SIBOS 2017:

Digital Innovation in
Trade Finance
Have We Reached a Tipping Point?
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global
management consulting firm and the world’s leading Sibos 2017:

Digital Innovation in
advisor on business strategy. We partner with
clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit
sectors in all regions to identify their highest-value
opportunities, address their most critical challenges,
and transform their enterprises. Our customised
approach combines deep insight into the dynamics
of companies and markets with close collaboration
Trade Finance
at all levels of the client organisation. This ensures
that our clients achieve sustainable competitive Have We Reached a Tipping Point?
advantage, build more capable organisations, and
secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is a
private company with 90 offices in 50 countries. For
more information, please visit bcg.com.

SWIFT also provided significant input to this paper.

Headquartered in Belgium, SWIFT is a global
member-owned cooperative and the world’s leading
provider of secure financial messaging services.
We provide our community with a platform for
messaging and standards for communicating,
and we offer products and services to facilitate
access and integration, identification, analysis,
and financial crime compliance. Our messaging
platform, products, and services connect more than
11,000 banking and securities organisations, market
infrastructures, and corporate customers in more
than 200 countries and territories, enabling them to
communicate securely and exchange standardised
financial messages in a reliable way. As their trusted
provider, we facilitate global and local financial flows
and support trade and commerce all around the
world; we relentlessly pursue operational excellence
and continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce
risks, and eliminate operational inefficiencies. By Sukand Ramachandran, Jarryd Porter, Rony Kort, Ravi Hanspal, and Huny Garg
SWIFT’s international governance and oversight (External Contributor)
reinforces the neutral, global character of its
cooperative structure, and our global office network
ensures an active presence in all the major financial October 2017
centers. For more information,
please visit swift.com.
AT A GLANCE

Global trade faces a challenging period. But there are opportunities across the What is happening in Trade Finance?
value chain to drive efficiencies and increase the overall market size. Processes
that currently support the global trade finance ecosystem are labour- intensive and The state of affairs
predominantly paper-based. They are estimated to generate four billion pages of Trade flows grew from US$6.3 trillion in 2000 to US$15.6 trillion in 2008. The global
documents annually. Trade finance is calling out for a digital solution that allows financial crisis (GFC) in 2007-08 put an abrupt stop to this growth. Although there has
for many of these processes to be simplified, automated or eliminated. been some recovery, pre-2008 growth rates have not returned. Trade flows hit a high
of US$18.1 trillion in 2014 before the trend reversed in 2015. In 2016, trade flows
Digitisation will not only improve the internal efficiency of banks but allow them to contracted to near pre-financial crisis levels at US$15.8 trillion.
give their customers a better service at a lower price. This, in turn, will increase
demand for trade finance products, especially from the currently underserved SME Growth rates have varied regionally:
segment.
•• In the US, trade flows recovered steadily post-GFC from US$2.4 trillion in 2009
After years of hype and excitement followed by modest progress, digital innovation to US$3.7 trillion in 2014, but contracted to US$3.4 trillion in 2016.
in trade finance appears to be top of mind. Given the large number of entities
involved in a single transaction, and their widely differing levels of technological •• In the Asia Pacific, trade flows continued to grow strongly post-GFC from US$7.1
sophistication, change will not happen overnight. The digitisation of trade must be trillion in 2009 to US$11.9 trillion in 2014, and contracted to US$10.6 trillion in
seen through a three-year and a five-year lens. In the former, banks and corporates 2016.
must learn to thrive in a hybrid digital-and-paper world.
•• In the EU, trade flows were slower to recover post-GFC, growing from US$8.8
trillion in 2009 to US$11.6 trillion in 2014, before falling to US$10.2 trillion in
2016.

Nevertheless, BCG sees trade finance as a US$36 billion revenue opportunity for
banks alone, and the outlook is positive. The BCG Trade Finance Model predicts that
trade finance revenues will grow faster than trade flows, at approximately 4.7% per
year, reaching US$44 billion by 2020. This opportunity will be realised as the industry
becomes increasingly digitised, and complex, costly processes are rationalised.

The opportunity at hand

The numerous players (easily 20+) involved with each trade finance transaction
interact with data fields captured in various documents (10–20 with 100+ pages
altogether) throughout the end-to-end process, to create what we call data field
‘interactions’. These can be divided into five types: interactions that create value-
adding data; that duplicate existing data; that endorse or sign off data; that read or
process data; or simply that, ignore/ transmit to the next party.

A review of the end-to-end trade finance process reveals that a single transaction can
involve approximately 5,000 data field interactions (Exhibit A). As data flows through
the end-to-end process, a decreasing share of data field interactions create value-

2 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 3

 adding data (Exhibit B). Such interactions account for only ~1% of all interactions,
with 85-90% being ‘ignore/transmit to the next party’. On a global scale, this adds up The total number of data field interactions easily exceeds ~5,000, with ‘create
to ~200 billion data field interactions, of which only ~2.8 billion create value-adding value-adding data’, accounting for only ~1% and ‘ignore/transmit’ accounting
data. for more than 85%.

At the root of these thousands of data field interactions we count no more than 60-80 •• Create value-adding data, ~1-2%
unique data fields (e.g., dates, amounts, reference numbers) across the 10-20
documents (e.g., bill of lading, commercial invoices) and 100+ pages of material. •• Duplicate existing data, ~2-3%

These unique data fields are reused across documents some 8-10 times, and many of •• Endorse/sign off on data, ~2-3%
the documents are duplicated, increasing the risk of discrepancies, which can add
significant delays to an already lengthy two-to-four-week process. If trade finance •• Read/process data, ~7-10%
processes were to be fully digitised, BCG estimates that more than 90% of data field
interactions could be simplified or eliminated altogether, creating a process that is •• Ignore/transmit to next party, ~85-90%
not only faster but also less vulnerable to error and fraud.

