Dutch bank Rabobank has joined the Bolero multi-bank trade finance platform, as bank-to-bank processor Swift announces a host of new users for its Trade Services Utility.
The Bolero system is designed to automate the end-to-end processing of Letter of Credit and Guarantee instruments for both importers and exporters via a neutral bank-to-corporate communications channel.
Diane Boogaard, global head of trade and commodity finance at Rabobank says the bank has been monitoring Bolero's progress for some considerable time.
"We now have a growing list of customers who already use the channel or have indicated they plan to use Bolero in the near future,""she says. "As a result we are delighted that we are now able to join this community and utilise this service bringing benefits to our customers as well as to Rabobank."
She says the current depressed economic climate has led to a renewed interest in the use of traditional trade instruments by corporates.
"What is clear to us is that this presents a great opportunity for banks to engage further with their customers in the provision of such traditional trade services." add Boogaard.
Claire Buchanan, SVP, global field operations at Bolero, comments: "Rabobank has a strong global presence particularly in the provision of trade finance in Commodities where we have seen a rapid increase in the use of the Bolero multi-bank service."
New users - including Bank of China Hong Kong and Barclays Commercial Bank - extend the Trade Services Utility community beyond the significant 100-member mark
Elsewhere at Sibos in Hong Kong, Swift has announced a flurry of new signings by banks, bringing the community of Trade Services Utility (TSU) banks to over 100.
In the TSU schema, banks build individually on the core functionality of the central matching engine, to offer competitive services to their corporate customers.
The new registrants to the TSU include: in Europe, Barclays Commercial Bank and Yapi Kredi Bankasi; in Americas, Banco de Crédito del Peru; and in Asia-Pacific, Bank of China Hong Kong, Shin Kong Bank and Taishin Bank.