BNP Paribas, Vanderlande, Surecomp complete API pilot for trade finance guarantees

Surecomp has announced that, together with BNP Paribas and Vanderlande, it has successfully piloted a new corporate-to-bank connectivity standard designed by Swift and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). 

The API-based communication channel enabled Dutch logistics company Vanderlande to request a guarantee through Surecomp’s RIVO platform, which was transmitted securely to BNP Paribas in real-time without manual intervention.

Aimed at facilitating the automation of corporate-to-bank trade finance exchange, the initiative - which leverages an XML formatted open-API message - is designed to be easy and cost-effective to implement. It also improves data integrity, promotes greater agility and is particularly well suited to corporates with limited transaction volumes.

“This is the beginning of a new and very promising journey in the digitalisation of bank guarantees,” commented Marie-Laurence Faure, Head of Digital Trade Channels at BNP Paribas. “It is a significant industry milestone, and we invite all other trade finance stakeholders to join this initiative for the benefit of the entire ecosystem.”

“API-first solutions are the key enabler to lowering thresholds to digital trade transformation,” added Enno-Burghard Weitzel, Surecomp’s Chief Solutions Officer. 

 

Majority of FIs struggle to maximise the value from their cloud investments

The Capgemini Research Institute’s World Cloud Report for Financial Services 2025 has revealed a clear divide between how traditional and new-age financial institutions view their cloud technology investments. 

Most banks and insurers adopt cloud solutions with the primary business objective to drive operational efficiency (84%), while fintechs and insurtechs are pursuing cloud to accelerate sales (62%). The analysis further suggests only 12% of financial services organisations can be considered ‘cloud innovators’.

Financial institutions are facing a challenging environment, ranging from data collection and management inefficiencies, cybersecurity gaps, and regulatory complexities to evolving customer expectations. According to the report, banks and insurers are increasingly turning to cloud solutions to mitigate these risks. This is evident in a 26% increase in the mention of cloud-related terms in the annual reports of the top 40 tier-one banking and insurance firms globally between 2020 and 2023.

However, firms face roadblocks in maximising cloud value as operational challenges continue to influence C-level decision-makers, slowing down the return on cloud transformation initiatives and investment. Fewer than 40% of executives say they are highly satisfied with their cloud solution’s outcomes broadly, including its ability to provide reduced operational costs (33%), enhanced scalability (27%), accelerated innovation (26%), advanced data and analytics (24%), and improved security and compliance (21%).

The report highlights that challenges arise due to financial institutions taking a lift-and-shift approach to cloud migration, rapid scaling that produces higher-than-anticipated costs, complicated pricing models, and inefficient governance and management practices.

Banks and insurers hold a wealth of personal, financial, and transactional data about their customers. However, they face multiple challenges in handling this data and keeping it secure. According to the report, three main concerns were highlighted by the majority of industry executives:

• Legacy systems impeding siloed data integration (71%).
• Protection of customer data and difficulty in maintaining privacy (70%).
• Lackluster data quality, including incorrect and missing information (69%).

With Europe’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) set to take effect in January 2025 and mounting regulatory pressures worldwide, financial institutions will soon face even more stringent compliance requirements, particularly over the increased use of technology platforms and third parties. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent ruling on open banking, known as Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, reinforces the importance of cloud-native solutions to provide the necessary scale, keep the cost of data exchange low for the industry, and remain compliant. Increased data, security, and regulatory constraints will mean organisations will have to work harder to derive meaningful insights and prioritise innovation.

The report further highlights that 81% of executives find the lack of appropriate technology impedes their business goals. Most respondents consider artificial intelligence (81%), predictive analytics (75%), and robotic process automation (65%), crucial for supporting a cloud ecosystem. However, traditional financial institutions currently fall short in the maturity and skills needed for these technologies: 15% display capability maturity in AI, 30% show capability maturity in predictive analytics, and 22% exhibit capability maturity in robotic process automation.

Based on the research, 12% of banks and insurers can be classified as cloud innovators who leverage a well-defined cloud vision supported by scalable platforms and mature ecosystems to generate superior top-line results. This strategy is reaping significant rewards:

• 32% of innovators exceed upsell and cross-sell targets compared to 12% of their counterparts.
• 32% exceed data monetisation targets versus 10% of other banks and insurers.
• 22% exceed innovative product development targets compared to 10% of financial institutions.

To accelerate operational efficiency and innovation, the report suggests banks and insurers must apply a data-driven, cloud-focused approach. This requires an attention toward creating applications natively for the cloud, investing in cloud-skilled professionals, building a culture that encourages the sharing of ideas and best practices, and democratise access to technology for all teams.

 

IOSCO reports on transition plans disclosures

IOSCO has published a report on Transition Plans Disclosures. Developed by IOSCO’s Sustainable Finance Taskforce (STF), the report sets out how transition plans disclosures can support the objectives of investor protection and market integrity, shares challenges and key findings which point towards a series of coordinated actions for IOSCO and other stakeholders to consider in the future which concern four main aspects:

1. Where transition plans are published, encouraging consistency and comparability through guidance on transition plan disclosures.
2. Promoting assurance of transition plan disclosures.
3. Enhancing legal and regulatory clarity and oversight.
4. Building capacity.

