The Trade Finance Fast-Track: What Every Banker Must Know - Transaction Banking

The One-Day Intermediate Trade Finance Masterclass is an intensive, designed for banking professionals who seek deeper understanding, and practical application in real customer scenarios.

This masterclass focuses on strengthening participants’ ability to interpret international trade rules, structure trade solutions, assess risks, detect red flags, and manage documentation with confidence.

Participants will explore the full ecosystem of trade finance transactions—from Letters of Credit and Collections to Guarantees, Trade Loans, TBML risks, and Open Account structures—through real cases, interactive exercises, and scenario-based discussions.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to independently assess trade transactions, guide customers on appropriate instruments for a more effective trade financing decision.

Programme Outline

Learning Objectives

By the end of the programme, participants will be able to:

Understand the global trade ecosystem, key actors, and how banks mitigate risk
Describe the contents and purpose of various documents used in international trade
Examine the different method of payment used and its risk
Explain the nature of trade loan products such as TR, Import Loan, BA, and invoice financing.
Identify Trade-Based Money Laundering (TBML) methods and AML risk-based control measures.
Analyse the purpose, forms, uses and limitations of guarantees and standby letters of credit

Programme Outline

Understand the global trade ecosystem, key factors, and benefits of international trade
Differences between domestic trade and international trade
The benefits of international trade
Classify the various risk in international trade
Describe the various participants in international trade
Describe the contents and purpose of the various documents used in international trade
What is a Bill of Lading and its purpose
The different type of Bill of Lading
Other documentations in international trade
Explain the purpose and nature of Incoterms
Explain the nature of various trade loan products offered by commercial banks
Trust Receipt
Export and import financing through the use of banker’s acceptance
Export factoring
Invoice discounting
Forfaiting
Negotiation and discounting of bills
Identify Trade-Based Money Laundering (TBML) methods and AML risk-based control measures
Purpose of the Wolfsberg Trade Finance principles
Describe the nature of anti-money laundering procedures for money laundering for documentary credit and collections
Global cases of money-laundering
Analyse the purpose, forms uses and limitations of guarantees and standby letters of credit
Nature of bank guarantees and main parties to a guarantee
Differentiate be direct and indirect guarantees
Different types and purpose of guarantees or bonds issued by commercial banks
Nature and the use of Standby Letter of Credit

METHODOLOGY

Lecture, including presentations, case studies and discussions

Participant profile

Relationship Managers, Trade Operations executive, Branch Managers, Compliance Managers

Trainer

Lew Taw Fong

Senior Training Consultant,
Commercial Banking

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Lew Taw Fong

Senior Training Consultant,
Commercial Banking

Lew Taw Fong is a Senior Consultant at the Asian Banking School and has over 32 years of banking experience.

He has worked for the country’s leading bank and holding various key positions including Branch Manager, Regional Trainer and facilitator, Head of Trade Finance and Remittance, Chief Operating Officer of a Malaysian bank in Hong Kong and as its Group Organisational Trainer on his retirement in 2011. His areas of training expertise include Branch Banking Operations, Trade Financing, Credit and Lending, AMLA/CTF, Central Credit Reference Information Search (CCRIS) and Fraud Detection and Prevention. Lew also conduct examination related programmes for the banking industry, Branch Manager development programmes and Entrepreneur and Leadership programmes.

Lew holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration (majoring in Management) from the University of Ottawa, Kansas, US. He is a Certified Manager Trainer from the Singapore Institute of Management, Certified HRDF trainer, Certified Training Professional by the Finance Accreditation Agency (FAA) and a certified FAA Assessor for Branch Managers. He was also a Master Trainer for the Microfinance Training for Practitioners 2017 programme, jointly organised by the Asian Banking School with Bank Negara Malaysia and the World Bank Group.

Recently, he was invited by the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance to speak in the International Talent Development Program in Taiwan for Taiwanese Banks

In July 2023, he obtained his Chartered Banker MBA (CBMBA) – Pass with Merit from Bangor University, Wales. Apart from MBA, this achievement also bears membership status with Chartered Banker Institute.