Exhibit 1 | The 20+ Players interact with the data fields captured in the
10-20 Documents to create ~5,000 data field ‘interactions’
Exhibit 2 | As data flows through the process, a decreasing share of data field ‘interactions’ in-
volve creating value-adding data

Source: BCG Analysis

Source: BCG Analysis

4 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 5

 Many of the complexities in trade finance are driven by the large number of players Even after new technologies become widely available, supporting legal frameworks
and documents involved in the facilitation and governance of a single transaction and recognised standards may not be in place. These often take considerably longer
(Exhibit C). Each player has a unique mix of cumbersome and inconsistent internal to develop than new technology.
and external requirements to adhere to (e.g., legal, risk, compliance). And the various
entities involved (e.g, customs authorities, banks, corporates, insurers and shippers) For example, one bank described Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) as relatively
are at very different points on the technology adoption curve. This has helped simple technically, but the need for a globally agreed framework of standards,
preserve paper as the safe, universally compatible go-to option in trade finance. protocols and procedures makes it complex to adopt. If there is a dispute between
SMEs located in Switzerland and Russia, for example, what is the resolution process?
For these reasons, the digitisation of trade finance will not happen quickly. However, Which rule of law applies? A simple trade dispute could lead to years of legal back-
understanding the underlying information requirements (e.g., 60-80 unique data and-forth.
fields) and the extent of redundant activities is an important step in this direction.
Chipping away at the fundamental problems by leveraging existing and emerging UCP 600, the latest version of the rules that govern letters of credit (L/Cs)
technologies could eliminate these data interaction inefficiencies over the next transactions worldwide, solves this for letters of credit. DLT-enabled smart contracts
decade. Developing the roadmap to the future state will be a significant achievement need an equivalent set of agreed rules.
on its own.
However, even this may not be enough. Despite the International Chamber of
Commerce (ICC) publishing Uniform Rules for Bank Payment Obligations (URBPO)
Exhibit 3 | Traditional Trade Finance ecosystem highly fragmented across multiple different standards, importers and exporters have been slow to adopt Bank Payment
entities and processes Obligations (BPO). Evidently, a lack of agreed standards is not the only impediment
to the adoption new technologies.

Looking much further ahead

There is a concern that Industry 4.0 and its constituent technologies, such as the
internet of things (IoT) and 3D printing, will make parts of trade obsolete.

IoT will connect goods in transit to the internet, reducing risk. Sensors fitted to goods
and containers will track shipments door-to-door. These technologies will provide
real-time information on the location and condition of goods, greatly reducing
counterparty and compliance risk. IoT has the potential to significantly speed the
shift to open account because mitigating these risks is part of the core value
proposition of documentary trade.

In the meantime, IoT will create a wave of new unique data fields generated in the
trade finance process, the most significant change to the trade information data sets
in decades. Without digitising existing processes, players will struggle to react to this
new information flow. Paper-heavy processes risk becoming even more cumbersome
making it impossible to transfer information. Or the new source of data will be
ignored altogether. Either way, this would represent a missed opportunity.

Industry 4.0 could also present new opportunities. One bank we spoke to is closely
Source: BCG Analysis
engaged with clients to see how they can embed themselves in new business models.
For example, Industry 4.0 could revolutionise payment or financing terms for
industrial goods (e.g., turbines) from a pay over time model to a pay per usage model.
And performance guarantees could be based on machine uptime instead of the
average life of the asset.

Additive manufacturing, popularly known as 3D printing, will convert raw materials

into final products where they are needed, foregoing the need to ship final goods

6 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 7

 Banks are struggling with reduced volumes and lower margins, and a higher cost base
between locations. Future trade may be more heavily weighted towards
commoditised materials and printable digital blueprints, at least in some industries. primarily driven by increased demands from financial crime compliance. Digital will
become increasingly important to banks as they seek to navigate these challenges, and
3D printing is more efficient for small-scale manufacturing as it allows for small capture potential growth over the next five years. Achieving scale and a lower unit
batches of goods to be made on demand, and uses fewer raw materials than cost will matter more in a digital world where trade becomes more commoditised and
traditional manufacturing. customers increasingly focus on cost.

A portion of physical trade flows will gradually be replaced by trade in intellectual Governing bodies (e.g., regulators, NGOs) are setting new standards of compliance for
property rights for 3D printing specifications, and will start to resemble buying an banks. Regulation is becoming more stringent, because with funds and goods crossing
app from iTunes or an eBook from Amazon. Purchases would be near instantaneous.
borders, trade finance carries an inherent risk of sanctioned or criminal activity.
Governing bodies must keep pace with industry change, and avoid becoming bottlenecks
Payment terms may be immediate or remain longer (e.g., 30 or 90 days), and still
or barriers.
require financing. To participate, all parties would need to join the same digital
ecosystem (e.g., a platform like Amazon or Alibaba for larger goods) potentially
eliminating the use of documentary trade altogether. For example, new technologies such as DLT and cryptocurrencies require new standards
and rules across all geographies. NGOs are helping to shape the future by setting
However, there could be alternative models, as there will always be the need to common standards and driving consensus across legacy and new industry players. The
transport physical goods, such as raw materials, produce and livestock, from one ICC-led working group of industry leaders is an example.
country to another.

