Bladex enters alliance with TradeAssets, driving digitalisation and access to trade finance

By Edlyn Cardoza

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (Bladex) has entered a strategic alliance with Dubai-headquartered Fintech Innovations International DMCC, owner of the TradeAssets e-Marketplace for financial institutions. Partnering with TradeAssets will enable Bladex to further promote interbank relations, providing customers greater access to trade-related financing solutions. As part of the alliance, Bladex has become the first bank in Latin America to join the TradeAssets platform.

“Bladex is building its strategic plan on a unique business model that will benefit from a series of critical alliances, such as the one with TradeAssets, which aims to grasp the existing finance opportunities across important trade corridors for Latin America in an efficient and safe manner,” said Bladex’s CEO, Jorge Salas. “We are enthusiastic about this strategic alliance as its value proposition meets several strategic goals for Bladex: it facilitates access to new markets; accelerates clients or counterparties growth and generates operational and efficiency improvements which contribute to adding technological strength. Additionally, it enables risk sharing and invites liquidity into Latin America.”

Bladex and TradeAssets will collaborate to attract more Latin American banks to the platform. This will support flows through trade corridors connecting the region with Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, resulting in an attractive value proposal for Bladex’s stakeholders.

TradeAssets will facilitate the establishment of relationships and efficient deal-making in new geographies. For example, as a result of this initiative, Bladex is already engaged in conversations with several banks in India, where the LatAm-India corridor has huge importance, with total trade flows reaching USD43 billion in 2021.

Sumit K. Roy, Co-founder & President of TradeAssets, said: “We are excited and privileged by this partnership with Bladex. As a market leader in the Latin-American trade finance space, Bladex provides a unique window into the entire Region and is a prominent institution keen on raising its international connectivity within the continent and beyond. With this collaboration we aim to grasp new business opportunities, while reducing the trade finance gap in Latin America.”