and exporters moved assets back home.

One of the more surprising developments has been the strength of the euro, which gained as much as 12% against the dollar—from it’s January low—following April’s tariff announcement. Traditionally seen as too fragmented to rival the dollar’s safe-haven status, beset as it has been by budget crises in Greece, Italy, and elsewhere, the eurozone is now benefiting from both renewed investor confidence and signs of economic stabilization.

“The strength of the euro against the dollar is based on both the deterioration in the economic outlook for the US economy and the improvement in the prospects for Germany,” Jane Foley, senior FX strategist at Rabobank, said in March. “There are certainly signs of a shift away from dollar assets.”

The ripple effects are already hitting the corporate world. Multinationals reliant on a strong dollar could see earnings erode. European and Asian companies that purchase dollar-denominated commodities, like oil, are facing higher costs. And for emerging markets, the shift could reverse the 1997 Asian financial crisis dynamic. Back then, capital fled the region; today, it’s flowing in.

Currencies across Southeast Asia and surrounding markets—including in Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan—are gaining momentum as investors diversify away from the US market. In a twist of economic irony, the weakening dollar may help Trump achieve one of his primary goals: a reduction in US imports.

But when it comes to exports, the forging of new trade regimes around the world may leave him knocking at the door.

While unprecedented in their scale—and currently on pause—Trump’s actions did not come out of nowhere. Reshoring has been a trend since the early 2000s. The decline of industrial manufacturing in both the US and Europe fuelled opposition to trade liberalization, resulting in rising duties and the decision by many companies to relocate production facilities back to their home or neighboring countries. The new protectionism will not halt global commerce, but globalization in its current form “may have now run its course,” HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker suggested at the bank’s recent global investment summit. It also reinforces the shift toward regional supply chains and resilient manufacturing locations.

Banks play a critical role in the $9.7 trillion trade finance ecosystem and their expertise will be crucial in helping companies navigate market fluctuations and an uncertain trade finance landscape.

“Given the success of banks’ trade finance divisions over the past few quarters, several banks increased their budgets for this year,” notes Frank Tezzi, vice president and head of Trade & Supply Chain at CGI. “However, many banks waited on spending their budgets until after the election. In the new year, we have seen a commitment to continue with this increased expenditure, particularly given the unique role trade banks can play supporting their customers in a rapidly changing geopolitical climate.” BNP Paribas’s slogan, “the bank for a changing world,” helps explain why its global head of Trade Solutions, Jean-François Denis, is sanguine about current developments.

“Banks are always confronted with changing situations,” he says, “whether it’s geopolitics, major events, or ESG topics. But I think for all business and trade finance in particular, our job is to accompany our clients in terms of mitigating their risks. We accompany our clients that are redirecting their flows. Whether it’s nearshoring or diversifying, a lot of things can be de-risked.” ING views trade finance as one of its pillars of growth and is looking to continue to invest in its trade products, people, and systems in the countries where it operates. In line with that strategy, it continues to support clients executing a sustainability transition with green- and sustainability-linked trade solutions.

“We see growth potential in various sectors like energy, where we see an increased demand from clients in trade, supply chain, and receivable finance solutions,” says Ronald Supheert, managing director-Global Lead Trade Finance Services at ING. Last year, ING’s trade unit exceeded €2 billion in volume mobilized to support clients making green or sustainable transitions.

Looming trade wars and the implementation of higher tariffs will have the greatest impact on clients that have large trade volumes with the US, Supheert expects, but he also has faith in their ability to meet their growth targets through other solutions and in other markets.

Thanks to recent supply chain disruptors like the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, banks have already intensified their focus on working capital optimization solutions that help clients secure supplies efficiently, says Eva Rubio Garcia, head of global transaction banking at BBVA.

“There’s an emphasis on being prepared for client treasury needs, particularly regarding instant payments and data,” she says. “Following a period of survival during Covid, companies are now investing in efficiency, rethinking financial flows, and optimizing the cash conversion cycle.”

The evolving tariff landscape poses a real operational and financial risk, and finance teams will need better visibility, faster decision-making, and stronger scenario planning if they want to adapt. Trade wars require agility and a better grasp of trade finance programs that can free up working capital. Working capital solutions such as supply chain finance (SCF), dynamic discounting, and receivables finance can help counter the effect of tariffs on the cost of capital.

Tariffs cause instability, threatening supply chains and business continuity. SCF mitigates the adverse effects of disruptive events by unlocking working capital trapped in the supply chain. Orbian, one of the first companies to develop an SCF solution, offers a bank-agnostic model that is reflected in recent offerings including Express SCF, Fixed Rate discounting and Flex Pay, a Payment with Terms solution.

The biggest trend of the last two years, says Orbian Managing Director Markus Schiffers, is Payment with Terms, which enables working capital optimization without requiring procurement to negotiate payment terms with suppliers. Payment with Terms allows providers to pay suppliers on the scheduled date while directly protecting the buyer’s liquidity by extending their payment obligations. It allows buyers to manage their cash outflow more predictably, as they have a set schedule for payments to Orbian. This predictability helps with cash flow forecasting and overall financial planning. This safeguards the buyer’s cash flow and enhances working capital, all without requiring supplier participation.

“You need a solution that is very fast in improving working capital for buyers,” says Schiffers. “To roll out supply chain finance to improve working capital takes 18 months or longer; Flex Pay is effective within two months. The combination of both solutions in one program achieves fastest working capital improvement at lowest cost to buyers.”

Moving fast is not always possible in real-life supply chains, however, as it takes time to establish new factories, a complex process that entails high costs, numerous operational challenges, and potential regulatory and compliance issues. Many companies that have adopted a “China Plus One” strategy, diversifying their supply chains by establishing production hubs outside of China, will be holding off from further relocation decisions until after the dust settles.

While China faces the highest tariffs at 145%, other Asian economies heavily dependent on exports to the US are also significantly impacted. Vietnam’s garment industry faces a 46% duty and Bangladesh’s textile sector a 37% tariff. African nations with strong US exports are also feeling the pain, with the most punitive duties levelled at Lesotho (50%), Madagascar (47%), South Africa (30%), and Côte d’Ivoire (21%).

Countries on the receiving end are scrambling for ways to present a united front. The Trump tariffs have led to the first economic talks in five years between South Korea, China, and Japan, with the goal of making regional trade easier, and they appear likely to increase trade among countries in the Global South.

Between 2007 and 2023, South-South trade more than doubled from $2.3 trillion to $5.6 trillion. Daniel Soloway, head of Trade & Working Capital, Europe & Americas and global head of Distributor Finance at Standard Chartered, believes geopolitical uncertainties and a destabilized tariff landscape will cement the importance of new trade hubs.

“The World Trade Organization expects global trade to rise by about 3% in 2025,” he notes. “A lot of that is driven by intra-emerging market trade, by which I mean Global South to Global South trade. We believe China, India, and ASEAN will continue to be the largest contributors for global growth over the next decade.”

Standard Chartered is hoping to facilitate the shift. “We have strong and extensive teams on the ground in Dubai, China and in Singapore,” says Soloway, “so we’re capturing new opportunities in those intra-Asia trades in ASEAN and Middle East network corridors.”

“While we believe that tariffs will affect growth in certain corridors, we believe it will be offset by growth in other corridors that we can capture.”

Daniel Soloway, Head of Trade & Working Capital, Standard Chartered

Asia is home to 18 of the 20 fastest-growing corridors and 13 of the 20 largest, according to the McKinsey Global Institute. With a presence in many of those markets, Soloway says, Standard Chartered is well positioned to capitalize on changing trade flows. From a logistics perspective, planning will be key. Aside from near-shoring and diversified supply chains, logistics networks need to be flexible enough to adapt to new customs barriers and margins sufficient to absorb extra costs.

