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While the top-five rankings overall, rounded out in order by Citi, HSBC and Commerzbank, remain unchanged from last year, there were big changes in the global top 10. Notable among these was the rise of Société Générale, from 14th place to sixth; RBS, jumping from 12th to seventh despite plans to unwind its global transaction services business; and ING, the biggest riser, from 20th place last year to ninth this year. BNP Paribas is the notable casualty, dropping out of the top 10 globally from seventh place last year.
What stands out from the results is that simply having the biggest global trade-finance network – which both Citi and HSBC can lay claim to – does not make you the best trade-finance provider. Some of the reasons for this can be found in two data sets also produced during the survey process.
The first is the share of business that banks receive from each client. We asked survey respondents to state what percentage of their trade finance business they conducted with their top three providers globally and regionally.