Germany's WestLB is to use the Bolero trade finance platform to provide automated multi-bank services to its corporate customers for processing Letters of Credit and Guarantees.
Max Niesert, executive director, head of trade & export finance at WestLB says the bank is responding to growing demand from corporate customers for true multi-banked trade finance solutions.
"There is some history in Germany with standardisation of the Letter of Credit which has allowed us to quickly appreciate the need to support a secure, automated multi-bank platform which operates on a global basis and provides broader standardisation including Guarantees," he says.
The Bolero multi-bank service automates the end-to-end lifecycle of the Letter of Credit and Guarantee instruments for both importers and exporters and eliminates the need for the corporate or the bank to build multiple expensive peer-to-peer integration connections.
"As banks acknowledge the need to offer multi-bank trade finance solutions, they are also recognising the substantial risk in supporting customer-specific platforms or solutions." says Arthur Vonchek, CEO of Bolero. "By selecting Bolero, WestLB are protecting themselves against this risk."