“Unexpected consequences in logistics are affecting business operations,” warns Jukka Kuusala, head of Trade Finance at Danske Bank. “Tariff adjustments have become complex. What was once a single tariff for machinery now varies for components, such as aluminum and stainless steel parts. This complexity is causing logistics problems as customs authorities struggle to manage imports and exports efficiently, leading to shipment delays.”

Increasingly, export/ import companies in Europe are requesting additional security for US transactions, Kuusala notes. “While European companies typically use bank guarantees to secure contractual obligations, US companies prefer standby letters of credit. This difference has led to increased demand for advisory services as companies navigate these requirements.”

Companies will need to remain adaptable to uncertainties and search out trade finance solutions to help them manage balance sheet pressures and working capital. Currency mismatches are also a threat; Standard Chartered offers a digital foreign exchange solution, SC PrismFX, to address these issues.

Clients are seeking guidance on navigating current uncertainty, potential tariffs, and geopolitical issues, Soloway notes. They are also concerned with maintaining margins and price elasticity and managing working capital metrics.Clients are seeking guidance on navigating current uncertainty, potential tariffs, and geopolitical issues, Soloway notes. They are also concerned with maintaining margins and price elasticity and managing working capital metrics.

In addition to its Treasury Leadership Forums, which bring together corporate treasurers with Standard Chartered’s in-house experts, the Standard Chartered Trade Institute, launched in 2024 and accredited by the London Institute of Banking & Finance, offers training programs to support clients through these changes.

Useful tools include trade finance platforms that centralize and digitize trade finance operations, allowing companies and their banks to efficiently manage instruments like letters of credit, guarantees, and collections. APIs enable seamless integration between different systems, such as the bank’s core banking system, the client’s ERP system, and third-party services. AI and machine learning are now being used for document processing, risk assessment, and compliance: automating and forecasting, among other functions.

AI is emerging as a critical tool for streamlining tariff classification, duty calculation, and customs documentation, notes Michelle Bonat, chief AI officer at AI Squared, along with monitoring trade regulations, providing personalized alerts, and powering chatbots for tariff inquiries.

“Banks can integrate AI into financial planning tools, helping businesses to run what-if simulations on how tariff changes (e.g., Brexit, US-China tariffs) might affect costs or supply chains,” says Bonat. “AI can suggest alternate supply chain routes or sourcing options based on tariff structures, usually achieved through the use of predictive analytics, optimization algorithms, and AI-based simulation models.”

The global trade environment is changing, and businesses must adapt. But the plethora of new tools and solutions suggests that by embracing innovation, seeking expert guidance, and proactively managing risks, they can still find ways to thrive.

Traditional trade finance is often slow, complex, and difficult to access, leaving many small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) struggling to secure funding. EF offers a potential multibillion-dollar opportunity to streamline transactions and empower businesses. By integrating financial services into nonfinancial platforms, EF allows companies to access financing options like invoice factoring or supply chain finance at the point of transaction.

The shift in how goods and services are bought and paid for is driven by e-commerce growth and infrastructure governed by application programming interface (API) rules and protocols. APIs, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI) are the core technologies behind EF. APIs allow real-time data sharing and quick credit approvals, blockchain ensures transaction security, and AI automates risk assessment for faster funding. AI also increases access to financing for SMEs, whether via the integration of EF into e-commerce platforms or the provision of business-to-business (B2B) buy now, pay later services.

To help remedy cash shortfalls at startups, Shopify Balance provides an alternative to traditional business banking, providing merchants with next-day payouts, while Shopify Capital loans provide faster funding for eligible merchants, regardless of size and financial maturity.

Shopify is not EF’s only new kid on the block. In November 2023, FreshBooks, which provides cloud-based accounting software for small businesses, partnered with YouLend to launch a flexible financing solution for more than 100,000 customers across the US.

These platforms are well positioned for EF because they control the customer journey, accumulate rich data on transaction history, and can integrate financial services seamlessly.

The EF shift in e-commerce is not happening in isolation; traditional financial institutions also recognize the opportunity, driving collaboration between banks and fintechs as they realize they can achieve more together.

Last October, HSBC launched a jointly owned venture, Semfi, in partnership with Tradeshift, a B2B global network, to deliver seamless EF solutions to businesses on e-commerce platforms. Semfi embeds HSBC’s payment and trade solutions across Tradeshift’s B2B network, enabling SME suppliers to access faster and more-transparent digital invoice financing from HSBC via e-commerce platforms.

Some banks are building their own banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platforms. Standard Chartered’s BaaS platform nexus, which allows e-commerce partners to offer their customers EF propositions, led to the launch of the Audax platform, which embeds the technology stack in other financial institutions.

BNY’s Trade Network Access Service (TNAS) aims to simplify trade finance for other banks. Instead of managing complex systems for international transactions all by themselves, banks can connect to a global network via TNAS, reducing costs and expanding their reach. This plug-and-play approach makes it easier for smaller banks to offer sophisticated trade finance services, ultimately benefiting their customers.

“By utilizing value-added risk mitigation and financing services,” says Joon Kim, global head of Trade Finance, Working Capital, and Portfolio Management at BNY Treasury Services, “adopters of TNAS can enhance trade revenue by having access to over 4,000 [relationship-management applications] across the globe. TNAS offers distinctive value in a buy-versus-build solution in an area where a financial institution’s need may not be consistent day-to-day.”

While not a new concept in trade finance, EF’s impact could be felt all along the transactional chain, from large to small financial institutions to their customers, Kim argues.

“From a growth perspective,” he says, “if you consider the limitations of a smaller regional or community bank trying to reach networks that provide international access for an importer or exporter, such access could lead to direct growth from providing everything spanning foundational access to more end-to-end needs.” Efficiency and client service improve when trade finance is a one-stop shop with frictionless delivery of services ranging from letters of credit to trade distribution.

“Innovation via digitalization and collaboration has been moving the industry forward and will only continue as more parties make the move away from manual processes,” Kim predicts. 

Singapore-based fintech Xalts, which trains AI agents in multiple trade finance tasks including documentary credit, guarantees, and collections, bought the digital trade platform Contour Network early last year to streamline digital connectivity between banks and corporates. Xalts first examines every problem with an agent, then delves deep to introduce a fully vertical solution for finance teams.

“Due to our integrations with leading banks globally and our expertise in trade finance, we are the only company which is building vertical AI agents to solve operational challenges in trade finance,” says Xalts CEO Ashutosh Goel.

“The biggest barrier to trade finance digitalization, and hence offering embedded trade finance solutions, has been the manual nature of trade finance processes,” he adds. “With our AI agents and now the added capabilities [from Contour] of sending trade transactions to banks, we are solving the operational challenges that come with embedding trade finance solutions.”

The Xalts platform integrates with enterprise resource planning software, accounting systems, logistics partners, and banks, while its AI agents use large-language models to reduce integration times and costs for any platform. The agents consume data in a format-agnostic manner and process outcomes as per the organization’s preexisting policies.

“This allows organizations to introduce new solutions,” continues Goel, “including embedded trade finance, seamlessly as operational processing is simplified, because agents can deal with end-to-end flow in any transaction: including sending transactions to banks.”

Online marketplaces have led when it comes to EF as they seek to integrate financial services into their ecosystems. Increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty also creates monetization opportunities.

Amazon and Alibaba each offer trade finance, for example. Amazon makes working capital loans to Amazon sellers via its Amazon Lending program and other loan options, including daily advances, merchant cash advances, and invoice finance.

Alibaba has partnered with lenders, credit-rating agencies, and banks to provide trade finance. It also extends payment terms up to 60 days for SMEs. Similarly, PayPal Working Capital offers cash advances of $1,000 to $200,000 to first-time applicants—and up to $300,000 to subsequent applicants—based on their PayPal sales volume and account history.

Further digitalization and standardized trade documentation, coupled with SWIFT-powered interoperability studies, promise to unlock EF’s potential even further as more offerings emerge.

