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With hindsight, the summer of 2001 was a precarious moment to launch an annual ranking of the best banks of commercial financing in the world. A few months later, the September 11 attacks would destroy the New York World Trade Center, triggering a global economic slowdown. A plane travel field stopped, the ports closed and the borders are tightening – leading to international trade at a dead point.
Covered organizations Global finance The first registration would face economic upheavals in the coming decades: among them, the 2008 global financial crisis, the European sovereign debt crisis, the Chinese stock market crash of 2015 and the cocovid pandemic. As illustrated by organizations appearing in Global financeThe 25th edition of this list, however, the commercial financing bank survived these crises and prospered.
Since our first prizes, commercial barriers have fallen into the world. In 2001, China entered the World Trade Organization while the EU struck several free trade agreements. Asia’s regional economic partnership was signed in 2020. The African free trade area was established the following year. These international agreements and others generally reduce prices and improve global activities.
But global trade remains a complex process, still complicated by a multitude of laws and regulations. These include the management of prices, quotas and customs; comply with import and export laws; Determine and pay the appropriate taxes; and join the sanctions and embargoes. Documents abound.
Since 2001, paper documentation, including credit letters and lading invoices, has been scanned. Electronic documents, electronic portals and commercial gates shorten all transaction times and reduce human error bodies. Artificial intelligence and automation rationalize the verification of documents, compliance controls and risk assessment. Distributed major book technologies help reduce fraud. And the Internet of Objects follows the products in real time, offering a vital overview of the supply chain.
Price winners are evolving with the market
Global finance The best laureates of trade financing banks have excelled in cross -border funding, in particular financing of the supply chain, financing of emerging markets and the adoption of technologies.
The award program initially focused on banks operating in 30 countries and regions, which Global finance understood underwent a period of technological change. “The amount of international trade financed online is low but is starting to grow quickly,” we reported in 2001.
That year, Citigroup won the best honors in the United States, the Americas and the world. Global finance called it the “largest export financing arranger under the American export-import bank [EXIM] Programs “and praised its” vast global network “. The winner in Asia-Regional DBS “turned into regional power”; It is now one of the biggest banks in Asia.
Citigroup won similar prizes in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, Global finance highlighted the work of the banana banamex subsidiary of the bank, which had financed the purchase by Aeromexico of spare parts and maintenance services. It was the first Mexican predominantly funding in peso supported by Exim, we noted. Citi’s support for credit-garanting facility in local currency has attracted generalized recognition in the Mexican business world.
International trade cooperation would only grow. In 2005, the Deutsche Bank closed a purchase installation of $ 100 million provided by insured for Sadia, a first Brazilian producer of poultry, meats and processed foods.
“In a demonstration of German financial engineering, the Deutsche Bank acted as the main arranger and agent for the complex installation, which brought together 16 European and Latin American banks as buyers of Sadia export claims”, have we reported. The agreement has earned Deutsche Bank the Country Award for Germany.
In 2006, the new supply chains connecting mass retailers with foreign suppliers challenged commercial financing banks to design new ways of doing business. Global finance Hailed Abn Amro for having confirmed a letter of credit from the Metropolitan Bank, based in Karachi, to import canola in Pakistan. By confirming the letter of credit, the Dutch bank forced himself to pay the suppliers once the appropriate documents were presented as proof of the delivery of the goods. It was the first transaction carried out as part of the World Trade Financing Program of the International Corporation.
The following year, commercial bankers played an increasingly sophisticated role in the proper functioning of world supply chains. In particular, they have regularly increased the available capital for suppliers on emerging markets. BNP Paribas, for example, was praised for providing “a wide range of international guarantees”.
Bad weather the world credit crisis
After the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 and the global credit crisis that followed, international trade decreased in 2009 for the first time in 27 years. Credit was no longer available at an affordable price, if necessary, because commercial banks became more cautious. However, some avant-garde institutions have expanded their business to emerging markets. Standard Chartered has acquired banks in Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan and other countries, winning a regional prize for its work in Asia.
Global trade began to bounce back in 2010. Large commercial banks worked with export credit agencies and multilateral institutions to develop financial products that lowered the risks, restored confidence and accelerate cash flow.
Two years later, Global finance Examined banks in 78 countries and regions, even if the European sovereign debt crisis has aroused fears of a retraction in world trade. Many European banks have withdrawn the credit of Asia, now a significant manufacturing region. After Basel III, certain institutions have struggled to respond to international capital, liquidity requirements and to take advantage of the ceilings, abandoning commercial financing. Those who maintained themselves faced a meticulous examination and carried out higher capital costs to their customers.
New regulations such as Basel III have stimulated a technological revolution, because banks have seen in new technological tools a means of doing better deals and satisfying regulators. SWIFT has accelerated payments by reducing the need for manual processing of commercial documents while helping banks meet the sanctions and requirements of LMA / KYC.
By 2018, new platforms have improved commercial capacities and rationalized back-office treatment. Data and analyzes seemed to be a new source of value, in particular in predictive analysis. CCRMAINER, an Internet platform that manages the distribution of commercial financing assets between them, credit issuers and fund managers, have received our prize for the best commercial financing infrastructure. With more than 14 million commercial transactions per year, BNP Paribas won the best bank for trade financing.
The digitization helped to fill the commercial gap between developed and developing countries. In 2019, Global finance said: “The main commercial financing banks are about to transform their industry … into a more efficient and transparent digitized model. This could help bankers to raise the resources necessary to fill the commercial financing gap on emerging markets and, armed with transaction data, personalize their commercial offers to better meet the needs of each customer. »»
Covid has intensified digital transformation. In 2020 and 2021, companies and banks fought against liquidity problems and disturbances of the supply chain. Inherited platforms and processes have created additional obstacles. But technology has often provided solutions.
Banks and other providers have adopted digitization strategies and introduced efficiency gains in their processes that have finally lowered the costs, helped them manage their balance sheets and attracted new investors. Consider the global winner of 2021, Citi. Its commercial financing toolbox included applications that improved connectivity between commercial financing partners.
New storms, new solutions
The volume of global trade increased in 2022 and 2023 despite the increase in energy prices, inflation, growing interest rates and repercussions of the Russian-Ukraine war. Last year, the International Chamber of Commerce predicted an annual increase in global trade from 3.8% to 2032. Growth is growth in more than 100 countries and regions examined by Global finance For the Best Finance Banks Awards 2025.
The horizon is not without clouds. Protectionism, including new and higher prices, can close certain international doors. Monetary risks now require commercial financing banks to develop coverage instruments to manage fluctuations in volatile markets.