On consistency and comparability, stakeholders suggested additional guidance on transition plans disclosures could clarify disclosure expectations and lead towards more standardised information. They see alignment of guidance on transition plans disclosures as key so that investors can understand and compare information across different jurisdictions, even though national transition plans requirements may differ.

IOSCO’s report, therefore, welcomes the IFRS Foundation’s plan to develop educational material and, if needed, application guidance to support transition plans disclosures that provide investors with the information needed to make informed decisions about risks and opportunities. IOSCO encourages the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to maintain a high level of interoperability of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards with key jurisdictional standards as they develop this educational material.

To enhance clarity, IOSCO also encourages relevant standard setters to consider providing markers on what would constitute forward-looking information in accordance with their standards and governance processes. This can support reporting entities in managing potential liability risks while disclosing much needed forward-looking, climate related, information.

 

Sustainable Fitch expands sustainable transition tool to additional sectors

Sustainable Fitch has launched an expanded Transition Assessment analytical product. It has developed new sector-specific methodologies covering additional hard-to-abate sectors – Mining, Steel and Cement. This is in addition to the Transition Assessment covering Energy (Oil & Gas and Power Generation).

The Transition Assessment is an opinion on the ambition, credibility and implementation of entities’ climate transition plans in hard-to-abate sectors.

The assessment is designed to help companies and investors to benchmark and differentiate between companies on their progress towards net zero using a transparent methodology with consistent and comparable scoring and indicators.

In developing the new methodologies, Sustainable Fitch says it has applied sector-specific emission pathways and decarbonisation considerations for mining, steel and cement. The assessment is primarily a quantitative analysis, with thresholds for scoring forward- and backward-looking indicators calibrated using benchmark climate scenarios. It also incorporates qualitative elements and analyst judgement.

The methodology assesses climate targets and transition plans against net zero by 2050 climate scenarios, but we can make necessary adjustments if the entity is based or largely operates in an emerging market. It builds on the transition framework developed by the Sustainable Markets Initiative and its Energy Transition Task Force.

 

Electronic trading gains momentum in convertible bonds

At first glance, convertible bonds might not seem like a perfect fit for electronic trading. Convertible bonds combine elements of bonds, stocks and derivatives, making them a unique asset class. Relative to products like equities, US Treasuries and even traditional corporate bonds, “converts” are much more varied and complicated in structure and considerably less liquid.

However, recent advances in electronic execution quality and trading efficiency have captured the attention of convertible bond investors. In Europe, roughly half of convertible bond investors now trade at least some of their volume on electronic platforms. In the US, electronic trading of convertible bonds was slow to catch on initially but is now gaining momentum. As recently as 2022, only about 1 in 10 convertible bond investors were trading electronically. That share has nearly doubled to 20%.

“The growth of electronic trading in the convertible bond market has created a virtuous cycle, with more liquidity providers creating deeper markets, attracting more liquidity takers and fostering competition among price makers,” said Jesse Forster, Senior Analyst at Coalition Greenwich Market Structure & Technology and author of ‘Electronic Trading Growth in Convertible Bonds’. “This has led to better prices, reduced opportunity costs and improved execution quality for market participants.”

As traders become more comfortable with electronic platforms, they are starting to place larger orders, with data from Tradeweb showing that trades with notional values of $5m and higher have grown more than 50% year over year. The shift toward larger, more difficult orders is led by several factors, including improved performance, reliability and functionality of multi-dealer platforms (MDPs), as well as enhanced data access and workflow efficiency tools.

Regulations, such as MiFID, have played a part in driving the adoption of MDPs, as firms are forced to demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable steps to obtain the best possible result for their clients. In the U.S., a similar emphasis on achieving best execution through better performance and efficiencies has taken hold, with MDPs providing a centralised platform for investors to access multiple dealers and compare prices.

“Convertible bond traders want the same automation, execution and analytics tools their colleagues are using over on the corporate bond desk, and dealers are looking to inject efficiency and cost reductions into their convertible trading operation,” added Forster. “The resulting growth in convertibles e-trading proves that when market participants have the right tools and incentives, even less-liquid products can be traded electronically.”

 

Koxa partners with DebtBook for bank connectivity

Koxa has added DebtBook's Cash Management solution as its latest connected application. DebtBook is a provider of cloud-based software solutions for treasury and accounting teams in the government and nonprofit industry. The Cash Management platform provides cash managers, treasurers, and finance teams with purpose-built software to power the efficient management of cash flow and liquidity.

Cash Management is the first vertical software solution to offer bank connectivity via Koxa's Treasury Gateway platform, joining multiple Koxa-connected horizontal ERP providers.

DebtBook’s clients will have API access to their account information at PNC, Regions Bank, Bank of America, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and a growing list of US banks.

DebtBook is also the first software solution to use Koxa's developer toolkit to integrate with Treasury Gateway. The developer toolkit includes a set of drop-in micro-front ends that software providers can embed in their solution along with Koxa's APIs to provide bank connectivity powered by Koxa.

“Our partnership with Koxa marks a significant step forward in empowering finance and treasury teams with enhanced control and visibility over their cash flow,” said Tyler Traudt, Co-Founder and CEO at DebtBook. "By integrating directly with Koxa's Treasury Gateway, we're able to offer our clients seamless, secure access to essential bank data across leading financial institutions.”