Real-time payments (RTP) are rapidly transforming the way businesses move money, offering near-instant transfers that enable greater liquidity management and operational efficiency. Once primarily the domain of consumers, RTP—by which funds are sent and received in under 10 seconds—are increasingly becoming a critical tool for businesses looking to optimize cash flow, reduce reliance on costly intermediaries, and gain a competitive edge in an era of digital finance.

Despite reaching $22 trillion in turnover in 2024, according to Juniper Research, the high cost of digital transfers has kept many businesses on the sidelines. However, that is about to change, with global RTP volumes projected by Juniper to more than double to $58 trillion by 2028, driven by regulatory changes, technological advancements, and evolving business needs.

Key drivers behind RTP’s rapid expansion include growing corporate demand for instant liquidity, advancements in payment technology, and government initiatives aimed at promoting cashless economies.

“Businesses are beginning to realize the strategic benefits of real-time payments: not just speed, but enhanced control over working capital, and reduced counterparty risk,” says Matthew Purnell, a senior research analyst at Juniper Research.

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Instant Credit Transfer regulations, that took effect in the European Union (EU) in January, are poised to accelerate business adoption by mandating that eurozone RTP transactions be priced the same as standard credit transfers. Meanwhile, in the US, networks such as the Clearing House RTP and the Federal Reserve’s FedNow are increasing transaction limits to accommodate larger business payments.

While RTP adoption in developed markets has been gradual due to entrenched reliance on traditional payment systems, emerging markets such as India, China, and Brazil have experienced explosive growth. India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processed an astonishing 172 billion transactions in 2024, valued at nearly $2.9 trillion, a 46% increase in the number of transactions and a 35% increase in value over the previous year.

The surge in RTP adoption in developing economies is largely due to the absence of widespread debit and credit card penetration, offering businesses and consumers alike an accessible digital-payment solution. “RTP provides an accessible payment solution for a population that is becoming increasingly banked,” Purnell adds.

Purnell points to three major factors driving the adoption of RTP. First, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated demand for digital transactions as businesses sought alternatives to in-person payments and cash handling. Second, advances in technology, such as smartphones equipped with digital wallets like Google Pay, and the proliferation of 5G wireless coverage, have made RTP more widely available. Finally, governments worldwide—from Sweden to Japan—are implementing policies to encourage the transition to cashless economies.

As the Indian example illustrates, consumers have until recently been the primary beneficiaries of RTP, with apps like Venmo in the US and Alipay in China allowing customers to pay for a Starbucks Frappuccino or split the cost of a meal with a half dozen friends. However, businesses have been relatively slow to utilize the technology for making business-to-business payments due to several hurdles—primarily cost. As a result, less than 10% of RTP transactions in Europe, for example, originate from companies.

“The one thing that’s holding back business adoption is differential pricing,” says Uzayr Jeenah, a Toronto-based leader in the global payments practice at consulting firm McKinsey. “Real-time payments are anywhere from three to five times more expensive for a business than a traditional payment rail,” he says, referring to the term for digital-payment infrastructure.

McInnes says the EU was motivated in part by a desire to offer a European alternative to credit and debit card issuers such as Visa and Mastercard, US card services corporations that charge high transaction fees to merchants.

The EU RTP regulation, SEPA Instant, will begin affecting outgoing payments in October for eurozone payment providers, including banks and fintech companies. Payment providers outside the eurozone will have until 2027 to comply, allowing time to address settlement challenges related to different currencies.

Susan Barton, director of Financial Services at EY Advisory in Milan, says SEPA Instant offers additional benefits for businesses. It removes the previous €100,000 (about $105,000) limit on individual payments and allows for batch processing—enabling companies to process up to 15,000 payments simultaneously, all within 10 seconds.

“There are positive impacts from a company’s treasury point of view, and benefits of knowing exactly when you’re paying people,” Barton says. “You pay all your employees, and that goes out immediately. It doesn’t take three to four days. It just helps a business with cash management.”

The EU rules will also impact foreign banks with eurozone branches, creating potential pathways for RTP expansion beyond the euro. For instance, a UK bank with a branch in Paris could receive instant payments via the UK Faster Payment system, and the bank could make euro-denominated RTP transactions through its European branch.

Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP) also imposes no upper limit on transaction amounts, a trend designed to benefit large businesses handling substantial transactions to settle invoices. “You can do any transaction size over NPP,” says McKinsey’s Jeenah. “You’re starting to see even more business adoption there.” However, individual banks leveraging the NPP infrastructure retain the ability to set their own transaction limits. The NPP system is operated by Payments Plus, a company formed from the 2022 merger of domestic payment providers BPAY Group, eftpos, and NPP Australia.

In contrast, the two US RTP systems—the Clearing House’s RTP network and FedNow—both impose limits. The Clearing House recently raised its transaction cap from $1 million to $10 million, effective February 9, while FedNow currently maintains a limit of $100,000 per transaction, though financial institutions can request a boost to $500,000.

A major drawback of existing RTP systems is their domestic focus, with limited capabilities for cross-border transactions—except in the eurozone, where the euro provides a common currency. This presents a significant challenge for companies with global supply chains that require rapid payment transfers to overseas vendors. According to Statista, the total value of cross-border payments was approximately $190 trillion in 2023 and is projected to reach $290 trillion by 2030, highlighting the sector’s rapid expansion and the growing demand for innovation.

Currently, most cross-border transactions rely on the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) network, which does not transfer funds directly but rather facilitates payment orders between banks using intermediary correspondent banks to settle transactions. However, Swift transactions are costly and can take several days—posing a challenge for businesses operating in fast-paced international markets.

Several fintech companies, such as London-based Wise (formerly TransferWise); and Harbour & Hills, based in Hong Kong, have entered the market to provide faster, lower-cost alternatives to Swift. These fintechs facilitate cross-border payments by leveraging their internal networks to move funds locally rather than relying on interbank transfers. While this reduces costs, these services do not always provide significant improvements in speed.

The BIS is working to connect domestic RTP systems globally through Project Nexus, a central hub that allows payment networks to link to a single platform rather than integrating with each other individually. Project Nexus involves central banks from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and India, with Indonesia as a special observer, aiming to enable seamless cross-border transactions among these nations by 2026.

A similar initiative was launched in 2021 in the Nordic region under the P27 Nordic Payments network, a joint venture of six regional banks aimed at enabling RTP across Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway. However, P27 struggled due to political differences and failed to incorporate key players such as Norway’s Vipps and Denmark’s MobilePay. Those two popular mobile wallet providers merged in 2022 to form Vipps MobilePay. In April 2023, P27 withdrew its clearing license application, with CEO Paula de Silva admitting the project was “too ambitious and complex.”

“The primary challenge for cross-border RTP is not just speed, but settlement,” says Niklas Lemberg, head of industry engagement at Finnish bank Nordea. “The money needs to change owners instantaneously, and it has to be done using central bank money.”

In October 2024, J.P. Morgan introduced Wire365, a 24/7 US dollar settlement system that allows businesses to settle transactions globally at any time—marking a significant step toward continuous, real-time cross-border payments.

Meanwhile, distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain, is being explored as an alternative for real-time cross-border payments. Ripple Labs, a fintech based in San Francisco, has developed its own cryptocurrency, XRP, to facilitate near-instant global transactions. Funds are converted to XRP as an intermediary currency and then settled in the recipient’s local currency. However, concerns over cryptocurrency volatility have deterred some businesses from adoption.

To address volatility, Ripple has introduced a stablecoin, RLUSD, pegged to the US dollar. This allows businesses to transfer funds without exposure to currency fluctuations—potentially offering a more attractive cross-border payment solution.

Central banks are also exploring their own solutions, with China’s digital yuan leading the way as the most advanced central bank digital currency (CBDC) to date. China’s digital yuan pilot had already processed $986 billion in transactions by the end of the second quarter of 2024, according to the country’s central bank deputy governor.

