Our co-host Michael Henke (Fraunhofer IML) opened the event with a keynote speech discussing Supply Chain Finance in a digital continuum. He elaborated on the challenges for supply chain management and finance posed by the current political, ecological, economic and social developments. He emphasized the importance of corporates’ readiness to become more transparent and utilise new technologies.

This was followed by our corporate keynote speaker, Pietro Solazzo from DB Schenker. Pietro discussed DB Schenker’s holistic approach to sustainability, based on the three building blocks of clean logistics, thriving communities and shared value.

Friedemann Kirchhof followed, presenting Siemens’ Supply Chain Finance journey through new disclosure regulations. He elaborated on the implication of changes in disclosure regulations and how the company is approaching them. Four main current considerations guide their policies: transparency, consolidation, flexibility, and limit management.

After a short coffee break, Michael Henke and Gerhard-Wilhelm Schipp from Fraunhofer IML continued with an interactive research presentation on emerging technologies, new business models, geopolitical risks and ESG requirements. During the session, they created an “SCF 4.0 map” with the input of the participants.

The last corporate case of the morning was presented by Michael Hamann from BT Sourced. He presented the company’s transformational journey from traditional to dynamic early payment solution and illustrated why they chose C2FO’s platform for their SCF strategy.

Throughout the afternoon, our speakers analysed the topic of SCF legislation and governance. The academic director of the Supply Chain Finance Community, Luca Gelsomino started off this segment with our most recent research findings on SCF governance, disclosure and reclassification. His presentation was followed by Stephan Dellermann, who provided a brief introduction to the German Supplier Care Act and the reasons behind it. After Stephan’s overview, the speakers discussed the topic in an intriguing panel discussion facilitated by Luca.

Finally, we closed the day with a presentation by Jens Noffke, who joined us live from the US and introduced Roche’s sustainability-oriented Supply Chain Finance programme in collaboration with Deutsche Bank. Jens, with the support of Anil Walia from Deutsche Bank, illustrated Roche’s sustainability efforts in making sure that decommissioning of a plant in Ireland is done sustainably, and why this is a Supply Chain Finance matter. The Roche Clarecastle Site Decommissioning and Remediation Project is an excellent example of corporate social responsibility in action, and illustrates how the power of Supply Chain Finance goes beyond traditional working capital management. An excellent closing session.

It was an interesting day, full of insightful presentations kicking off this year’s corporate events. Did you miss this event and would like to learn more about these topics? More corporate events are coming up this year in different locations within Europe, the USA and Asia, so make sure to keep an eye on our website and sign up for our Newsletter to be the first one to hear about any upcoming events.

Take a look at the highlights video of the event in Munich.