The development of BPOs is progressing. Recent developments have included:

1. URBPO rule book is now available on-line on from the ICC(International Chamber of Commerce) Business Bookstore ICC Publication No. 750 , 2013 Edition - #tradefinance #ICCBPO #ISO20022. (The ICC Banking Commission has developed the Uniform Rules for Bank Payment Obligation in partnership with financial messaging provider SWIFT to take into account the legitimate expectations of all relevant sectors. Bankers, traders, lawyers and all trade practitioners who deal with BPO will refer to these rules on a daily basis.)
2. ICC has announced that the URBPO rules will be effective from July 1st 2013
3. ICC is to provide training on the BPO rules. ICC is set to run a one-off training and official launch of the ICC Uniform Rules for Bank Payment Obligation (URBPO) at its Paris headquarters on 17 May 2013. Using case studies, the event will feature a full public presentation of the new rules, followed by an exclusive training session under the expertise of members of the Rules' Drafting Group.

Nevertheless, corporates have been slow to embrace BPOs. Bankers are finding that the interest is there, but that few companies are willing to act as "guinea pigs". Although Standard Chartered issued the first end-to-end BPO transaction with BP last year, they have also found that other clients have been slow to adopt BPOs.

To date, just six banks are live with the BPO: Standard Chartered, Bank of China, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), Siam Commercial Bank, Korea Exchange Bank and Hua Nan Commercial Bank. A further 10 are ready to go live, including Barclays.

It's hoped that BPOs will initially find its market among large corporates who have already got the technological capability to process paperless transactions, particularly for commodities.