The European Central Bank is also pursuing a digital euro, with a decision on its future implementation expected at the end of 2025. Unlike cryptocurrencies, CBDCs would operate on private distributed ledgers, reducing transaction costs and enhancing transparency while maintaining regulatory oversight.

CBDCs could revolutionize cross-border payments by eliminating intermediaries, lowering costs, and enabling real-time tracking of transactions—providing businesses with greater efficiency and security.

Despite the opportunities RTP presents, potential risks exist for banks and financial institutions. A November 2024 paper entitled The Effect of Instant Payments on the Banking System: Liquidity Transformation and Risk-Taking, by writers at Brazil’s central bank, Columbia University, and the Wharton School of Business, warns that RTP adoption could increase liquidity pressures and risk-taking behavior.

The study suggests that RTP could limit banks’ ability to manage payment flows, forcing the banks to hold larger liquid asset buffers at the expense of higher yielding, less liquid investments. “Banks are effectively becoming ‘narrower,’” the report cautions.

However, as technology and regulatory frameworks continue to evolve, the business case for RTP adoption is expected to grow exponentially. The expanding use cases for RTP—including factoring and AI-driven payment automation—present a compelling opportunity for businesses to enhance their financial operations and gain a competitive advantage.

Against this backdrop, FX services have been gaining ground on companies’ balance sheets over the past few years, currently driving an average 50% of corporate value allocation, according to recent research by the market structure and technology research team at Coalition Greenwich.

FX trading volumes have been on a consistent uptrend since the pandemic, hitting a daily record of over $7.5 trillion this year, according to J.P. Morgan. Now, Market Data Forecast projects a 7.14% yearly compounded growth rate into 2032 for the global FX market.

The evolving scenario has prompted banks to rethink the status of their FX divisions, positioning them not just as an ancillary part of the corporate banking operation but as a core component of the overall strategy. On the clients’ side, the trend has significantly increased the demand for tailor-made FX offerings that cater to a client’s unique geographical reach and risk-exposure needs.

“Banks are creating personalized solutions like customized currency hedges or swaps. These tailored strategies help businesses manage currency risks in ways that suit their specific needs,” explains Swapnil Shinde, CEO and co-founder of Zeni, a corporate bookkeeping platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

“We also attribute this changing scenario to our corporate clients having a better understanding of the markets, thus managing foreign exchange and interest rate exposures over the short, medium, and long term with greater sophistication,” says Francisco Fernández Silva, managing director and head of the FX sales desk at Chile’s Banco de Credito e Inversiones (BCI).

With sophisticated demand from treasurers and CFOs growing and increased competition from peers, banks have been racing to deploy technological solutions that promise to bring better results and lower operational costs.

“The corporate FX market is undergoing a transformation driven by technological advancements that enhance efficiency, improve risk management, and democratize access for businesses of all sizes,” says Luis Martins, head of Global Macro at BBVA. “As companies increasingly adopt these innovations, they stand to gain a competitive edge in managing their foreign exchange activities effectively.”

However, the market’s most significant shift has occurred at the FX sales desk. Tools such as algorithms and machine learning models have been helping to automate the FX hedging process and other often-complex and highly volatile activities, bringing more-stable results.

BCI’s Fernández Silva also highlights the importance of AI in this revolution. “Breaking technologies, including artificial intelligence, are redefining offerings in the foreign exchange market by incorporating new participants, reducing information asymmetries, and increasing competitiveness,” he says.

Daisy-May Andrew, in interest rates and FX corporate rates sales at BNP Paribas, wrote in a company blog post that, in the current environment, companies must bulk up their currency hedging game with better, faster, automated solutions. “With the right automation tools in place, clients can add systematic hedging checks, which should, in theory, be able to search for the same red flags that one would do manually, albeit without the added concern of human error.”

According to recent research by FX-as-a-service provider MillTechFX, 86% of North American corporations planned to increase their FX hedging activity before the US presidential election, despite 73% noting increased hedging costs. This was due to concern about increased market volatility, among other factors.

Despite the significant numbers, Stephen Bruel, senior analyst at Coalition Greenwich, notes there’s still much ground to gain in FX trading. “Corporates should be encouraging their desks to adopt more advanced tools; the more electronic the trading, the better the data available to analyze execution quality and optimize results,” he added in a prepared statement.

High currency volatility is not alone in preying on corporates’ minds; Russian sanctions, the unwinding of the yen carry trade after 30 years of negative interest rates in Japan, the rise of the Chinese renminbi as an alternative reserve to the dollar, and the growth in alternative investments such as cryptocurrencies also play a role. These concerns have forced the market to increase its focus on currencies other than those of the Group of Five (G5) on the liquidity and product sides.

“Banks have adjusted their product range, offering solutions that include the opening of cash accounts and increased agility in global transactions services,” explains BCI’s Fernández Silva. “In some cases, having the opportunity to trade in different currencies gives clients the chance to realize cost advantages.”

In an October report, J.P. Morgan notes that the advancement of current trade-liberalization efforts across emerging markets, an increase in intranational trading driven by rising domestic customer demand, and these economies’ growing service focus are driving a decline in the proportion of FX reserves held in US dollars.

The trend is more pronounced in commodity markets, where the disruption in energy trade and the People’s Bank of China’s gold-buying spree—which resumed in November after a six-month pause—have prompted a significant change to currency reserves.

Such is the importance of the topic that US President-elect Donald Trump in November threatened to impose a 100% tariff on the nine BRICS countries should they “create a new BRICS currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar.”

Despite the warning signs, J.P. Morgan analysts do not see “de-dollarization” as an imminent threat, but as an important factor for corporations and banks to consider in particular business areas.

“FX reserves offer an incomplete picture of foreign asset accumulation. The rise in EM [emerging market] dollar-denominated bank deposits, sovereign wealth funds, and private foreign assets more than offsets the decline in overall dollar share of EM FX reserves,” says Saad Siddiqui, EM fixed-income strategist at J.P. Morgan, as quoted in the October report.

Zeni’s Shinde agrees that opportunities abound for the non-G5 currency market but notes that corporates and banks should be aware of the risks associated. “Businesses are looking at currencies beyond the traditional G5 to spread their risks. Still, they need to consider factors like stability and ease of trading before using them.”

Along with the myriad technological tools hitting the FX market over the past few years, leading banks have also been investing heavily in improving their research and advisory teams.

Against an FX market driven by central bank decisions and carry trade due to the global pivot to lower interest rates, these teams proved particularly important to corporate customers looking to stay one step ahead of the market.

In keeping with this trend, banks have been digging deep into their pockets to hire new talent. Recently, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, ING, Nomura, and Saxo Bank, and others, have made strategic additions to their FX departments.

BCI’s Fernández Silva explains the importance of balancing technology with first-class human talent: “In a landscape where central bank decisions and carry trade play a central role in global foreign exchange markets, financial institutions can offer unique value to their corporate clients through analysis of rate movements, economic variables, and exchange rate impacts, thus helping them capture value from carry trade and interest rate movements.”

BBVA’s Martins also highlights the key role of relationship management with clients and dealers. “Being able to offer best-in-class services in today’s foreign exchange markets requires a combination of strong relationships with clients and other dealers, along with top-level technology and data management,” he concludes.

—Thomas Monteiro

Global Finance selects its award winners based on objective factors such as transaction volume, market share, breadth of offerings, and global coverage, as detailed in public company documents and media reports.

Our criteria include subjective factors such as reputation, thought leadership, customer service, and technological innovation. We use input from industry analysts, surveys, corporate executives, and others. Although entries are not required in order to win, submissions that provide additional insight may inform decision-making.

