Firms cut paper, seek speed in trade finance shift

Rapid onboarding lets firms pivot quickly as tariffs force changes in supplier markets.

Corporate treasurers in the Asia-Pacific region are pushing for more analytics, automation, and less reliance on paper in trade finance, as geopolitical tensions and US tariffs under President Donald Trump add uncertainty to global supply chains.

“In the current environment, treasurers would like to focus on stability, predictability, as well as cash resilience,” George Fong, managing director and head of trade and supply chain finance for the Asia-Pacific at Bank of America (BofA), told Asian Banking & Finance. Clients expect more robust and comprehensive data prediction that they can use for analytics, he added.

The volatility caused by tariff disputes has made firms more conscious of their exposure to risks across borders. Treasurers are seeking faster ways to adjust financing structures when supply chains shift. One priority is reducing reliance on paper documentation.

Firms are increasingly using standby letters of credit and open account arrangements—credit terms allowing goods to be shipped before payment—rather than traditional, paper-heavy instruments.

“We’re providing solutions to take out the paper for open account payment processing,” Fong said in a Microsoft Teams interview.

Whilst demand for digital solutions is clear, banks and service providers have struggled to deliver them. Past industry efforts such as the Bolero digital trade platform in the late 1990s and SWIFT’s Trade Services Utility, which closed in 2020, failed to gain traction.

That track record has made many participants cautious. “A lot of parties in the industry or in the supply chain have taken a wait-and-see approach given the industry’s attempts in the past,” Fong said.

The Asia-Pacific region faces additional hurdles. Unlike Europe, where regulations are more harmonised, APAC’s fragmented legal frameworks complicate cross-border adoption.

Interoperability is another barrier: fintech-bank collaborations often create isolated “digital islands” that can’t link with other systems, slowing commercialisation.

Despite these challenges, expectations are rising. Clients want data to be delivered seamlessly through application programming interfaces (API), and some are partnering with fintechs for specialised solutions in industries such as commodities.

Ease and speed of adoption have become critical. “We are able to onboard 80 suppliers in China and India in a matter of one week,” Fong said. Rapid onboarding lets firms pivot quickly as tariffs or trade restrictions force changes in supplier markets.

BofA is responding with its CashPro and CashPro Trade platforms, which help corporate clients manage treasury, trade, and credit in one system.

The platforms support payments, receivables, liquidity, investments, foreign exchange, and trade finance.

The bank is also working with fintechs to digitise and automate end-to-end processes and expand its working capital solutions.

“We’ve started embarking on a digital transformation project over the last few years, and this is going to span out for the next few years,” Fong said. “This is going to decide and transform our trade and supply chain finance business through the next couple of years.”