Exhibit 4 | THERE ARE FIVE TYPES OF PLAYER ACTIVE IN THE TRADE

How is digital impacting the different entities involved in FINANCE ECOSYSTEM WITH THE RECENT ADDITION OF DISRUPTORS
Trade Finance?
Players Examples Role
BCG and SWIFT see at least four types of entity that have traditionally been involved
in a typical trade finance transaction: corporates, banks, facilitators (e.g., cargo
Buy and sell goods
carriers, interbank messaging facilitators such as SWIFT) and governing bodies such as Corporates Importer, Exporter and / or services
across borders
regulators, NGOs, customs authorities (Exhibit D).

Increasingly, a fifth kind of entity is also involved: namely, disruptors (e.g., FinTechs)
that have identified an opportunity to break into the ecosystem given its slow digitisation Importer’s bank, Exporter’s bank, Provide risk mitiga-
Banks
Correspondent bank tion and financing
progress over the last decade.

Disrupters are innovating to compete with legacy players, and they are finding roles
somewhere between banks and facilitators. The step-change in available technology is Governing Set the rules and
Import customs, Export customs
Bodies standards
forcing banks to ask strategic questions regarding technology investment, and how to
position themselves in the market with respect to the competition.
Invoicing platform, SWIFT,
Corporates continue to switch towards simpler, more cost-effective open account trade Freight forwarder, Insurer, Pre-ship- Provide services
Facilitators ment inspector, Import /Export to support Trade
in preference to complex and expensive documentary trade processes. This is especially terminals, Shipper, Finance ecosystem
true in countries with high levels of trust (e.g., U.S.A., France and Germany), and for Document courier

closed ecosystems, such as niche industries where all the players know each other.
Introduce
Increased legal certainty and improved communication channels mean that importers FinTechs, AI / ML tech companies
tech-enabled solu-
Disruptors (Not shown in traditional Trade
and exporters are more confident about trading without the financial reassurance a tions to the world of
Finance ecosystem diagram)
Trade Finance
bank provides. Furthermore, as corporates become increasingly cost-focused, they
are exercising market power to drive down pricing and margins on banking products,
Source: BCG Analysis
including trade finance.

8 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 9

Facilitators are forced to keep pace with the change in the trade finance industry An American multinational energy corporation we spoke with is even more sceptical,
coming from banks, disrupters and corporates. This is particularly challenging for and understandably frustrated by the recent hype around DLT, citing the big banks’
legacy facilitators in the value chain, such as customs authorities and shipping inability to deliver basic technological innovation. This energy corporation has asked
companies, where change has historically been slower. At the same time, facilitators the dozen global banks it holds a relationship with for a granular breakdown of L/C
are facing their own cost pressures and the need to adhere to increasingly stringent fees to no avail. One bank offered to send the requested information for the
regulatory compliance. thousands of transactions by fax. This impractical solution (the team in question has
not had access to a fax machine in years) reinforced the corporate’s view that banks
Regardless of where players sit on the technology adoption curve, digital innovation will be slow to innovate.
is top of mind. Of all the players BCG and SWIFT spoke to, not one is sitting on the
side-line. All expect that digital innovation will, in one way or another, disrupt trade Digital technologies in Trade Finance
finance in the near future. Digital technologies are disrupting trade finance in three ways:

Operational enablers: making paper-based trade easier

What are the digital technologies disrupting Trade Finance?
Operational enablers make the existing model of trade cheaper and easier. In the
BCG and SWIFT see a step change in attitudes and initiatives related to digitisation current market, they are a lifeline for banks. While they add value in the short- to
in trade finance. This is due to a change in attitudes around the importance of medium- term, few operational enablers are game-changing. Nevertheless, they
technological innovation, a maturing of technologies that support viable solutions, represent the key focus of bank investment today.
and an emerging threat from FinTechs eager to disrupt the existing model.
Intelligent OCR learns to recognise document templates and automatically transfers
Previous attempts to digitise trade finance have fallen short, in part, because text from paperwork into back-end fields. Enhanced with AI-supported pattern
solutions required significant upfront investment and benefits were highly dependent recognition, this technology can help banks improve risk & compliance processes and
on widespread adoption across all players in the ecosystem or ‘network effects’. reduce cost.

One bank we spoke with suggested that the upfront investment required players to Operational enablers make the existing model of trade cheaper and easier. In the
adopt the necessary technologies to materially digitise their trade finance operations current market, they are a lifeline for banks. While they add value in the short- to
is so significant that they would need to reduce processing costs by more than 20% to medium-term, few operational enablers are game-changing. Nevertheless, they
achieve break even. represent the key focus of bank investment today.

Another bank explained that the Intelligent Document Recognition (IDR) technology Intelligent OCR learns to recognise document templates and automatically transfers
they are implementing requires 18–24 months of training before it operates at full text from paperwork into back-end fields. Enhanced with AI-supported pattern
capacity and accuracy. It is anticipated that vendors will continue to refine and recognition, this technology can help banks improve risk & compliance processes and
improve such products, ultimately leading to shorter ramp up periods. reduce cost.