Upon completing its megamerger with failing Credit Suisse in May 2024, Swiss banking giant UBS leveraged its already best-in-class corporate banking and foreign exchange (FX) capabilities and product offerings for a record-breaking year on several counts. Not only did the bank’s global operation more than double analysts’ expectations in the third quarter of 2024, booking a massive $1.4 billion in net income, but it did so with significant gains from its corporate banking division, which saw revenue jump by more than 8% year over year (YoY).

Those numbers received a massive boost from UBS’s thriving FX operation, which averaged over $125 billion in daily electronic FX trades during the year, with more than 2,500 active global clients.

The bank also posted substantial growth across several geographies and currency pairs. Among the highlights: solid profitability growth in Middle Eastern and Northern African currencies and a massive 40% market-share increase in Scandinavian currencies.

In Asia, the bank’s continued effort to improve its already top-tier suite of electronic FX capabilities paid off handsomely in China and Singapore, where it doubled down on its data center improvement efforts this year.

On the technology front, UBS kept expanding the limits of the global FX market, in July hosting the world’s first intraday FX swap in a regulated venue. The bank also recently launched its blockchain-based multicurrency payment solution, UBS Digital Cash. This addition to its’ digital offerings, processed through its flagship FX Engine Room, enhances the bank’s overall offering.            —Thomas Monteiro

Central banks were the star of the show in FX markets in 2024, bringing high volatility amid a global pivot in monetary stance that shifted interest rate differentials between the G5 countries and developing-market currencies. Corporate clients worldwide found a haven in Investec’s team of top FX experts, who led the way in research, analysis, and execution, ensuring that customers stay one step ahead of the competition in spotting the most important market trends.

In addition, the bank’s Investec ix digital platform proved a key differentiator by providing real-time rate visibility, allowing clients to secure competitive rates at a glance amid the shifting macroeconomic environment. Additional features like easy trade execution and payment on the same page were also important to leverage during the year.

Whether clients are individual corporates, small or midsize companies, or large institutions, Investec’s dedicated FX dealers, robust trading desk capabilities, and best-in-breed app guarantee the combination of a tailored approach with global capabilities when it matters most. As a result, the bank has continued to gain significant market share in the global FX world, more than tripling its presence over the past five years.    —TM

One of the largest FX providers in Latin America, Itaú Unibanco kept pushing the boundaries of what it means to provide excellence in trading of emerging market currencies in 2024. From July 2023 through June 2024, the Brazilian banking giant served over 326,000 clients in more than 1.9 million FX transactions in Latin America alone, with a notional amount totaling $225 billion.

Amid growing exports in the region, bolstered by a strong US dollar, an increase in nearshoring initiatives, and geopolitical uncertainty in the breadbasket Black Sea region, the bank leveraged its leadership to provide superior service, handling over $92.7 billion in trade deals during the same period.

To capitalize on the growing demand, the bank has expanded its dedicated FX team, increasing employee numbers by more than 10% from 2021 to 2024. The bank is also boosting investment in technology, increasing tech spending to nearly $20 million in 2024, an 8% rise over the prior two years.

The massive sum supports system modernization and enhances digital service delivery, allowing about 73% of transactions to be executed electronically. The bank’s trading platforms provide real-time pricing linked to market-makers’ books, ensuring competitive and efficient deals for clients.          —TM

BBVA’s market positioning across several geographies, including emerging and developed markets, has proved the key to success for corporate clients seeking to take advantage of the fast-paced interest rate environment of 2024.

The bank’s centralized core pricing engine is key to leveraging its FX capabilities to the next level, providing consistent and competitive FX rates globally. As the backbone for processing and executing FX transactions, the engine ensures that pricing is optimized and dependable. The bank also shines brightly through its unrivaled suite of fast-execution digital channels, with offerings such as BBVA Net Cash, which aligns FX goals with corporate clients’ business requirements; and BBVA eMarkets, which integrates FX with broader investment banking needs.

These tools ensure solid and instant liquidity in markets from Latin America to Turkey. They offer streamlined access to one of the most diverse ranges of FX products in the market, including spot, swaps, forwards, and more-complex structured products like options and exotics.

Due to top-level execution, the Spanish behemoth reached all-time highs in monthly electronic FX business volumes last year, boasting one-fifth of the market share in derivative volumes in 2024: a significant milestone.         —TM

The winner of the global Best FX Market Maker award is J.P. Morgan, reflecting its strong market position, deep resources, and technological prowess. These attributes allow the bank to provide exceptional scale and market access while efficiently handling high volumes of FX transactions.

One such solution is the bank’s Execute platform, which offers corporate and institutional clients full-service macro trading from a single platform. The benefits include diverse liquidity access, trade transparency, and competitive pricing for streamlined FX execution, as well as the ability to execute trades across over 300 currency pairs with efficient order routing across multiple electronic communication networks. The platform also provides enhanced functionality through various channels, including the web, application programming interfaces, and desktop or mobile devices, along with real-time analytics to access market insights from J.P. Morgan traders and analysts. Execute also includes a customizable alert feature to capture market movements. The Execute Mobile component provides transaction efficiency through one-touch trade execution, the ability to view historical trades, and a market monitor for FX rates.

The bank has also expanded its capabilities for FX options with an integrated platform that allows clients to transact a range of vanilla, exotic, structured, or multileg instruments. Additional features include the ability to view the market with multicurrency volatility grids and live insights from the bank’s options traders.           —David Sanders

Nordea’s undisputed positioning in the global FX environmental, social, and governance (ESG) market goes far beyond the bank’s extensive suite of investment products. ESG principles are a core part of the bank’s operation, providing unique market knowledge and opportunities for small and large companies.

The Nordic bank’s customers enjoy a full holistic sustainable-finance advisory that helps them allocate resources efficiently and protect against risks in the sector, particularly as the global ESG market stages a rebound thanks to 2024’s currency volatility.

Moreover, the bank’s extensive FX Algo Suite, which covers the full spectrum of FX transaction needs, from passive to aggressive market positionings, has proven a game-changer for those assessing market risks. It is further supported by the bank’s proprietary model of ESG accountability, which provides customers with another layer of confidence when making ESG-related investments on and off the FX spectrum.

This outstanding ESG offering is complemented by top-tier FX market research and financial advisory that allows clients to tailor market opportunities and financial planning to their needs and goals.     —TM

By offering first-class, tailor-made solutions for importing and exporting FX-related products, BTG Pactual, Latin America’s largest investment bank, rode the positive wave in Latin American commodities to a record-beating third quarter.

Although the Brazilian giant’s investment banking operation faced some macro headwinds, primarily due to underperformance in its home stock market, its corporate lending and business operation more than compensated, notching a phenomenal 29% YoY revenue growth as of the third quarter.

Against a backdrop of increasing export-related profitability and high currency volatility due to a devaluating Brazilian real, BTG helped clients in all areas of the commodity market by providing a combination of fast execution, excellent financial advisory, and top-grade hedging products.

The bank also continued expanding its FX funds offering last year, allowing clients based in Latin America to adopt more-sophisticated foreign currency holdings and hedging solutions. This allowed clients to benefit from a thriving global market.

BTG’s superior offering and financial planning helped commodity clients, in particular, weather growing supply costs due to the devaluating local currencies in Latin America. —TM

Adjudged the best bank for foreign exchange (FX) in Africa, Standard Bank continues to service the cross-border payment and funding needs of its corporate, investment, and individual clients despite the currency volatility and devaluation challenges that many African countries face. Standard Bank has an FX transactions market share of 30% in the African countries in which it operates. At the same time, it is one of the top finance institutions for FX needs in countries such as South Africa, Angola, and Zimbabwe.

Accounting for a larger market share “allows us to make, maintain, and manage a live, active, and tradable market price,” says a bank spokesperson. Standard Bank has more than 100 employees dedicated to its FX business, covering sales, trading, and operations. There are three dedicated FX trading desks: spots, forwards, and futures.

With 1.6 million trades per year and $1.7 trillion in overall turnover, Standard Bank signed an agreement in November with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation on cross-currency swaps and derivatives for Africa. FX and local currency liquidity can be challenging in Africa, where some market reforms and attractive returns increasingly bring in more global investors, raising FX needs and transactions.

