ICC Global Surveys on Trade Finance came into existence when the World Trade Organization (WTO) asked ICC to provide data for the G20 meeting of world leaders at their first economic Summit, held in 2008. From 2009 onwards, with contributions from its partners and under the direction of the Market Intelligence Working Group, the reports have provided leaders and industry practitioners with accurate in-depth analysis of developments in trade finance to keep readers at the forefront of industry knowledge.
The Survey help us gain an accurate snapshot of the trends evolving over time and to gauge future expectations for global trade and traditional trade finance activities, including changes attributable to the additional funding and risk mitigation activities of the development banks, export credit agencies and the World Bank. This information can then be used to formulate coordinated and targeted measures to stimulate trade finance markets and to prioritize the direction of available support via innovative communication channels and creating speedy cost-effective supply chain of vital information.
We are pleased to note that participation in ICC Surveys continues to gain wide recognition in the industry, and the Survey contents clearly remain at the forefront in providing key information on trade finance, thereby significantly bridging the information gap.
The 2016 Global Survey on Trade Finance was released on October 7th.
Data from this year's Global Survey was put under the spotlight at a SIBOS Banking Commission meeting, which focused on the debate around trade and trade finance. In addition, the report findings aim to inform the high-level discussions at WTO, IMF and World Bank annual meetings taking place during the first week of October in Washington.
The report findings portrait a worsening global shortage of trade finance, in particular due to a growing number of banks concerned about ability to finance global trade, SMEs taking up almost 60% of the total trade finance transactions rejected and the perceived acute shortages of trade finance in Africa.