Another change in the digital landscape of trade finance is that players are realising A more advanced version of Intelligent OCR technology is OCR enhanced with
that they cannot go it alone. Banks, FinTechs, shippers, logistics companies, etc. are robotics, which automatically transfers paper- based content into back-end fields,
forming partnerships to drive innovation. Some banks are looking to pool their screens documents for consistency and compliance, and feeds data into issuance
resources (e.g., R3 Corda Platform, Digital Trade Chain Consortium), while others systems. This has the potential to reduce marginal transaction costs to near-zero for a
seek access to specific technology (e.g., Barclays and Wave). bank that serves both ends of a transaction. Intelligent OCR can help banks reduce
processing times, errors and cost while achieving an improved customer experience.
As a result, it is likely that the trade finance landscape will look very different in the
next 5–10 years, with reduced costs and complexity giving international trade a much After implementing this technology, banks have reported achieving up to 50% faster
needed boost. processing times, an 80% reduction in manual validations, and a 70% reduction in
data entry FTEs.
Not everyone is convinced, however. One bank BCG and SWIFT spoke with predicts
that significant digitisation in trade finance is unlikely in the next 15 years, since the According to one bank BCG and SWIFT spoke to, the simplest technologies often
need for documentary trade with counterparts in developing and remote economies offer the best results. Robotics in trade finance may sound dull, but effectively
will continue. copying and pasting relevant data from one system to another delivers significant

10 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 11

efficiencies compared to manual data entry, improving accuracy and timeliness of Changing how trade works
response.
Bank Payment Obligation (BPO) uses electronic data matching to facilitate payments
More recently, banks have been combining Intelligent OCR with AI to enable straight- between the importer’s bank and the exporter’s bank. It is quicker than L/Cs and
through-processing in data capture for trade finance. Such technology can learn how usually cheaper for companies, while still avoiding the settlement risk of open-
to map printed text, and automatically fill back-end data fields by recognising account trading.
recurring patterns in document templates. This can reduce the need for manual
intervention in transaction processing and significantly reduce unit transaction However, there are obstacles to BPO adoption: the parties at each end of the
processing costs for banks. Many banks have reported over 80% of documents being transaction must be BPO-enabled but installing this capability can be costly. It
recognised and up to 50% of fields being auto scanned. requires an overhaul of well-integrated and long-standing processes. Furthermore,
some banks fear that it will cannibalise their fee-rich L/C business. These obstacles
Industry tools, such as WorkFusion, IBM Watson, use OCR combined with AI to limit the possibility of a network effect and, as long as uptake is low, firms and banks
streamline trade operations. In our experience, such tools can develop automated have little incentive to adopt BPO.
capability by shadowing processing operators and learning repetitive patterns or
actions in the background over a significant period of time. Once trained, evidence Despite these challenges, BPO has had some successes depending on the
suggests these tools can execute high quality automated processing for trade characteristics of the trade. BPO works well with shorter trade routes and when there
operations. is a high level of trust between trading partners.

From a compliance perspective, such technologies are being used not only to improve One facilitator BCG and SWIFT spoke with believes BPO is set to make a comeback
efficiency, but also effectiveness. Robotics and AI can better screen transactions close as some of the underlying barriers to adoption are being addressed. Vendors are
to the source, and shift attention towards higher-risk transactions that require manual introducing tooling to minimise the requirements and effort needed to become BPO-
approval, without the high false-positives that are common artefacts from older, pre- enabled. Although this is progress, constraints remain. Also, from a regulatory
existing solutions. Banks may try and apply the same AI decision-making capabilities perspective, BPOs do not have the same favourable treatment as Documentary Trade
to commercial decisions or checks when originating trade transactions. under Basel capital adequacy rules. Hence BPOs are actually less capital efficient for
banks.
Digitising the flow of information in trade
Distributed ledgers: Industry hype around DLT has fuelled a new wave of trade
In general, technologies that have tried to digitise the flow of information in trade finance disrupters. Coupled with other maturing technologies (e.g., APIs, OCR, AI,
have struggled to reach critical mass and growth has stalled. Machine Learning), DLT offers the strongest potential digital trade finance solution to
date. For the first time, the hype may be justified.
MT798, the standardised SWIFT messaging protocol for direct-to-bank origination
from within a client’s enterprise resource planning system, reduces process Potential benefits of a DLT platform include increased cybersecurity, reduced waiting
complexity and allows companies to buy from multiple banks with ease. However, times, transparency, ease of revenue payments, low infrastructure investment, easily
some banks fear that this will undermine the stickiness of the trade finance business, auditable transactions, efficient accommodation for additional participants,
since MT798 can work on multiple platforms, reducing dependence on bank immutability and automatic bonding and payments through smart contracts.
channels. Rather than promoting MT798, banks have waited to assess corporate
demand. Now that more corporates are requesting it, banks are feeling pressured to Trade finance has been touted as a Corporate Banking product with potential to
add MT798 capability. benefit significantly from DLT, given that it is based on trust and transparency and
has a wide array of inefficiencies to be removed. Interest in its use for trade is
Electronic Bills of Lading (eB/Ls) have been around since the 1980s, but in recent growing as companies and organisations recognise that antiquated trade systems are
years functional solutions from Bolero and essDOCS have become available. These overdue for restructuring.
digital document platforms aim to lead the journey toward paperless trade by
transferring shipping documents instantly between parties. DLT has the potential to overhaul how different parties trade across borders,
potentially threatening the central role banks play today. Technology companies, big
The adoption of eB/Ls is constrained by the familiar obstacles. Many participants in and small (e.g., IBM, Microsoft, Bloq), are betting on a DLT solution for trade,
the trade ecosystem are, for reasons of size or lack of sophistication, unlikely to invest believing that it can help optimise trade finance and logistics. A platform could allow
in the technology, and as long as adoption is far from universal, banks have little to for secure and transparent sharing of trade information between parties, streamlining
gain by investing in it while they still need to maintain their old paper-based processes and speeding up response times.
processes.