“There is growing interest in sub-Saharan countries, with investors recognizing the continent’s potential,” said Kayode Solola, head of global markets for Africa at Standard Bank Group, in comments accompanying the announcement.

The bank’s FX professionals “have the skills to support a diversified international and domestic client base trading in all G10 as well as 40 African currencies,” says the bank.

Winning the Best FX Bank awards in Africa and Angola represents international recognition of Standard Bank’s capabilities in meeting clients’ foreign currency demands.               —Tawanda Karombo

South Korean–based Hana Bank has established itself as a regional leader in the Asian financial markets, particularly in providing FX services. The bank has grown from a local financial institution into one of the most significant players in the global banking industry, and is currently boasting total assets of $400 billion.

“Hana Bank’s success in the foreign exchange market is built on our unwavering commitment to innovation and customer-centric solutions,” says CEO Lee Seung-lyul, the first CEO of Hana Bank with a background in foreign exchange. “We continually invest in cutting-edge technology and strive to offer the industry’s most efficient and secure FX services.”

This demonstrated expertise enables the bank to offer tailored solutions that meet the specific needs of its clients, whether they are looking to hedge against currency risk, make international payments, or engage in speculative trading.

This award recognizes Hana Bank’s outstanding performance and innovation in the FX market and underscores its position as a trusted and influential player in FX services.           —Simon Littlewood

This year’s winner for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is OTP Bank. Privatized in the 1990s and formerly the National Savings Bank of Hungary, OTP Bank is now a familiar name across the 11 countries in CEE and the Central Asia region where it has a presence. It sold its operations in Romania to Banca Transilvania because local regulations prevented it from further expansion. OTP is renowned for its innovative yet flexible service.

OTP Bank runs a centralized FX operation out of its Budapest headquarters. Ten traders and 25 salespeople conduct transactions for the main and regional subsidiary banks, offering pricing for 100 currency pairs.

The bank has started an internal digitalization project to simplify and accelerate the workflow for FX transactions. It operates a groupwide internet-based platform where clients of six subsidiaries can conclude FX transactions and convert funds into more than 40 currencies. The system already operates in Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Croatia. Management is keen to introduce it to other subsidiaries and add new currency pairs to improve service and market coverage.

In November 2024, OTP contracted Integral Development, a leading currency-technology provider based in Palo Alto, California, to improve and automate foreign exchange pricing and distribution to the bank’s clients in FX spots, forwards, and swaps. According to Integral, its systems offer “liquidity aggregation, pricing engine, trading, and risk management solutions to deliver the highest pricing accuracy and reliability to its clients. … The flexible architecture ensures that OTP Bank can easily scale and adapt its FX infrastructure to meet evolving client needs” across the CEE region.            —Justin Keay

Despite already occupying a leading position in Latin America’s FX market, the Brazilian behemoth Itaú Unibanco kept expanding its offerings and robust geographical presence to notch another year of sustained growth in volume and profitability.

From July 2023 to June 2024, Itaú executed over 1.9 million FX transactions, with a total notional amount of $225 billion. The bank served over 326,000 clients during the period, demonstrating its extensive reach and expertise in managing substantial transaction volumes and liquidity.

Amid the region’s increasingly competitive market, the powerhouse accelerated its technological investment. This jumped from approximately $15.9 million in 2022 to nearly $17.2 million in 2024, mainly focused on improving the bank’s cloud platforms and microservices architecture.

The bank also added generative artificial intelligence to its offerings, thus enhancing efficiency and scalability in client operations. This endeavor has already generated significant results, with Itaú increasing its automation rate from 25% to 44% in 2024.

Despite its growing investment in technology, the bank continued to support its team of FX professionals. The team boasts around 350 best-in-class employees across several functions including sales specialists, support specialists, sales traders, and market-makers.         —Thomas Monteiro

Qatar National Bank (QNB) is the largest bank in the Middle East by assets. It operates in 28 countries, including 14 in the region. Its leading FX business, capitalizing on its strong credit rating, which reflects its financial strength and partial state ownership. A solid custody business aids FX operations.

The bank has significantly increased its market share of inflows to Qatar and international markets. QNB has broad access to the region, global financial hubs, and a broad network across Asia. The bank has rolled out a new cash management platform and ramped up business and operational capabilities. QNB has strengthened its offering as an integrated payment provider for cross-border transactions.

QNB has launched programs for exporters as well as cross-selling initiatives based on its trade finance and cash management capabilities. International payments have increased due to a new remittance system and enhancements to the bank’s correspondent account management and treasury transaction services. QNB successfully onboarded the first clients into its application programming interface (API) platform. Clients can now increase their internal financial accuracy and eliminate manual processes by accessing daily FX rates through API functions.

The FX desk has continued to perform well. The bank has improved its client service due to investment in stronger FX capabilities, allowing it to capture market opportunities.      —Darren Stubing

With its comprehensive suite of FX services, J.P. Morgan (JPM) has earned our award as Best FX Bank in North America. Through its Execute and Transact platforms, the bank offers institutional clients innovative solutions with an integrated approach to FX execution, including commodities and rates trading capabilities.

JPM’s Execute provides exceptional liquidity access, efficient execution, and trade transparency through robust market-analytics features, real-time data for trade optimization, and live support from traders and analysts to streamline workflows. The platform is accessible through multiple channels, including the web, APIs, and desktop or mobile devices. Execute Mobile provides market data and one-touch trading ability.

With FX Algos on Execute, clients can customize algorithmic trading strategies for greater efficiency, enhanced trade transparency and performance, and integrated pre-trade and post-trade analytics tools. Through JPM’s Transact digital platform, clients benefit from robust FX hedging and settlement solutions to manage cross-border exposure covering over 100 currencies. These offerings are integrated with treasury and cash management functions, contributing to a more efficient workflow.

Innovative new developments include advancements in blockchain technology through the Kinexys platform, which facilitates cross-border transfers. Integration with JPM’s FX services is expected in early 2025, enabling clients to execute and settle FX transactions with greater flexibility and efficiency and reduced settlement risk. —David Sanders

In a year when volatility was the norm across Western European markets, with several central banks pivoting their monetary stances, BBVA’s best-in-breed FX management and comprehensive suite of technological offerings gave the bank’s users a significant edge.

By leveraging its knowledge and presence across different geographies, the Spanish banking giant managed to post positive numbers in most of the region’s currencies, including the euro, British pound, Norwegian krone, Swedish krona, Danish krone, and Swiss franc. The secret behind BBVA’s outstanding performance is a combination of local-market expertise and a powerful, user-friendly app that allows users to instantly access and execute products such as FX spots, forwards, swaps, options, and structured notes, at the click of a button, with the best insights in the market.

Our Best FX Bank in Spain, BBVA also doubled down on its efforts to support growth in Western Europe by focusing on products that cater to the specific needs of the region’s small and midsize enterprises (SMEs). Through its flagship Net Cash app, the bank enables SMEs to hedge their FX exposure, order international transfers, and configure FX market alerts, all through a user-friendly interface tailored to their habits and needs.        —TM

A comprehensive foreign exchange (FX) exposure management strategy combines tools and techniques to identify, measure, and manage currency risks, empowering businesses to confidently navigate the complexities of the global marketplace.

GTreasury is our award winner as Best TMS Provider with FX Module. Sandra Koch, vice president of risk solutions, says a holistic FX management strategy also relies heavily on accurate data and analytics.

PwC data shows that “62% of companies that successfully mitigated FX risk credited having an integrated approach that brought exposure identification, risk assessment, and hedging under one system,” Koch says. “GTreasury’s FX solution achieves this by giving treasury teams the power to consolidate exposure data, automate risk assessments, and execute effective hedging strategies, all from one cohesive interface.”

