It’s no secret that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face the greatest hurdles in accessing trade finance affordably. The slow pace of progress has meant that only a small proportion of businesses (typically large-multinationals) could access it due to the associated administrative and financial barriers. This has resulted in a trade-financing gap for SMEs, which is estimated to be US$1.5tn.

But all this could be about to change. Publicis Sapient, the digital business transformation hub of Publicis Groupe, and Microsoft have today announced their partnership supporting the launch of the world’s first end-to-end digital trade bank, Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank (AGTB).

The bank will aim to bridge the US$1.5tn deficit by overcoming barriers to conventional trade finance and banking; according to Publicis Sapient, as a result, global GDP could increase by nearly 5% and trade by 15%.

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“AGTB is rethinking and rebuilding trade finance. Our simplified and data-first approach develops a thriving partner-ecosystem and innovative value propositions,” said Daniel Gould, deputy chief executive officer, AGTB. “We set out to build a transformative trade finance bank that provides superior client experience, mitigates risk and delivers an integrated, real-time offering to clients.

“By choosing market-leading partners such as Publicis Sapient and Microsoft, we are able to collaborate and take advantage of their best-in-class capabilities to harness the latest technological advances. In building a fully cloud-based and data-driven enterprise, we aim to improve cross-border trade finance and stimulate collaboration within a growing trade ecosystem. Together we are fixing trade finance.”

Utilising leading-edge technologies, the bank said it would offer client-centric trade banking services to a broad range of corporate clients to dramatically reduce costs, risks and improve efficiencies in the financing of trade.

Headquartered in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) financial centre, based in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, with additional offices to follow, ADTB will facilitate trade between the Middle East, Asia and the UK.

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