To be sure, the trade finance industry faces some interesting challenges, but never in the more than 20 years I've been in the business have I seen the environment so primed for success.

First and foremost is the acknowledgment by global political and financial leaders that trade is the natural accelerant to move the global economy out of the morass created by the 2008 credit crisis. The same banks who only a few years ago were questioning the profitability and sustainability of investing in trade finance, now realize that if "done properly" it can be not only profitable at the moment, but for the long-term as well.

When I say "done properly" I'm referring to the challenge banks have in integrating their trade finance offerings into their other product sets such as underwriting, syndicated lending, commodities and foreign exchange. The good news for clients at Barclays is that they are dealing with a firm whose success is predicated on its ability to integrate seamlessly on behalf of our clients.

The industry also needs to replenish its talent pool. Ten years ago, when banks were debating the wisdom of staying in the business, there was a natural diminishment of talented people in the sector. That shrinkage resulted in the cannibalization of available personnel as banks constantly recruited from each other to fill out their ranks. That part of the problem has been addressed as the post subprime crisis world now sees the need for what our industry has to offer. (It also doesn't hurt when people like President Obama, David Cameron and George Soros are in the headlines extolling the need for trade.) Now that the pool is starting to fill back up, our biggest challenge is not simply to produce competent practitioners. More importantly, we need leaders - men and women who can look ahead to the future and who have the inter-personal skills necessary to engage with the wide array of constituencies involved in trade finance. Today, it is more than just engaging clients and internal stakeholders, it is about engaging the market place, the regulators and policy makers.

Working within what is a necessary — but very intricate — regulatory requirement is another challenge our industry must face. Regardless of the number of global, regional and local regulators we deal with, we need a holistic regulatory view of our industry given the inherent globality, which underpins trade. In the last five years, there has been a significant increase regulatory focus around our business. And while we accept the fact that the events of 2008 called for more regulation, now is not the time for such regulation to thwart a necessary ingredient in the global recovery. There is reason for optimism on this front as the industry continues its dialogue with the regulatory bodies to demonstrate the need for exceptions to be granted within our area of expertise.

And finally, the trade finance industry as a whole needs to do a better job of working together on issues that are not proprietary in nature and which will benefit all of our clients across the board. Just one example of where we should be teaming up is in coming up with standardized Letter of Credit application. At the moment each bank in the field has its own form and dare I say each one rivals the others in undue complexity. If we are not careful, we will open the door to a third-party service provider taking on this assignment and that would not be a good thing for us, and I think we are already seeing this challenge.

Just as sometimes there are "good problems to have" these challenges are actually a sign of a rejuvenated trade finance industry — an industry that I'm proud to say Barclays will play a leading role in well into the future.