Investec, the Best FX Trading Platform award winner, deploys an FX analytics tool within its Investec ix platform that empowers clients to evaluate their exposure, identifying risks and opportunities. An FX hedging analytics tool further supports clients in assessing the comprehensiveness of their hedges—giving clients full control and oversight across Investec-held positions as well as positions not held by Investec.

Citi Velocity is the winner of three awards—Best End-to-End Processing, Best Data and Analytics Platform, and Best Big Picture View of Positions—and provides extensive data coverage including a wide range of market data, including equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, and derivatives. An advanced analytics tool such as this can help users gain deeper insights into market trends and make better-informed investment decisions. Users can also customize their workspaces to suit their specific needs and preferences.

“Clients continue to look for ways to optimize their execution and how they source liquidity,” explains Ayesa Latif, global head of FX products at Citi. “They demand fully integrated workflow solutions with real-time pre- to post-trade information to enhance their decision-making. Investment in our technology and architecture remains our key priority as we endeavor to meet our clients’ complex needs through simple, elegant solutions.”

Algorithms using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning execute trades at optimal times while analyzing historical data to identify patterns and make informed decisions.

DBS, a double award winner as Most Innovative Bank for FX as well as for Best AI/Machine Learning FX Tool, first deployed an AI and machine learning hyper-personalization tool across its treasury and markets businesses. The service, called Hi-P, aids the bank’s corporate sales team in the engagement of many customers at scale—providing personalized recommendations based on individuals’ profiles and needs. Hi-P also delivers deviation monitoring, dispatching push notifications if a customer’s behavior falls outside a predefined range.

LSEG (formerly Refinitiv) wins for Best Data and Analytics FX Instrument. LSEG boasts a comprehensive data and analytics platform for financial professionals. It includes powerful analytics tools and customizable workspaces, with extensive data coverage across all asset classes, including FX.

In April, Bloomberg—winner as Best ESG Investment Research Provider—launched a sustainability screening tool on the Bloomberg Terminal that enables investors to input their own precise thresholds from three categories: sustainability targets, exclusion or “no harm” criteria, and good governance requirements. Based on Bloomberg’s extensive range of company ESG data, proprietary metrics and scores, it calculates a percentage figure that reveals how much of the portfolio, fund, or index is aligned with the user’s criteria. The tool provides a detailed list view of all holdings, to detect outliers.

J.P. Morgan, which takes home both the Best Execution Algorithms and the Best DeFi Crypto FX Platform awards, employs innovative technologies to execute trades efficiently and effectively. This includes the Kinexys by J.P. Morgan unit (formerly Onyx), focused on tokenization and blockchain. Over several years, Kinexys collaborated on the Project Guardian pilot, an industry initiative led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to explore the use of fund and asset tokenization. Two years ago, J.P. Morgan executed the first live DeFi cross-currency trade on a public blockchain (Singapore dollars/Japanese yen).

Naveen Mallela, global co-head of Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, says tokenization is transforming recordkeeping. “It’s less about the assets and currencies; it is about introducing newer bookkeeping systems. In essence, it is about introducing digital programmable ledgers,” he says.

Kinexys Digital Payments is now integrating with J.P. Morgan FX Services to enable FX settlement on blockchain, initially in US dollars and euros, with plans to expand to more currencies. As early as the first quarter of 2025, clients will be able to execute nearly real-time FX transactions and settlements by connecting to J.P. Morgan’s global FX platform, reducing FX settlement risk and accelerating trade settlements.

Most Innovative Non-Bank for FX and also Best FX for Payments Solution winner, Corpay Cross-Border Solutions provides support for a range of payment needs, from small remittances to significant sums required to complete mergers and acquistions transactions. Recent bespoke solutions have been developed for specific business verticals including funds, financial institutions, education, renewables, and sports and entertainment. Other customizable solutions include a white-label option that allows partners to offer Corpay’s fully integrated payment engine solution, delivered via application programming interface.

BBVA, which wins two awards, for Best Bank Digital FX Platform (Overall) and Best FX Solution for SMEs, has created different FX platforms to suit the diverse needs of both wholesale and retail customers. An app tailor-made for SMEs (small and midsize enterprises) is currently available in Peru, Colombia, Spain, and Mexico. The app helps these businesses to hedge their FX exposure, order international transfers, and receive FX market alerts, with a user experience (UX) focused on the user’s habits and needs. “At BBVA, we consider the SME customer segment to be key and with huge potential,” states Luis Martins, head of Global Macro at BBVA. “Therefore we have made the FX product available on an international platform, with the objective of having a global and best-in-class UX for our SME clients.”

Cloud-based solutions bring both scalability and accessibility to FX. MUFG Investor Services, which wins the Best FX Trading Solution award, offers a fully automated, flexible and cloud-based solution that provides an outsourced, nondiscretionary, rules-based hedging service to help clients mitigate FX exposures within a portfolio or hedged share classes.

Kyriba, our winner for Best Cloud Technology FX Solution, provides a comprehensive cloud-based treasury management platform with strong FX capabilities and advanced tools for analytics and reporting.

FIS Global, which wins for Best FX Regtech Tool, developed Investment Risk Manager. The tool provides a holistic view of cross-asset trading, portfolio management, and investment risk. FIS Trading Compliance Manager presents a comprehensive view of an order life cycle, meeting all trading compliance needs in one solution.

Technology has revolutionized the way businesses manage currency risk. In 2025, expect to see more-advanced forecasting tools, such as AI-powered analysis of vast amounts of data in order to predict future currency movements more accurately, and the modeling of different economic scenarios to assess potential risks and opportunities.

Real-time monitoring and alert systems will continue helping to identify potential risks and opportunities and enhance decision-making while automated hedging and advanced hedging techniques using algorithms to execute hedging strategies automatically will enable sophisticated strategies using options and futures for management of complex risk profiles.

Blockchain will grow in popularity for providing security and transparency of cross-border payments, while automated smart contracts will reduce the risk of errors and delays in contract execution and payment processing.

Increased volatility due to geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainties, and central bank policy shifts will continue to play a significant role in shaping FX markets and impacting currency valuations. Applying advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning, to improve decision-making and risk management, will be the key to navigating such challenges.

Global Finance: How does FX management benefit from modular solution architecture?

Ashley Pater: Modular solution architecture allows companies requiring a flexible approach to FX risk management to adopt the specific functionalities that meet their needs without committing to an inflexible, one-size-fits-all system. With FX risk management, adaptability is critical because every company has its own risk profile shaped by its market, currencies, and business model. A modular system empowers companies to integrate essential components—such as exposure capture and tracking, automated hedge decisioning and execution, and accounting and reporting compliance—at the time and scale they need.

 For example, as an organization’s FX requirements evolve from balance sheet hedging to cash flow hedging, it can add additional features and integration without overhauling the entire system. This approach is not only cost-effective but reduces implementation times and provides a tailored solution that grows with the company. In a 2023 Treasury & Risk survey, over 70% of CFOs emphasized the importance of flexible technology in keeping their treasury operations efficient amid increasing volatility. GTreasury’s modular architecture allows treasurers to focus on what matters most: building a strategy that adapts to market changes without unnecessary complexity.

GF: What are the key components of an FX exposure management strategy?

Pater: There are three essential components: exposure identification, risk assessment, and mitigation. Identifying exposures accurately is the foundation: knowing exactly where currency risks arise in revenues, costs, or balance sheet items is crucial to ensuring they can be managed effectively. To present a consolidated view, this often requires the integration of data from multiple sources, such as ERP systems, forecast and planning processes, and even local-entity-level global finance team members.

Risk assessment is the next critical step. Treasury teams must evaluate the size of the exposures and their potential impact on financial outcomes, often through scenario analysis and stress testing. This helps quantify the risk and informs decisions about how to mitigate it. Mitigation typically involves hedging strategies—like using forwards, options, or natural offsets—to protect against potential adverse currency movements.

