Steven Beck

Head of Trade Finance

Mr. Beck has managed the exponential growth of ADB’s Trade Finance Program, and implemented its first supply chain finance business. Prior to joining ADB, he worked for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and was an advisor to the Canadian Minister of Finance. Mr. Beck played a key role in the start-up of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, and was a consultant for USAID in Southern Africa and for a start-up financial institution in Armenia. Mr. Beck is on the Advisory Board of the International Chamber of Commerce Banking Commission, and a member of the WTO Working Group for Trade Finance.

ADB estimates the 2017 global trade finance gap at $1.5 trillion.

Trade finance gaps continue despite fintech breakthroughs

While trade and finance are changing dramatically, trade finance is shifting more slowly. What does this mean for SMEs?

Alisa DiCaprio, Steven Beck, Kijin Kim

Blockchain fintech is yet to fulfill its transformative potential. Photo by Monito.

How to turn blockchain fintech hype into reality

Blockchain fintech needs basic infrastructure to promote transparency and financial inclusion. Here are 3 ways this can be done.

In a blockchain, each block is “chained” to the previous one in a peer-to-peer data sharing network.

Blockchain pilots making waves in developing Asia

Peer-to-peer data sharing is being tested in Georgia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Myanmar.

Alisa DiCaprio, Steven Beck

ATM cash withdrawal.

A global ID system that could revolutionize finance

GLEIF will be a critically important contribution to help realize many of the current developments in fintech, and to spur more growth in cross-border trade.

Indian driver waits for his truck carrying cotton bales to be offloaded at the Wagah Cargo Terminal in Pakistan.

New thinking needed to boost trade

We need to better explain and implement free trade agreements, support other fast-growing emerging markets, keep closing trade financing gaps, and embrace new technologies to bring in more players.

A stock trader in Bangladesh.

Digitizing trade – how changing the process is changing development

Public open trading windows, smart contracts, or government-issued e-currency are just a few examples of how digitization is changing how people trade.

Steven Beck, Alisa DiCaprio

Good Brothers Machineries Company at the Mandalay Industrial Zone in Myanmar.

ADB Trade Finance Program ready for 2016 trade challenges

2015 was already tough, and we're moving into the new year with few signs that trade will pick up – but our team is enthusiastic about tackling 2016 challenges.

A local bank branch in Bangkok, Thailand.

Working with Latin American banks to boost South-South trade

The inclusion of an Argentine bank in ADB's Trade Finance Program is an important step toward realizing the potential for trade between Asia and Latin America.

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