12 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 13

But one bank BCG and SWIFT spoke to doubts that DLT will accelerate digital One corporate BCG and SWIFT spoke with shared their experience of a bank’s
adoption in trade finance. imperfect compliance processes on business activity. A false positive sanctions hit led
to disruptions in trade, and the need to anchor hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth
According to this contributor, technology is only one piece of the puzzle, and the most of goods around the world until the issue was resolved.
significant challenge is to agree new industry standards, for example, regarding the
legal status of electronic documents. This caused significant knock-on issues to the corporate’s supply chain.

There is general consensus, however, that even if DLT falls short on its promise, it has SWIFT is taking a big step towards reducing the KYC burden associated with on-
put the topic of digital in trade finance firmly on the agenda. Senior managers are boarding correspondent banks by launching a KYC Registry and making it available
engaged and ready to embrace change. to all supervised financial institutions, regardless of whether they are connected to
SWIFT. Existing members will benefit from a broader coverage of correspondent
Regulatory compliance banking and funds distribution network while allowing them to shed due diligence
A common challenge for the above technologies is whether they can address the activities and costs. Smaller banks will benefit from industry-agreed standards and
growing costs and complexities of complying with financial crime regulations in trade best practices in KYC compliance.
finance. For banks in particular, technologies must support regulatory compliance
requirements for: This has the potential to boost trade, especially for underserved SMEs in developing
markets, by including their local banks in the global trade finance ecosystem.
•• Know your customer (KYC): Banks are responsible for knowing and verifying
the identity of their clients to minimise risks of fraud, corruption/bribery, Despite the hype around DLT, no single technological innovation will eliminate paper
money-laundering, financing of terrorism, and identity theft in trade finance. Instead, a combination of several now mature technologies (e.g.,
DLT, APIs, OCR, IDR, AI, Machine Learning) have come together to offer the strongest
•• Anti-money laundering (AML): Inaccuracy in the price, nature, volume, and possibility yet. While each of these technologies has made significant progress over
quality of goods on an invoice could inadvertently enable money laundering the last few years, the complete solution remains elusive.
across borders. Trade banks are responsible for verifying transactions, to spot
and prevent such activity

•• Sanctions: Banks are responsible for screening all aspects of the transaction for
conflicts with any sanctions regimes, including both parties, the counterparty
bank, transport company, vessel, all ports involved, and the goods being shipped

One FinTech explained that, although the term AI is used loosely, ultra-sophisticated
AI solutions do exist. This FinTech uses AI to tackle costly money laundering
monitoring processes at banks. The FinTech claims that their bank clients employ
several thousands of employees to monitor up to one million transactions per month,
but that 98% of these investigations result in false positives with no findings of money
laundering activity. Following the integration of their AI technology, the number of
transactions to review dropped by 25%, with a higher hit ratio than the human-led
process.

Furthermore, they estimate that these efficiencies will deliver US$50 million to
US$200 million in operational costs savings over four years.

Although many technologies help banks with aspects of regulatory compliance, there
remains significant scope for improvement, particularly as challenges continue to
grow. One bank explained that the decision to invest in and adopt new technologies
is driven primarily by increasing risk and compliance requirements (driving
approximately 80% of the decision) rather than operational cost savings.

14 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 15

How are players responding? Growing bank-mediated supply chain finance would be a win-win for banks, SMEs
and the global economy.
Corporates, banks, facilitators, governing bodies and disruptors vary in their appetites
and abilities to embrace digital change in trade finance. Banks
Most larger trade banks are investing heavily in operational enablers to drive down
Corporates costs and improve efficiency and turnaround times.
The uptake of digital innovation by corporates in trade finance has historically been
slow, as we have seen with MT798 and BPO. This has been largely due to banks’ Some banks (e.g., HSBC) are adopting OCR technology with advanced robotics to
conservatism, which in turn has limited awareness and thus demand from digitise manual global trade processes and improve accuracy. According to HSBC, an
Corporates. For example, the operational burden of paper-based, documentary trade average trade transaction includes 65 data fields, 15 different documents and 40
finance is far less an issue for corporates than it is for banks, because banks do most pages, although some can reach up to 1,000. Performed manually, this data entry and
of the processing. Corporates have less of an incentive to invest in and adopt new management process can be costly, time consuming and prone to errors, increasing
solutions. the bank’s credit and compliance risk.3