GF: How can FX automation help companies balance risk and return effectively?

Pater: FX automation fundamentally transforms how companies determine the optimal balance between risk and return by enhancing visibility, efficiency, and decision quality. By automating exposure identification, valuation, and scenario planning, treasury teams gain the ability to model multiple outcomes in real time, providing clear insights into potential risks and opportunities. Scenario planning helps companies assess a range of “what if” situations, enabling evidence-based decisions that pinpoint the sweet spot for risk mitigation and strategic action.

 This level of visibility, combined with automation, allows sophisticated treasury teams to view FX risk management as an operational imperative rather than a reactive task. By automating workflows, companies reduce manual errors and have more time to focus on strategic decisions. Automation not only minimizes risk but also enhances agility, ensuring treasury teams can take informed action in response to market shifts, ultimately optimizing their financial outcomes.

GF: Why is advanced connectivity so important to FX risk management?

Pater: Advanced connectivity has become the backbone of sophisticated FX risk management. Treasury functions are no longer isolated; they require seamless communication between ERP systems, banks, and financial data providers. This interconnectedness ensures accurate, real-time financial insights.

 Connectivity goes beyond data aggregation. Connectivity suites like GTreasury’s ClearConnect integrate with over 13,000 banks, providing comprehensive visibility across currencies and financial systems. Whether it’s NetSuite, Oracle, SAP, Workday, or any other ERP, the ability to capture and analyze transactional data in real time is crucial.

Global Finance: In a landscape where central bank decisions and carry trades significantly influence global FX markets, what unique value can a bank offer its customers?

Marcelo Flora: Despite major global progress in the fight against post-pandemic inflation, we can see differences in monetary policy cycles across economies as well as different approaches by central banks and their decisions on interest rates. BTG Pactual has a team of FX specialists who can provide tailored advice on navigating the complexities of FX markets, especially in light of varying monetary policies and interest rate decisions across different economies. This includes guidance on hedging strategies and risk management to capitalize on opportunities and mitigate risks associated with carry trades. Custom-tailored offerings and strategies have become a significant trend in corporate banking.

GF: How do geopolitical issues impact your clients’ FX strategies, and how do you address their concerns in this context?

Flora: Geopolitical issues can increase global economic instability and volatility in financial markets. During such periods, investors redirect their portfolios quickly, seeking safe-haven currencies to lower their risk levels. This movement of capital to safer markets strengthens the strongest currencies and depreciates other currency pairs.

Against this backdrop, it is vital to have a customized approach to each specific need in order to understand the level of exposure and use BTG’s diverse hedging portfolio to analyze the best bespoke solution for each client. BTG’s research provides decisive support to the sales team, which helps our clients and other business areas make decisions and highlights potential upside and downside risks.

GF: As Brazil solidifies its role as the world’s breadbasket, what steps have you taken to meet the increasingly specific needs of clients in this sector?

Flora: Brazil’s agricultural sector is a cornerstone of the national economy, contributing significantly to GDP and exports. The annual credit requirement in the agricultural sector is a staggering R$1 trillion, underscoring the critical role of financial institutions in enabling the investment needed to develop and modernize the sector. Our bank has been at the forefront, offering financial solutions tailored to the specific needs of rural producers. BTG has a full shelf of trade finance solutions to address our customers’ needs. We offer electronic trade loans, and pre- and post-shipment to narrow the gap between our clients’ financial needs and their export receivables.

GF: Is there a growing demand for currencies other than the US dollar? What guidance are you providing to customers regarding this shift?

Flora: The US dollar and the euro are still the main currencies used in global payments, but we can see a growing trend for alternative currencies. China has been the main player in trying to internationalize its currency, as it attempts to create alliances worldwide in order to increase yuan usage. China uses its status as a global trade leader to spur the use of yuan in contracts and in export and import payments with Chinese counterparties. The use of alternative currencies can be really attractive and reduce the cost of the total transaction, but as a side effect, it can increase risk and volatility.

GF: How are AI and other breaking technologies helping shape future offerings in the FX market?

Flora: Technology has driven a major change in the FX market. The most significant impact has been on trading. The FX sales desk has developed a more efficient trading and execution tool. By leveraging AI, we have significantly reduced the time needed to close an FX transaction. For next year, we are already working on a solution to improve client experience by streamlining the registration of recipient information and evaluating how we can improve the questions we ask to increase assertiveness and speed up the entire approval process.      

Global Finance: While geopolitics is arguably the number one concern of corporates in the US and Europe, what is currently keeping Asian corporates up at night when it comes to FX markets?

Young Kyu Kim: Geopolitics is also a growing concern for Asian companies. The FX market is impacted by the Middle East war and the possible escalation of U.S.-China tensions following Trump’s victory, which is creating as much volatility as economic conditions and interest rate gap between countries.

In line with the Korean FX authorities’ structural improvement policy that comes in preparation for global companies’ investment in Korea, Hana Bank opened Hana Infinity Seoul, an around-the-clock trading room. Starting with the new center in Seoul, it opened Hana Infinity London to meet the needs of KRW FX deals from non-residents. It is scheduled to open a new trading room dubbed Hana Infinity Singapore for Asian clients. Ultimately, it aims to provide optimized 24-hour services in major FX markets in local times.

GF: In general, are costumers seeking more reserves apart from the traditional G5 currencies?

Kim: In response to an increase in transactions made in CNH, IDR, SAR, etc., amid robust growth in Asian countries, Korea has taken preemptive actions such as allowing for local currency transactions in IDR.  

On the corporate side, there is a demand for diversification of currency holdings due to foreign exchange hedges, global inflation, and other reasons.

Still, they hold currencies around the US dollar rather than non-G5 currencies (USD, ERU, JPY, GBP, CHF). This, we believe, is attributed to Korea’s high dependence on the US. In particular, the recent higher volatility in the KRW-USD exchange rate has led companies to sign a contract in the US dollar, not in local currency.

GF: Amid the current fast-paced FX environment, how can financial institutions help promote corporate risk management and digital innovation?

Kim: Hana Bank plays a pivotal part in the Northeast Asian FX market, enabled by its participation in a wide range of markets, including trade finance and FX swap among KRW, JPY, and CNY, and the offering of various products. In particular, we offer FX risk management solutions that best fit corporate customers seeking to hedge exchange rate fluctuation risk. We also provide them financing considering their liquidity position in an effort to help manage funds in an optimal way.

Based on its experience in FX and trade markets, Hana Bank is strengthening its presence in emerging economies (Vietnam, Indonesia, and more) to offer FX services to corporate clients. In line with digital transformation in the FX market, we have developed and put our own FX platform in place, which is now expanding into the global market. Alongside this, we offer API-based banking services tailored to customer’s unique situations in an effort to provide optimal products catering to their various needs.

GF: As in other areas of corporate banking, are customers growingly seeking custom-tailored offerings? How do you cater to those demands?

Kim: The global FX market is shifting to a platform trading without physical and time constraints. Among electronic approaches, APIs provide corporate clients with customized FX data including exchange rate information. API service enables clients to conduct transactions using their ERP system or internal program by connecting API to an FX platform. By leveraging APIs, companies can receive exchange rate information in real time according to their FX risk profile and carry out FX transactions at any time they want.

GF: How does AI—and other breaking technology—play into that?

Kim: FX transactions had long depended on dealers’ capabilities and clients’ FX flow. But now AI is reshaping the FX market: A growing number of AI-powered and algorithm trading future offerings designed by using innovative technologies like blockchain. These changes have led to a reduction in the time taken for trading and the creation of high-quality financial products and trading skills.   

Under these circumstances, Hana Bank is focusing on the development of AI-based exchange rate prediction models as part of efforts to provide custom-tailored consulting services, including Robo Advisor. We expect the automation of FX trading to increase transaction volume, contributing to abundant foreign currency liquidity.