Date: 28/05/2025
We recently joined ATEL’s Spring Conference in Luxembourg to discuss the digital transformation of trade finance and supply-chain operations. Moderated by ATEL Chairman François Masquelier, our panel—featuring Aperam Treasurer Benoit Scholtissen and Komgo Sales Executive Florian Normani —examined how corporates and banks are moving beyond spreadsheets and siloed portals toward end-to-end, data-driven platforms.
Today’s treasury teams demand real-time visibility, seamless integrations with TMS and ERP systems, and the ability to generate bespoke reports on utilization and fees. These capabilities not only save hours of manual work, they also reduce operational risk and support faster decision-making.
As international volumes grow and workflows become more complex—often spanning multiple legal entities and banking partners—a dedicated trade-finance solution is no longer a luxury but a necessity for most corporates.
These solutions must be technically astute, easy to adopt and use, and address two of the remaining obstacles facing the industry:
• A deep fragmentation: Internal teams and external banks still operate on disparate systems and channels—SWIFT, EBICS, PDFs and e-mail—creating inefficiencies and audit-trail gaps.
• The overall lack of standardization: Inconsistent document formats and legal frameworks across jurisdictions hamper full digital adoption of instruments such as e-bills of exchange.
