Trade digitisation featured prominently at Sibos Frankfurt 2025. Standard Chartered’s global head of documentary trade, Samuel Mathew, explained how the bank combines its deep presence in Asia, Middle East and Africa with industry standards and technology to modernise trade and trade finance. He described its work with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and Swift, its trade tracking solution and the urgent need for interoperability. Risk mitigation through network strength Mathew said Standard Chartered is “a global bank, but with a very strong presence in Asia. We cover emerging markets, we are deeply embedded in them, and we can take on risk in these markets.” This allows the bank to provide “risk mitigation solutions” for regional, global and local financial institution clients amid global uncertainty. He linked this to the bank’s ability to finance supply chains and documentary trade transactions in markets where other banks may have limited appetite, giving clients confidence in counterparty risk management. Leading on standards and trade tracking He described Standard Chartered as “a leader in the digitisation space,” citing its work with the ICC and Swift. He led the ICC application programming interface (API) standards initiative now published. These standards let banks and corporates exchange data digitally, through APIs , reducing delays and discrepancies. The bank’s trade tracking solution lets both financial institution and corporate clients “check the status of trade transactions, the status of the vessel and the position of goods” in near real time. This enhances transparency and reduces the risk of fraud or delivery disputes. Tokenisation and shared ledgers Mathew said digital assets and tokenisation are “very relevant” for how Standard Chartered brings solutions to clients. On Swift’s new shared digital ledger, he called it “an interesting development. Payments are the first use case and if that is successful, it can clearly be replicated on the trade side as well.” This reflects the bank’s broader strategy of experimenting with digital assets use casesthrough pilots and consortiums while focusing on concrete benefits such as faster settlement, richer data and better compliance. Compliance, ESG and fraud controls On compliance and environmental, social and governance (ESG), he stressed that fraud typically stems from counterparties, so “you’ve got to know your clients well.” Controls are built into know-your-customer (KYC) processes and “with tools such as artificial intelligence (AI), there’s going to be a lot of augmentation” in risk reduction. He also noted that digitising underlying trade documents, such as bills of lading supports sustainability by reducing paper use and enabling better tracking of goods movement and carbon emissions across supply chains. Driving interoperability Mathew stressed that “interoperability is key. I cannot overemphasise it.” He said that while standards now exist, platforms must “start talking to each other” rather than requiring separate memberships. Without interoperability, consolidation may be required because clients and banks “cannot deal with so many counterparties.” He noted that while trade finance is mostly digital, underlying trade transactions still rely heavily on paper and manual processes. Scaling digital trade Mathew’s remarks show that Standard Chartered is not only digitising its own trade finance processes but trying to reshape the wider ecosystem. By leveraging its deep emerging-market network and credibility with bodies such as the ICC and Swift, it is pushing for interoperability and common standards so banks and corporates can exchange data seamlessly across borders. If these efforts succeed, trade digitisation could shift from closed loop platforms to an industry-wide framework that reduces fraud, shortens settlement times and cuts paper use, supporting both commercial efficiency and sustainability. For Standard Chartered, the prize is to cement its role as a bridge between developed and emerging markets, helping clients mitigate risk and access new growth opportunities while setting the pace on standards and technology adoption.
