Mumbai, Jan. 2 -- There has been a mild decline in the use of US dollars for trade finance in the Asia Pacific region on the back of higher interest rates, with demand for local currency financing increasing to fill the gap, according to a senior banker at JPMorgan.

Currency trends have been very interesting over the last few years, specifically in trade finance, where the bank has observed a mild decrease in US dollar usage, Charley Zhang, head of trade and working capital, APAC at JPMorgan, said in a virtual interview.

"Notably, US dollar trade finance has experienced declining momentum in the last two years, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. In response, we have seen increasing demand for domestic or local currency trade finan...