This is how Asia's slowing growth affects trade finance availability

Heightened volatility increases risk, says OCBC.

ABF: How does the slowing growth in Asian markets affect the risk profile and availability of trade finance?

OCBC: Clara Hang, Head, Global Trade Finance, Global Transaction Banking

Heightened volatility increases risk. Hence, customer selection and know your customer and know your customers’ business will ensure availability of credit in a heighten risk environment for genuine business.

Techcombank: Dang Tuyet Dung, Head of Wholesale Banking Division

The readiness of legal framework, compliance, the outpace of technology towards markets like USA or Europe continue to be the big challenges for Asian market. In response to global financial challenges, corporates seek to enhance liquidity and working capital requirement, improve risk mitigation and reduce costs.

And the level of economic maturity, the sophistication of domestic countries become vital impact on the success of business movement towards global trend. The corporates need to work hard to streamline their treasury operations, system integration.

But at the same time, market require bank partners also to aggressively invest into their technology and more reach and capability of global network and technological of banking system is required to help corporates to meet their goals and readily enter the trade finance world.

The slowing growth and changes in Asian market does clearly impact on the risk profile of the market and the way the international counterparts look at them from readiness to trade finance solutions.

Bank of the Philippine Islands: Christine Grace Bandol, Vice President, Trade Finance Department

Based on the latest National Statistics Office data, Philippine inter-Asia trade as of May 2013 declined by only 3% in USD value. We believe that this will be off-set by the recovery of the Western markets in the medium-term. Overall, increasing consumption in Asia coupled with the resurgent Western markets should lead to growth in trade.

For the Philippines, in particular, the country’s robust economic growth in an increasingly  globalized economy can only mean more opportunities for trade. We do not see a deteriorating risk profile nor availability of trade financing being an issue.