- 90% say digital tools help them respond faster to supply-chain disruption
- Supplier-focused strategies record a 26 percentage point increase in priority
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Standard Chartered announced today the findings of its latest Future of Trade report, titled ‘Navigating an Age of Structural Uncertainty’, which ranks the United Arab Emirates first globally among 27 surveyed markets for planned investment in digital supply chain finance platforms. The ranking comes as UAE businesses increase their focus on supplier resilience, real-time visibility and closer integration between treasury and trade.
The study, which surveyed 2,100 senior corporate decision-makers across 27 markets, found that 69% of UAE businesses plan to invest in digital supply chain finance platforms over the next three to five years, the highest level across all surveyed markets. The UAE also ranks third globally for planned investment in real-time cash visibility, identified by 76% of respondents, and second for automated payments, at 53%.
Syed Khurrum Zaeem, Managing Director, Head of Trade and Transactional Banking for the Middle East, Pakistan and Africa, Standard Chartered, said: “The UAE’s leading position in planned digital supply chain finance investment reflects the continued evolution of its trade ecosystem. Businesses are placing greater emphasis on strengthening supplier networks, improving visibility and connecting treasury more closely with trade. As businesses operate across increasingly complex international markets, these capabilities will be increasingly important to strengthening resilience and supporting growth.”
That shift is also evident in how UAE businesses are approaching supplier resilience. Priority given to supplier-focused strategies has risen by 26 percentage points compared with the previous year, against a global increase of 4.3 percentage points. Inventory management has also risen by seven percentage points in the UAE, compared with 2.9 percentage points globally.
UAE businesses are also reporting clear benefits from digitalisation. 90% say digital tools help them respond faster to supply-chain disruption, compared with 83% globally. A further 85% say digital tools improve decision-making through better visibility and forecasting across supply-chain and financial flows, while 87% report clear, measurable benefits from at least one digital capability.
Building on these gains, closer integration between treasury and supply-chain functions represents the next stage of the transition. 44% of UAE businesses plan to adjust their treasury management strategies over the next three to five years, while 40% plan to increase their use of digital tools and systems. 42% report partial integration between treasury and supply-chain functions and 13% full integration, while the absence of end-to-end visibility across supply-chain and financial flows is the most frequently identified gap, cited by 46% of respondents.
Greater integration is also expected to translate into tangible cost efficiencies. The UAE ranks first globally among surveyed markets for the share of businesses expecting digitalisation to reduce the cost of coordinating shipments and logistics by at least 10%. It also ranks among the top three for anticipated cost reductions across compliance and regulatory requirements, payments and settlements, and engagement with overseas counterparties.
The UAE findings reflect a broader global shift towards more digitally enabled trade. The Future of Trade report includes an illustrative Digital Acceleration scenario, which estimates that faster trade digitalisation could lift global trade by 6.9%, equivalent to US$2.8 trillion, by 2031 compared with Oxford Economics’ baseline forecast.
For further information please contact:
Khaled Abdulla, CFA®
Head of Communications
UAE, Middle East & Pakistan
Corporate and Investment Bank
Standard Chartered
M: +971 55 655 7553
T: +971 4 508 3155
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Digital Acceleration scenario
The scenario analysis assesses how faster trade digitalisation and greater geopolitical fragmentation could alter global trade patterns and macroeconomic outcomes through 2031. Each scenario is measured against Oxford Economics’ August 2026 baseline, allowing the effects on trade, GDP, inflation, prices and exchange rates to be isolated from the central outlook.
The Digital Acceleration scenario converts survey evidence on adoption gaps and expected savings into reductions in cross-border trade costs. We combine country-level expectation with empirical findings from Bekkers et al. (2025) and OE bespoke structural-gravity econometric analysis to calibrate the size of iceberg trade cost shock for each country pairs. To ensure that the shocks are realistic, their scale is benchmarked trade-cost measures from the WTO Trade Cost Database.
In the scenario, we measure the trade digitalisation opportunity as a net annual uplift to global trade compared to Oxford Economics’ baseline forecast. This impact is presented in terms of a single-year’s net gain in trade in 2031. The impacts of trade digitalisation build gradually over 2027 to 2031 and reaches its full effect in 2031.
The modelling estimates this net uplift to global trade to peak at 6.9 per cent, equivalent to USD 2.8 trillion, by 2031. This means that international trade will be 6.9 per cent, or USD 2.8 trillion, higher than what it would be in the baseline scenario in 2031. It is not a cumulative build-up over 2027 to 2031, and not an annual gain in trade starting today. We expect this percentage uplift to persist beyond 2031, although its dollar value would shift as the baseline grows.
Methodology
This year’s Future of Trade is based on a survey of 2,100 senior corporate decision-makers from multinational companies across 27 markets, conducted by Oxford Economics on behalf of Standard Chartered between June and July 2026. The report combines survey findings with Oxford Economics scenario modelling to examine how accelerating digitalisation and increasing geopolitical fragmentation could shape global trade through 2031. The scenarios are illustrative and are intended to explore potential outcomes rather than provide forecasts.
Digital Capabilities
Our survey posed questions about 10 digital capabilities transforming trade, spanning core technologies such as automated payments and digital trade documentation to emerging solutions like digital currencies, tokenisation, and scenario modelling.
