Despite most industries witnessing digital leaps forward over the past decade, the world of trade has kept its focus on paper-based documentation. In fact, trade documents such as promissory notes, bills of lading and performance bonds have remained relatively unchanged for centuries. Considering that the scale and sophistication of global trade has increased enormously since these documents were initially used by merchants, it’s now high-time for an update.

The holidays are over and it’s time to get back to work. 2013 has been filled with regulatory changes that have kept many busy with the sheer effort of trying to keep up. The pace won’t be slowing down in 2014 – but regulation is far from the only issue on the agenda of firms across the finance sector. With holiday mode well behind now – and delivering greater value to clients an imperative – here are five things to look out for this year.

Over 400 gather at Philippines Business Forum. Community address pressing issues of technology and compliance versus their ambitions of internationalising Philippines.

In this episode, our experts discuss collaboration and disruption between Fintech and incumbent financial service providers

Behind SwiftRef’s closed door customer roundtable

What impact will the European Commission’s Instant Payment Regulation have on SMEs trading across Europe? To find out, we spoke to over 2,000 across France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Here’s what they said.

A new white paper shares relevant insights from a recent SwiftRef customer roundtable

With fintechs becoming more visible and mainstream, are they more of a cyber target?

Customer interactions are a key part of why we have gone from strength to strength. This guidance has allowed us to create a platform which really does answer the needs of the community. A big part of making sure it all works are our Quarterly Updates. These give insights into what has been delivered and also set the bar for where we are headed. This quarter's well-attended session deep-dived into our next major milestone: MyStandards V2.0.

Blockchain solutions for payments seem about a dime a dozen. BNY Mellon’s Tom Casteleyn explains the latest DLT trends impacting securities.