- The long-term agreement will strengthen the breadth and analysis of the ICC Trade Register, the banking industry’s leading data source for risks in global trade and export finance
- Global Credit Data will oversee the collection of banks’ credit-related data, with the next Trade Register report produced by ICC and the Boston Consulting Group to be released in early 2019
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Banking Commission has announced a long-term agreement with Global Credit Data (GCD), an association owned by banks and home to the world’s largest database of bank loans’ defaults, to strengthen analysis within the market-leading ICC Trade Register.
The ICC Trade Register is one of the few comprehensive sources to provide an objective and transparent view of the credit risk profile and characteristics of trade and export finance. GCD will now manage and oversee the collection of credit-related data from ICC Trade Register member banks. The cooperation will allow ICC and GCD to provide more granular data and detailed benchmarking reports to members.
Krishnan Ramadurai, Chair of the ICC Trade Register project, said: “The ICC Trade Register is an indispensable tool for the global banking system and policymakers, enhancing market understanding of the nature of trade finance and contributing to informed policy and regulatory decision-making. This agreement with GCD, which is at the forefront of data collection and analysis, will allow us to further develop and evolve the ICC Trade Register as the go-to source for quality and trusted data, which can be used for robust analysis.”
David Bischof, Senior Policy Manager at the ICC Banking Commission, added: “There is a direct and critical link between the availability of timely and affordable trade finance and the conduct of international trade. Since its inception, the ICC Trade Register has been instrumental in promoting dialogue and advocacy around trade finance as an asset class in its own right.”
The ICC Trade Register was established in 2011 and has since grown to include 22 member banks, covering over US$10.5 trillion of exposures and more than 20 million trade finance transactions. The trade finance products included in the register have traditionally been letters of credit, loans for import/export and performance guarantees. The next edition, to be released in the first quarter of 2019, with Boston Consulting Group as a strategic partner, will expand to include supply chain finance products and export finance provided by non-OECD export credit agencies. Data collection for the report will begin in October 2018.
Philip Winckle, Executive Director of GCD, said: “Extending our work with the ICC Banking Commission on this market-leading project will improve the quality of trade finance credit data for the market and for our members. This will help banks better understand the risks they take and better comply with regulatory rules such as the Basel Framework.”
The latest ICC Trade Register, released in February 2018, revealed the low-risk nature of transactions that support global trade, and confirmed that trade finance products continue to present banks with low levels of credit risk.
