Trade finance keeps global commerce moving by managing risks and securing the flow of capital and goods. ICC sets the global standards that make this system work, enabling banks and companies to trade with trust, efficiency and resilience.
Every day, businesses of all sizes rely on trade finance to buy, sell and ship goods across borders.
From export guarantees and supply chain financing to letters of credit, these instruments help banks and business manage risks and ensure sellers gets paid, buyers receive goods and capital flows safely.
Clear rules, common standards and trusted tools underpin the smooth functioning of this vast machinery of global commerce. Without them, trade transactions slow, the cost of doing business climbs and both business and economies ultimately pay the price.
As the world’s standard-setter for trade finance, ICC creates the rules that keeps transactions predictable and enforceable across jurisdictions.
Together with members from leading banks and corporates to traders and top executives – we shape the way trade finance works. We provide data and evidence, deliver authoritative interpretations, drive digitalisation, support risk-based financial crime controls and develop future-fit rules and standards.
Through close collaboration with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and regular engagement with major standard-setters such as the Basel Committee and regulators like the European Union, the Bank of England, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, among others, we ensure business expertise helps shape the policies and frameworks that govern global finance.
ICC Global Banking Commission
Tomasch Kubiak, Policy Manager – Banking and Trade Finance & Vidusshi Singh, Policy Advisor
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For over a decade, the ICC Trade Register has supplied regulators and investors with robust, multibank data to evidence the historically low loss and default rates of trade and export finance across products and regions. Aligning capital and liquidity requirements with this reality will free capacity for banks to serve small- and medium-sized (SMEs) and emerging markets, improve pricing and reduce the financing gap without compromising financial safety and soundness. Each year, we onboard more banks to strengthen the reports data coverage and enhance the quality of evidence-based advocacy. At the same time, we are deepening engagement with authorities and through forums to embed data-driven calibration that supports more accurate and effective policy decisions.
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We are accelerating the shift to digital trade – from updated rules that allow letters of credit and collections to be handled electronically (eUCP/eURC) to a new framework for fully digital transactions (URDTT). Together with standardised APIs and data models developed through the Digital Standards Initiative, these tools make trade faster, more transparent and secure. Clear legal recognition of electronic negotiable documents – supported by ongoing work at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) – together with harmonised technical standards will reduce delays, errors and fraud risk while improving visibility and compliance. Jurisdictions that adopt these standards will unlock quicker processing and wider participation in global value chains. To achieve this at scale, governments and market actors should operationalise ICC eRules, embed electronic records in domestic law and support interoperability via widely adopted APIs, while promoting cross border legal recognition.
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Trade finance is highly structured and historically low risk, yet compliance frameworks often impose blanket requirements that slow transactions and exclude small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). ICC brings together trade finance decision makers from banks, corporates and fintech to exchange experiences and best practice on appropriate risk assessments, dual-use checks and trade-based money laundering typologies – translating insights into practical guidance for banks and regulators. Through the support of our global network we carefully consider regional perspectives and needs, and advocate for proportionate approaches that direct supervisory attention where risk is highest and that cut down on duplicative checks. Such measures improve efficiency while maintaining robust safeguards against financial crime, resulting in more effective controls, less friction for legitimate trade and broader access to finance for businesses worldwide.
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Sustainable trade finance is essential to channel capital toward low‑carbon and socially responsible economic activity. Yet the market needs common, practical definitions to avoid fragmentation and greenwashing. ICC’s Principles for Sustainable Trade and Trade Finance provide a globally applicable framework to assess sustainability, offering clear, transparent and consistent guidelines along with standardised definitions. These Principles are designed to support business in aligning with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, while enabling banks, corporates and investors to classify and report transactions confidently. By embedding these standards, the market can scale credible sustainable trade finance, maintain a level playing field and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable and inclusive global economy.
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ICC announced today the formal ratification of the Principles for Social Trade Finance (PSoTF) and the Principles for Sustainability-Linked Supply Chain Finance (PSL-SCF), following a public consultation launched at the United Nation’s 4th Financing for Development Conference in Seville in July. Together with the existing Principles for Green Trade Finance (PGTF), these newly ratified standards […]
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) today confirmed that a second cohort of leading international banks has endorsed the ICC Principles for Green Trade Finance (PGTF). Building on the inaugural endorsements by Standard Chartered, Santander, ING Bank and Commerzbank in June 2025, this fresh wave of endorsements is expected to bring total market coverage to approximately 70% of Europe’s trade finance sector.
Trade finance underpins 80% to 90% of global trade, making it one of the most influential financial instruments in the world. Yet to date, it remains largely untapped as a tool for climate action. ICC, Boston Consulting Group and leading trade banks have developed the most comprehensive approach yet to assessing sustainability across the entire trade journey, paving the way for a new tool that could unlock trillions of dollars in climate finance.
Ahead of the G7 Summit in Alberta next month, ICC joined the business federations of the Group of Seven (B7) Summit for the first time as an official strategic partner, calling on G7 leaders to prioritise the revitalisation of the multilateral trading system.
World leaders convened in New York for General Assembly week to discuss ways to increase global cooperation and accelerate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Representing more than 45 million companies worldwide, ICC was in New York to highlight the crucial role the private sector is playing in driving the goals.
ICC and Swift, the global leader in secure financial messaging services, have released the first application programming interface (API) industry standards for bank guarantees and standby letters of credit.
ICC and TradeFlow Capital Management have unveiled plans to launch the ICC SME TradeFlow Fund to improve access to trade finance for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the commodities sector.
The Wolfsberg Group, ICC and BAFT Trade Finance Principles outline the standards for the control of financial crime risks (FCRs) associated with Trade Finance activities. Last updated in 2017, this updated edition adds guidance on the specific application of controls by banks in the context of open account trade transactions. More specifically, they elaborate on receivables purchase techniques, as defined by the Global Supply Chain Finance Forum. They also provide recommendations on the application of controls by banks in the context of financial institutions trade loans (FITL), also known as bank-to-bank trade loans.
Leverage the world’s most comprehensive benchmark for trade and supply chain finance. Backed by over a decade of aggregated data from leading global banks and over $25.7 trillion in transactions, the ICC Trade Register delivers actionable insights into risk performance, default and loss rates, and emerging market opportunities.
The ICC Uniform Rules for Collections are a practical set of Rules to aid bankers, buyers, and sellers in the collections process. The Rules have been prepared to resolve problems that practitioners have experienced in their everyday operations since 1979.
The eUCP Version 2.1 came into force on 1 July 2019. Existing ICC rules, such as UCP 600, while being invaluable in a paper world, provide limited protection when applied to electronic transactions.
Since its initial publication in 2002 (Publication 645), International Standard Banking Practice (ISBP) has become an invaluable aid to trade finance professionals when creating documents for presentation under, or for the examination of documents presented under, a documentary credit.
The ICC Banking Commission provided a press release announcing the launch of a Working Group to anticipate and accompany the digitalisation of trade finance.
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