Truist and Standard Chartered Join Forces on Trade Finance

International banking group Standard Chartered Americas has announced a trade finance partnership with financial services company Truist Bank.

This strategic collaboration aims to strengthen trade finance capabilities in emerging markets and enhance Truist clients’ ability to conduct global business, the companies said in a Wednesday (Sept. 20) press release.

With a strong network across the world’s most dynamic emerging economies and regions, Standard Chartered Americas is well-positioned to support companies looking to expand their reach and tap into new markets, according to the release. The United States, being a major trade partner, presents immense opportunities for growth.

Through this partnership, Truist Bank and Standard Chartered will create a seamless and efficient business environment for importers and exporters in the U.S., the release said. Standard Chartered will provide centralized processing, analytics and tracking services by leveraging its network, local expertise, infrastructure and technology.

Truist’s corporate and commercial clients will benefit from Standard Chartered’s ability to fulfill their trade finance needs in emerging markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, per the release.

Some of the key highlights of this trade finance services partnership include access to export and import letters of credit and standby letters of credit (SBLC), according to the press release.

Truist clients will gain access to Standard Chartered’s footprint and real-time transaction monitoring capabilities for the entire value chain of documentary trade, the release said. In markets where Standard Chartered has a presence, Truist clients can confirm, advise or discount letters of credit through the bank.

Furthermore, Truist clients can execute performance and commercial contracts with counterparts in markets that require local knowledge and expertise, along with local SBLC delivery capabilities, per the release. Standard Chartered’s solution will enable Truist to process and issue SBLCs end-to-end, leveraging the bank’s network to improve turnaround times and provide transparency on cost.

The announcement of this partnership comes on the heels of several other developments in the trade finance space.

On the same day, Wednesday, financial software firm Finastra launched a trade finance partnership with Microsoft. This collaboration combines Finastra’s Trade Innovation offering with a “full microservices architecture” using Microsoft Azure.

A day earlier, on Tuesday (Sept. 19), banking giant HSBC debuted a trade finance offer to help clients pay suppliers. This tool, dubbed TradePay, is a document-free trade finance solution that lets clients instantly draw down trade loans.