A Message from the Chair – March 2021

On March 19 BAFT’s Board Chair, Mark Garfield, published his monthly communication to the wider BAFT membership.

Tomorrow, March 20, is recognized as the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Spring is a time of change, and the world is facing changes apart from the change of seasons. In our unique professional discipline, we are often expected to explain and instruct our corporate boards, at conference tables, albeit virtually, and to others about the changing world of trade finance.

It can be difficult to keep up with the latest conventions and standards in finance. Where is a trusted source to go to for those standards? BAFT’s Library of Documents is a great resource to keep you prepared and your expertise up to date.

Supply chain finance has received a substantial amount of press coverage over the last few weeks. It is a finance structure that I needed to understand better, and BAFT’s CEO, Tod Burwell, directed me to several informational resources at baft.org. Within the Library of Documents, under the homepage’s Policy header, if you navigate to the Industry Definitions and Guidelines section there is a BAFT guidance document “Payables Finance Principles,” a cogent and complete summary of supply chain finance. Under the same Industry Definitions and Guidelines section are additional supply chain finance informational resources and pieces.

BAFT’s Library of Documents is a wonderful source for the latest whitepapers, comment letters, practices, procedures, and policies on a variety of topics important to transaction banking. Take advantage of this current and valuable resource for yourself and your organization.

Speaking of spring, this time a year ago, the pandemic began to raise its ugly head resulting in challenges, disruptions, and loss of life. A poet once said, “I rejoice in each new Spring for it’s as if it has never been before.” My hope is just that, that this new season of vaccines will bring renewal and life to our world. After all, the United Nations designated March 20 as the “International Day of Happiness”. May it be for you and yours.

Mark Garfield
BAFT Chair
Head of Global Financial Institutions
Zions Bancorporation

On February 18 BAFT’s Board Chair, Mark Garfield, published his monthly communication to the wider BAFT membership.

The advance notification for BAFT’s 2021 Virtual Global Payments Conference mentions “the unrelenting pace of change in payments” and “the realities of a continuous 7x24x365 day.” These statements emphasize that payments tomorrow will be substantially different than payments today. It also reminds me how payments today are significantly different from payments yesterday.

I faintly recall the process to send cross-border payments at the beginning of my career. The steps to calculate a series of codes and numbers were complicated and time-consuming. First, one would input the numerical code for the receiving test bank, add the remitting bank’s unique number, and then add digits corresponding to the month, day of the week, currency, amount, and settlement date. The sum of these numbers would then be sent by Telex and confirmed by the receiving bank. If the key was aligned and accepted, the payment went out. The Telex machine itself seems to be an artifact from a previous era. Yet at the time, communicating throughout the world with codes and messages was new and exciting. It reminded me of learning Morse code as a Boy Scout, sending and decoding messages using flags and mirrors from mountain tops to fellow Scouts below. Fun, but not very effective. As usual, the erroneously decoded message meant the scout troop followed bad coordinates and got lost somewhere!

While there may be some romanticism in sending overseas payments this old-fashioned way, I am glad those days are gone. The efficiency, safety, and management of payments are much better today than they were yesterday. And, I certainly don’t miss the rows of file cabinets holding paper documentation, microfiche, microfilm, and signatures lists. No one wants those old metal cabinets back.

Real-time payments, cloud adoption, ISO 20022, digital currencies…so much to discuss and learn. There is a payment revolution and evolution taking place in transaction banking today. Join me next week for BAFT’s Crystal Ball Series: Revolutionary Banking, and BAFT’s 2021 Virtual Global Payment Conference March 2 – 4 for more timely insights. To my banking friends, if we ever have a chance to go on a hike in the mountains together (which I have done with some of you, loads of fun); I promise you that you will not get lost. Why? Technology…a GPS device!  But just in case I’ll bring my trusty old scout compass with me.

Happy trails and happy payment rails,

Mark Garfield
BAFT Chair
Head of Global Financial Institutions

On January 21 BAFT’s Board Chair, Mark Garfield, published his monthly communication to the wider BAFT membership.

After eating far too many treats and goodies each holiday season, I tend to make a New Year’s resolve to abstain from sweets for a defined amount of time. No ice cream, candy, cookies for one month. Well, I made it until January 5th this year when a neighbor brought over some chocolate-covered macadamia nuts from Hawaii. Who can resist that?

I have to laugh at my many failed attempts to change. What I’ve come to realize, though, is that change inevitably happens, whether I’ve planned for it or not. My first memories of using a bank as a youth are of standing in very long lines in a bank lobby waiting to deposit cash. The teller would use a typewriter to record the transaction in a passbook. I remember sitting in a non-air-conditioned car on a hot summer day waiting in what seemed like a big traffic jam to finally cash a check at the bank drive-through window. Now I shout hurray for the convenience of making a deposit on my mobile phone and I never ever write a check…hurray! Think of all the changes that have happened in the financial services industry in the past year alone, such as the increase of contactless payments and the shift to remote work.

The next two events in the Around the Globe: The Crystal Ball Series will give us key insight into what the future may hold for the financial services industry. During this month’s event, ‘View From The Top‘, on January 26, three banking CEO’s will share their insight from different geographic perspectives: MENA, Europe, and the U.S. In February, the ‘Revolutionary Banking’ event will address topics that may be…revolutionary, such as central banks’ use of cryptocurrency.

I appreciate how BAFT provides us with webinars, conferences, briefings, industry papers and best practices that give a vision of what the future may become. Through BAFT, we glean insight into how banking is evolving in different geographies. Each year, participants in the BAFT Future Leaders Program review and assess current developments and potential opportunities in the transaction banking industry. We then become prepared to not just react to changes but to become agents of change and innovation.

I expect to celebrate all the future transaction banking innovations (paperless bills of lading!) that have yet to be developed…and if I happen to receive your gift of Turkish Delight next January, I’m certain that once again I’ll break my yearly resolution and eat it (yum)……hurray!

Mark Garfield
BAFT Chair
Head of Global Financial Institutions
Zions Bancorporation