For corporates, the key value differentiators for trade finance solutions and providers This new technology can assess documentary risk and uses logic and context-
are those that offer time- and cost-efficiency, while mitigating risk sufficiently. sensitive analysis to classify documents. It also extracts relevant data to support
auto-population, allowing trade finance employees to focus on value-adding tasks.
According to the BCG and BNP Paribas Corporate Treasurer Survey,1 import and
export L/Cs continue to be the dominant choice for mitigating risk in high-value A number of banks are partnering with, and investing in, FinTechs (e.g., HSBC,
international trade, despite the emergence of digital payment instruments. Treasurers Barclays, Deutsche Bank) to ensure their own footprint in the future of digital trade.
are expected to continue favouring L/Cs in the near term. According to one bank BCG and SWIFT spoke to, FinTechs come in one of two forms,
either providing interesting technology or new business cases. Banks are ramping up
Many corporates are beginning to embrace more digitised open-account trade, their investments in both models in an effort to be on one of the winning teams once
moving away from documentary trade finance, especially when transacting with well- the disruption dust settles.
known large corporates.
One bank is developing a platform that uses DLT to ensure that all parties can see
However, many will continue to rely on documentary trade for the foreseeable future, and transfer title, shipping and other original trade documentation through a secure
for example, when big ticket items, commodities, or unknown SMEs in the developing decentralised network, eliminating many of the current inefficiencies. The
world are involved. application manages ownership of documents on the distributed ledger, eliminating
disputes and forgeries, and reducing the seven-to-ten day process to four hours.
An increasing number of these corporates recognise that they will continue to use
documentary trade finance products for some time, and are looking to digital As larger banks increase their investments, smaller trade banks, with less ability to
solutions to enhance how documentary trade works for them. invest in new technology or to provide significant backup to prominent start-ups, are
likely to fall behind.
SMEs represent an often-overlooked segment of the trade ecosystem that is
embracing digital initiatives to increase their access to documentary trade. SMEs have Despite the number of non-banks trying to establish themselves in the trade finance
a history of struggling to access trade finance solutions due to their size and the space, few are gaining the critical mass that is vital to success. Bank-led consortiums
manual intensiveness of documentary trade. (e.g., R3, DTC), on the other hand, have the power, influence and investment to drive
real change, even if faced with the on-going challenge of needing consensus across a
The World Bank estimates that up to 50% of SMEs have limited or no access to large number of banks. They are even more powerful when supported by
formal credit channels, leading to a global credit gap as a large as US$2.6 trillion.1 government to build credibility and deliver working proofs of concept.

However, SMEs may help drive a wider adoption of digital innovation in trade Governing bodies
finance. Banks are forming partnerships with disruptors to develop digital solutions Although traditionally considered inhibitors of digital adoption, some governing
geared towards the SME market, which represent 50% of global GDP and two-thirds bodies are eager to get involved.
of global employment.2

1 Source: The World Bank

2 Source: World Economic Forum 3 Source: IBM

16 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 17

Regulators NGOs

Regulators are beginning to pick up speed in supporting digital change in trade The International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) is well-positioned to help the
finance at a global level, despite significant variation between countries. However, industry define new rules related to digital trade. Earlier this year, they launched a
regulatory compliance remains challenging and is not always practical within the working group, comprising industry leaders from banking, FinTech and corporates, to
confines of existing technology (e.g., price verification requirements for AML). help accelerate digitisation in trade finance. It aims to:

Looking forward, the robustness of regulatory compliance will continue to be 1. Ensure ICC rules enable digitisation
prioritised over practicality of implementation and ease of transacting. Corporates,
banks and facilitators will need to find acceptable solutions to overcome these 2. Increase the acceptance of digitisation within financial institutions and corpora-
challenges. This is not to say, however, that there is no value in regulators working tions
with technology companies, corporates, banks and facilitators to facilitate compliance
activities. 3. Establish a set of minimum standards for FinTechs to connect with core finan-
cial infrastructure
Customs authorities
Facilitators
Customs authorities around the world are starting to embrace single-window systems Many facilitators embrace the digital opportunity as a way to defend their position in
to allow international traders to submit regulatory documents at a single location. the trade finance ecosystem of the future.
This reduces the time and cost of dealing with government authorities to obtain the
relevant clearance and permits to move cargoes across borders. In the traditional, Shippers
pre-single-window environment, traders dealt with multiple government agencies in
multiple locations to obtain papers, permits, and clearances. Beyond the efficiency Shipping companies, such as Maersk and Singapore’s Pacific International Lines, are
gains, single-window systems will allow customs to plug into DLT-enabled platforms also looking to digitise, partly in response to cost pressure on the industry. A DLT
through APIs. platform, designed to track shipments around the world, will be able to capture end-
to-end supply chain information and help manage and track the paper trail of tens of
Some partnerships have emerged between customs authorities and tech companies millions of shipping containers.
(e.g., IBM’s DLT initiative with Dubai Customs and Dubai Trade) to integrate key
players from the ordering stage, in which the importer obtains a letter of credit from According to Maersk, a simple shipment of refrigerated goods from East Africa to
the bank, through the intermediary stages of freight and shipping, and ending with Europe can go through nearly 30 people and organisations, including more than 200
customs and payment. different interactions and communications across the network of shippers, freight
forwarders, ocean carriers, ports and customs authorities. With 90% of goods in global
Current processes involve many separate documents and bi- directional information trade carried by the ocean shipping industry each year, IBM estimates potential
flows between the different stakeholders coupled with long processing times, due to savings for carriers globally of US$38 billion per year.
waiting times and ‘waste’ activities, such as data re-entry. New processes offer aligned
standards, defined data security, and one main bi-directional information flow for all Disruptors
information sharing purposes, significantly reducing processing times.
The newest members of the trade finance ecosystem are also the most eager to
Governments accelerate digital innovation. They are putting pressure on legacy players to engage
and respond.
Some governments are trying to establish FinTech and DLT hubs. The government of
Singapore has secured DLT investments (e.g., IBM’s DLT innovation centre) as the In the freight-forwarding world, some start-ups (e.g., Flexport) are attempting to crack
island city-state, and owner of the world’s 2nd largest container port, strives to the approximately US$400 billion freight- forwarding market. Technology and data
become Asia’s dominant financial technology hub. However, Singapore’s status as the enable these nimble players to help companies better manage their end-to-end
regional hub will not go unchallenged. Other countries, including Australia, are also supply chains and find the most efficient way to get goods from origin to destination.
looking to compete for this title.
Others are attempting to provide a DLT-enabled asset registry for all containers
globally. A platform could capture real-time locations of these containers to create
efficiencies and reduce greenhouse emissions by significantly reducing the transport
of empty containers, estimated to be between 35% and 45%.

