How do the three trade finance outsource giants compare?
The three leading providers of trade finance outsourcing are Wachovia, ABN-Amro and Standard Chartered, probably in that order although it is not an easy area to measure such things. Each bank offers its own flavours of outsourcing, in part to do with the nature of its underlying infrastructure, in terms of systems and geographical presence. In fact, the total number of recruits, even across these three heavyweights, is still not excessive. However, there does seem to be growing interest, particularly in the full outsourcing model such as that for which AIB has recently signed. ABN-Amro claims to have over 30 outsource customers in the trade finance arena. However, only a small number of these have what Daniel Cotti, managing director, global trade advisory working capital group, describes as the ‘heavy’ version, with regional US player, Key Bank, as the largest. A bank such as Shinsei, for instance, uses ABN-Amro’s internet platform on a white label basis but only for part of the back
