Bladex Joins TradeAssets to Boost Access to Trade Finance in LatAm

Panama-based multinational bank Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (Bladex) has become the first bank in Latin America to join Dubai-headquartered Fintech Innovations International DMCC’s TradeAssets platform.

By partnering with TradeAssets, which is an eMarketplace for financial institutions (FIs) that helps banks in emerging markets gain access to trade finance and liquidity, Bladex will be able to offer its customers greater access to trade-related financing solutions, the companies said Monday (Nov. 21) in a press release.

“We are enthusiastic about this strategic alliance as its value proposition meets several strategic goals for Bladex,” Bladex CEO Jorge Salas said in the release. “It facilitates access to new markets, accelerates clients or counterparties growth, and generates operational and efficiency improvements which contribute to adding technological strength.”

TradeAssets has 100 bank members from about 30 countries. Since 2020, over $2.5 billion has been posted in volumes, according to the release.

With this new strategic alliance, Bladex and TradeAssets will collaborate to draw more Latin American banks to the platform and support flows through the trade corridors connecting the region with other continents, the release stated.

“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,” TradeAssets Co-founder and President Sumit K. Roy said in the release. “With this collaboration we aim to grasp new business opportunities, while reducing the trade finance gap in Latin America.”

This announcement comes two weeks after Bladex announced that it had become the first Latin American bank to join Swiss FinTech Komgo’s trade finance platform, saying the new alliance will increase the bank’s capabilities to foster international trade in the region.

“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 Komgo, which aims to promote financing solutions for foreign trade through new technologies that adapt to clients’ needs and boost the business,” Salas said at the time.

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