18 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 19

Players vary in their appetites and abilities to embrace digital change in trade
finance, but all are attempting to stay ahead of the curve. As the ecosystem is Exhibit 3 | Traditional Trade Finance ecosystem highly fragmented across multiple different
disrupted, those that fall behind may struggle to keep up with the pace of change. entities and processes

What will it take to get there?

It is important to see the digitisation of trade through a three-year and a five-year

lens. In the short to medium term, banks and corporates must learn to thrive in a
hybrid digital- and-paper world.

Establish standards and interconnectedness

BCG and SWIFT believe that technology alone will not do much to bring about
digitisation in trade finance. New industry standards need to be agreed for the
technological solutions to work. As one bank put it, technology cannot achieve
consensus on its own. Industry leaders will need to work together to establish a new
framework that works in a digital world. Unlike previous attempts to digitise, the new
framework must work for all players and not prioritise the interests of some over
others.

DLT’s most significant contribution so far has been to put the topic of digital in trade
finance firmly on the agenda of senior managers across all ecosystem players. DLT
has proved that it can work as a Proof of Concept (POC), but as one bank put it,
anything can work in a controlled POC environment. Digital solutions can work in
silos, but if there is a lack of interconnectivity, processes quickly revert back to paper.

Understand the underlying information fabric

To evaluate which data field interactions are value-adding, players must understand
the underlying “information fabric” that supports transactions: that is, the purpose
Source: BCG Analysis
and path of data flows (Exhibit E). In parallel, processes need to be redesigned and
approved to support a digital model that works. Some of these processes fall outside
the control of individual players, such as the legal status of digital invoices.

Bring SMEs into the mix Conclusion

Technology will help drive efficiencies through the ecosystem to improve the end-to-
end process for all players while significantly lowering its cost. As the marginal cost After years of hype and excitement followed by modest progress, digital innovation
and effort required to serve clients continues to drop, banks will look to SMEs to appears to be top of mind. Regardless of whether DLT lives up to its potential, other
build scale. Lower trade finance costs for SMEs are simultaneously expected to technologies can begin eradicating paper and associated manual processes from the
increase demand, in the way that low-cost carriers increased demand for the airline ecosystem.
industry.
SWIFT and BCG urge all players to build on this momentum and to take the
Before a solution can become more widely accepted, BCG and SWIFT believe a new conversation to the next level, but also to take action. If players wait for the perfect,
industry standard is required. While there is little doubt about the potential of new complete solution, we anticipate that we will be having the same conversations a
technologies, there is scepticism about the feasibility of rapidly establishing a new decade from now. The technology is nearly there, but technology alone cannot create
digital standard across players and countries. consensus and industry standards.

Players should continue to work together to establish a new framework that works in
a digital world. Unlike previous attempts to digitise, the new framework must work
for all involved, rather than prioritise the interests of some.

20 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 21

What are the calls to action, and what potential can be un- ‘digital wave’ in trade finance. The only way to be sure of this is to focus on
locked? customers’ needs, and support them with innovative, mutually beneficial products,
such as products that tap into supply chains.
Calls to action
Transforming trade is not the role of banks alone. Large-scale, industry-wide change BCG also believes that banks have the opportunity to increase their revenues from
requires consortia of different entities to build critical mass across the end-to-end trade finance by 10%. Given the labour intensiveness of paper-based documentary
value chain. Despite inevitable volatility, global trade is certain to grow over time, trade and historically less information available than large corporates, it is
particularly as the economies of developing nations continue to prosper. New trading challenging for banks to profitably serve SMEs in trade. As a result, more than 50% of
partners will continue to need to mitigate risk and gain access to funds and working SME trade finance requests are rejected, compared to around 7% for multinational
capital to fuel their growth. The digital revolution will open doors to new, non-bank companies. As digitisation reduces the cost to serve, banks will be able to unlock the
players focused on serving customer needs cost-effectively. The role of banks as value of the SME trade finance market.
central to trade is therefore less certain. Banks must adapt to succeed.
Governing bodies, such as regulators and NGOs, could prove the most significant
Corporates can see digital trade as an opportunity to cut costs and to transact more roadblocks to digital innovation. They must prioritise keeping trade safe, secure and
easily with new and existing business partners across the globe. Corporates need to compliant. But they should view digital as an opportunity to improve security and
work with banks to identify the best mutual solutions – in terms of products and how compliance.
the parties transact with each other. Ideally, this will involve a shift away from paper.
Furthermore, large corporates should work to establish consensus amongst Some regulators in Asia and the Middle East are attempting to become agents of
themselves. change but efforts to accelerate digitisation in trade finance will require a more
coordinated international approach, especially when it comes to new international
Some banks comment that some of the challenges associated with implementing new rules and standards. An equivalent to UCP600 that governs letters of credit
technologies stem from a lack of focus and direction from their big clients. transactions worldwide, must be established for DLT-enabled smart contracts before
there can be widespread adoption.
Banks may feel threatened by some digital initiatives, but their role will evolve.
Smaller banks may find it difficult or uneconomical to invest in digital infrastructure Facilitators should work with corporates and banks to drive the industry forward. The
and may decide to give way to their larger counterparts as scale becomes increasingly priorities vary by type of facilitator (e.g., private vs. public entities), but all must be
important. open to change. In more competitive parts of the value chain (e.g., shippers and
insurers as opposed to customs authorities), facilitators should consider ‘ease of
In the short term, banks will benefit from focusing on ‘being better at their core’, transacting’ a key success factor and differentiator.
improving service, reducing risk, and critically reducing cost-to-serve in documentary
trade, which could result in demand growth as underserved SMEs look to join the Given the size of the task, many individual players are reluctant to attempt to take it
trade finance ecosystem. on. Global organisations and consortia, such as ICC, SWIFT, R3 and DTC, are better
placed to propose solutions.
Banks should focus on creating a digital ring-fence with internal systems digitised and
built around the flow of data. As paper declines, SWIFT and BCG believe that banks Disruptors have the most to gain, but niche technologies will not digitise trade in
will be able to re-work the interfaces, rather than create entire new business isolation. Power will reside in large, influential groups, focused on delivering solutions
processes, systems and data flows from scratch. Banks should see start-up technology that meet the needs of corporates, the incentives of banks, and the concerns of
firms and FinTechs as potential partners rather than as threats. governing bodies. Disruptors should continue to innovate and act as a force for
change. They should also remain open to partnerships as they cannot single-handedly
BCG believes digital trade finance can cut costs by between US$2.5 billion and US$6 disrupt an industry with so many legacy players.
billion (or 35%) over three to five years, driven by:
The overarching call to action for all players is to continue to work together and build
•• Intelligent automation (e.g., intelligent OCR, artificial intelligence programs) on existing successes. A digital end-state holds enough benefits to make this
potentially long and painful journey worthwhile.
•• Collaborative digitisation (e.g., e-docs and electronic bills of lading)
Value to be unlocked
•• Emerging digital solutions (e.g., DLT and smart contracts) Little is certain, but BCG’s Trade Finance Model predicts that global trade flows will
grow 4.3% p.a., from US$15.8 trillion in 2016 to US$18.7 trillion in 2020.
In the medium-term, banks must defend their share and capture business from the

