Seven banks are building an inclusive, global, multi-bank, multi-corporate network called Trade Information Network that allows corporates to share purchase order and invoice information with their trade finance banks for pre-export financing.
ANZ, Banco Santander, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered have unveiled TIN, which is expected to be operating under a new corporate entity by the end of the year. The pilot phase will go live in the first quarter of 2019 with founding banks and select corporates, before it is extended in the second quarter to other banks and corporates. Full launch is scheduled for the third quarter of 2019.
More than 20 additional banks from around the world are actively participating in TIN's development, with several corporates having already expressed a wish to join the pilot. The banks say TIN will help unlock trade finance for small and medium-sized companies, by leveraging the relationships they have as suppliers to the banks' clients. SMEs often claim to be shut out of trade finance.
 John Ahearn, Citi |
CGI will provide the technology for TIN, which will have open architecture and standardized connectivity based on a governance model similar to the Swift network, to encourage adoption across the supply-chain ecosystem.