8:30 – 9:00 Registration & Check-In
9:00 – 9:30 Welcome & Introductions: Michael BYRNE, CEO - IIBLP
9:30 – 10:30 Trade Finance in 2026: What It Means for LCs
Trade Finance faces mounting uncertainty across markets, regulation, and operations. From fraud and eB/Ls to correspondent banking pressures and misinformation on LinkedIn, our panelists will discuss the developments shaping the LC market today.
- Correspondent Banking Relationship Woes: Getting Easier or Harder to Maintain?
- Trade Finance Fraud Detection: Do Banks have It Right?
- Over-Insurance: How to Handle Cover that Seems Excessive?
- Strait of Hormuz: What are the Trade Finance Implications?
- Electronic B/L: What More is Needed to Expand Use?
- LCs on LinkedIn: Is Misinformation a Major Problem?
- Rules and Standards: Would a Revised UCP and/or ISBP Improve LC Practice?
Moderator: SOH Chee Seng (ABS & IIBLP)
Panelists: Jing ZHANG (JPM); Ashish KOHLI (ING); Abraham SINJAL (UOB); Rachel ANG (OCBC)
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee & Networking Break
11:00 – 12:00 When LCs Go to Court
Our panel examines several notable cases and the practical lessons they hold for banks and trade professionals.
- Moeve Trading SAU v. Mael Trading FZ LLC (LC as a conditional payment instrument, permitting seller to claim against buyer if issuing bank refuses to pay)
- Valency International Pte Ltd v. JSW International Tradecorp (conversion claim by importer’s financier holding B/Ls pledged to LC issuer and released under trust receipt)
- DMF v. DMG (charterparty arrangement with email evidence showing terms that mentions on B/Ls of Iran are to be omitted)
- Trafigura PTE Ltd. v. Gupta (anatomy of massive, multi-year fraud orchestrated against a leading commodities trader and third parties)
- Luoyang Aviation Construction Co. v. Korea Kookmin Bank (transferable credits under UCP600 Article 38)
- Ningbo Nanheng Import & Export Co. v. Shinhan Bank (fraudulent ocean B/L, complying surrendered B/L presented)
- BCP v. China Aviation Oil – Independence Principle & LOI Use Winson Oil Trading – If Not Unconscionability, a “New“ Fraud Exception: Recklessness
Moderator: Alan DAVIDSON (U. Queensland)
Panelists: Xiang GAO (CUPL); Li HUANG (Hylands Law Firm); Joseph NISA (Nisa Law Firm); JIN Saibo (JTN); Boon Teck YEO (BofA)
12:00 – 12:30 Wait… Didn’t We Finance This Already?
Fraud remains one of the most persistent risks in TF. From fake documents to sophisticated schemes exploiting LC structures, our panel examines how these frauds work and what banks can do to detect them earlier.
Speakers: Neil SHONHARD (Monetago) and Michael BYRNE (IIBLP)
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch Break
13:30 – 14:15 ICC Developments: Where Practice Meets the Rules
The Opinions:
- TA958: Freight Prepaid B/L Requirement
- TA957: Pre-Printed B/L Terms
- TA956: Internal Compliance Risks
- TA951: Electronic Authentication
- TA950: Amendments
The Briefings:
- No. 17 – Surrendered Bills of Lading (Jan 2026)
- No. 14 – Procedure for Payment (Aug 2025)
- No. 13 – Confirmation (Aug 2025)
Moderator: SOH Chee Seng (ABS & IIBLP)
Panelists: Chris BYRNES (IIBLP); Xiang GAO (CUPL); JIN Saibo (JTN)
14:15 – 15:00 Financial Crime in Trade Finance: Sanctions & TBML
Your compliance team signs off on the sanctions screening. Your AML team runs the typology training. But when a complying presentation lands on your desk, it’s your problem. This panel examines what trade finance practitioners need to know about financial crime risk at the transaction level – how sanctions exposure moves through documentary credits, what MAS expects from front-line trade teams, and where the gap between compliance policy and operational reality is getting banks into trouble.
Moderator: Girish HANUMEGOWDA (S&P Global)
Panelists: Jee Meng CHEN (CIMB); Nathanael LIN (Rajah & Tann); Yuan LI (Kpler); Radish SINGH (E&Y)
15:00 – 15:30 Coffee & Networking Break
15:30 – 16:15 Hot Takes: When Geopolitics Meets Trade Finance
The forces reshaping global trade are moving faster than the rulebooks – and practitioners know it. This panel takes on four questions that rarely get asked directly: Is US dollar dominance in trade finance actually slipping? Are payments and trade converging in ways that will restructure how deals get done? Is digitization delivering, or is the pilot-to-production gap wider than anyone admits? And who is actually winning and losing on trade pricing right now?
Moderator: Shankar TS (BAFT)
Panelists: Abraham SINJAL (UOB); Alan MORLEY (Adsideo); Srinath KESHAVAN (Trade Risk Consulting);
16:15 – 16:45 TradeTech: Assessing Capabilities, Clearing the Hype
Technology is no longer just a future promise - it is increasingly being deployed today to solve real operational problems. This panel clears away the hype and examines what capabilities banks are actually implementing, and which challenges current systems can address, from digital docs, e B/Ls, digital negotiable cargo docs and assorted document handling and workflow automation to compliance and risk management. MAS’ Proposed Guidelines on Third-Party Risk Management will also be addressed.
Moderator: Alan MORLEY (Adsideo)
Panelists: Rachel ANG (OCBC); Desmond LEE (TraydStream);
