Banks launch Trade Club Alliance to tackle international trade barriers
Fourteen banks have partnered to launch Trade Club Alliance, a digital platform that is designed to help businesses bolster global trade. It will help identify businesses that are looking to trade goods internationally and provide insight on regulations and trade tariffs for the relevant countries. It will provide members with market information on more than 180 countries including currency analysis, market trends and shipping requirements, serving as a conduit for trusted buyers and suppliers to connect with counterparts in markets around the world.
The initiative was created by Santander in 2015, to connect businesses in Europe with Latin America. Following its success, the programme was rolled out worldwide and saw the formation of the Trade Club Alliance. The partner banks that make up the alliance cover some of the world’s most established and fast-growing markets, such as Africa, Latin America and South East Asia. By 2022, more than 90% of global trade corridors will be covered by the platform.
The platform uses machine learning and cloud-based services with social networking capabilities, content and corporate banking advisory. It is designed to help accelerate the exchange of goods and services by uncovering ideal trade partnership opportunities and then simplifying the transaction process.
Alliance banks’ ‘experts and community managers’ teams are available to offer advice at all stages of exporting and importing activity and financing alternatives. The platform’s market analysis offers over 25,000 market reports from 186 countries, it includes shipment databases for over 120 countries, conversions of 147 currencies with weekly and monthly reports, as well as information on over 182 countries.
The digital platform is available to businesses of all sizes and will cover sectors including agriculture, machinery, textiles, chemicals, woods plastics and metals. Each Alliance bank is responsible for vetting businesses before they become a member, and will help oversee the admission process, actively identify and facilitate business opportunities and coordinate trade missions on the ground.
The full list of partner banks are: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Attiijariwafa Group, Banco BPM, Banco Santander, Royal Bank of Canada, CIMB, Crédit Agricole Group, Eurobank, KBC Group, Industrial Bank of Korea, MUFG, Nordea Group, Siam Commercial Bank, and Standard Bank.