22 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 23

This will enable Trade Finance revenues to outpace the trade flows, growing 4.7% p.a. Glossary
due to growth in markets that rely on documentary trade:
API - An API is a set of functions and procedures that allow the creation of
•• Bull case: Trade flows grow 6.1% p.a. to US$20.0 trillion in 2020 and Trade applications which access the features or data of an operating system, application, or
Finance revenues grow at 6.0%, on par with trade flow forecasts, to US$46 billion other service
in 2020
BPO – Bank Payment Obligation is a standardised, irrevocable payment instruction
•• Base case: Trade flows grow 4.3% p.a. to pass the 2014 peak of US$18 trillion in that offers buyers and sellers a way to secure and finance their trade transactions,
2020 and Trade Finance will slightly outpace growth in trade flows to reach regardless of size, geography or industry
US$44 billion in 2020
IDR - Intelligent Document Recognition interprets content and patterns in documents
•• Bear case: Trade flows grow 2.4% p.a. to US$17.3 trillion in 2020 and Trade to automatically classify paper and electronic documents into different document
Finance revenues will grow at 3.4% p.a. to US$42 billion in 2020 types, and determine the beginning and end of a document

IoT - Internet of Things refers to the interconnection, via the Internet, of computing
devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data

KYC - Know Your Customer is the process of a business identifying and verifying the
identity of its clients

URBPO - Uniform Rules for Bank Payment Obligations are the rules adopted by the
International Chamber of Commerce for Bank Payment Obligations

AI - Artificial Intelligence is intelligence exhibited by machines, rather than humans

or other animals

AML - Anti-Money Laundering refers to a set of procedures, laws or regulations

designed to stop the practice of generating income through illegal actions

DLT - A Distributed Ledger a database that is consensually shared and synchronised

across networks spread across multiple sites, institutions or geographies. One of the
underlying technologies is blockchain, which is used by bitcoin.

ICC - The International Chamber of Commerce is an international business

organisation with member companies in 130+ countries spanning every sector of
private enterprise. The ICC has three main activities: rule setting, dispute resolution,
and policy advocacy

ML - Machine Learning is the subfield of computer science that gives computers the
ability to learn without being explicitly programmed

OCR - Optical Character Recognition involves the identification of printed characters

using photoelectric devices and computer software

UCP600 - UCP 600 is the latest rules of the letter of credit transactions issued by ICC

24 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 25

About the Authors
Sukand Ramachandran is a Partner and Managing Director in BCG’s London office. He is a core
member of the Financial Institutions practice and a topic leader in trade finance. You may contact
him by e-mail at [email protected].

Jarryd Porter is a Project Leader in BCG’s London office and is a member of the Financial Institu-
tions practice. You may contact him by e-mail at [email protected].

Rony Kort is a Consultant in BCG’s London office and is a member of the Financial Institutions
practice. You may contact him by e-mail at [email protected].

Ravi Hanspal is a Consultant in BCG’s London office and is a member of the Financial Institu-
tions practice. You may contact him by e-mail at [email protected].

Huny Garg (External Contributor) is the Head of Trade & Supply Chain at SWIFT in Belgium.
You may contact him by e-mail at [email protected].

Acknowledgments
BCG and SWIFT would like to thank the various individuals and organisations we interviewed as
part of the research for this paper.

26 Digital Innovation in Trade Finance The Boston Consulting Group 27

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