Business Desk :
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday launched the Trade Finance Scorecard – Regulation and Market Feedback, a new tool to address market gaps stemming from the unintended consequences of global measures to fight money laundering and terrorism.
“Preventing criminals and terrorists from exploiting the global financial system is critically important,” said ADB’s Head of Trade and Supply Chain Finance Steven Beck.
“But these regulations can also undermine jobs and growth at small businesses and developing countries. This new scorecard will open a channel of dialogue among stakeholders to help prevent crime and terrorism while financing growth and job creation,” he said.
Creating, implementing, and complying with global measures to prevent financial illegal activity is challenging. While bankers can relatively easily determine that a large company isn’t involved in crime, getting the same assurances from small and medium-sized businesses and companies in developing countries can be difficult and costly.
This contributes a $1.5 trillion global market gap for trade finance, according to ADB’s 2017 Trade Finance Gaps, Growth, and Jobs Survey.
Bankers surveyed for the study identified unintended consequences of measures to stop criminals abusing the financial system as a key impediment to closing gaps.
