VIDEO | Advancing financial inclusion: How Deutsche Bank is supporting access through trade finance - Trade Treasury Payments

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VIDEO | Advancing financial inclusion: How Deutsche Bank is supporting access through trade finance

At the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) 2025 Annual Meeting and Business Forum in London, Trade Treasury Payments (TTP) sat down with Patricia Sullivan, Global Head of Institutional Cash Management at Deutsche Bank, to explore how the institution is navigating the intersection of financial inclusion, risk management, and the global shift toward more sustainable trade.

Sullivan, who also oversees the bank’s institutional trade finance sales team, said, “The trends in de-risking have been building since 2008. We’re now seeing similar consequences from the use of tariffs, both are reshaping supply chains and capital flows in ways that can have unintended social and environmental impacts.”

With economic headwinds mounting and financial institutions under growing pressure to exit higher-risk markets, there is a growing risk of exclusion. Stepping away from certain countries or banks, even when done in the name of external risk management, can quickly translate into lost access to basic financial services for entire communities.

Sullivan said, “When banks take a reactive step back to manage risk, it can have a very quick impact on the access those communities have to financial services and trade flows. Cash and trade flow are the lifeblood of society.”

To counter this, Deutsche Bank has taken a proactive stance. In 2024, the bank launched its ecosystem of risk management initiative, a programme designed to support partner banks in enhancing their financial crime compliance standards. Sullivan noted that the programme is backed by a dedicated team of 70 people focused exclusively on non-financial risk management directly in the business.

“The team brings together our client banks in locations across the globe together with policymakers and local leaders to share best practices in risk management,” she said. “We view this as part of our licence to do business, helping our clients stay safely banked and ensuring they, in turn, can continue to serve their own communities.”

This risk-sharing approach is grounded in collaboration. By aligning with multilateral institutions like the EBRD and World Bank, Deutsche Bank aims to promote a risk-based approach to compliance that allows financial services to flow without compromising on standards.

Sullivan said, “We are a big supporter of responsible financial inclusion. That means working with others to make sure risk appetite doesn’t have to become a reason to cut off people and places that depend on access to the global financial system.”

At a time when the global trade landscape is being redrawn by geopolitical uncertainty, compliance pressures, and sustainability imperatives, the challenge is to manage risk in a way that keeps the arteries of trade and finance safely open.