Trade finance

We offer secure and reliable import and export Trade Finance solutions for corporate customers. Our product portfolio supports your market growth by mitigating risk and optimizing liquidity. We work together with you to find the best fit, built on standardized products as well as adapted to your needs.

International trade often includes higher risks than domestic trade. The risks could be geopolitical, regulatory, commercial, environmental, and financial, among others. The trade parties also have other requirements and demands they need to manage during their supply chain. The goals might be different, for example faster payment versus extended payment terms, requiring multiple collaterals and financing solution.

We offer secure and reliable import and export Trade finance solutions for corporate customers. By securing or mitigating trade related risks, we enable your business to trade and improve cash flow and to optimize liquidity.

Our solutions and how we can support you

Our Trade finance product solutions supports your market growth and includes Guarantees, Letters of Credit and Documentary Collections. Our financing solutions can be offered under these products or independently.

Guarantees

We provide reassurance to trading partners through guarantees, promising to pay specified sums in defined situations. These guarantees cover various transactions, both domestic and international, issued directly to your trading partner, the beneficiary, or indirectly via another bank. We recommend the use of internationally recognized rules like ICC's URDG 758 for demand guarantees and ISP98 for Standby Letters of Credit, ensuring fairness for all parties involved.

With our expertise, we offer a comprehensive suite of guarantees, including Tender, Advance Payment, Performance, Retention, Warranty, Payment, Loan, Bill of Lading, and Maintenance Guarantees.

Letters of Credit

Letters of Credit suits well for companies active in trading with politically unstable and economically weak countries. If you import, a Letters of Credit could minimize the risk of wrong deliveries since the bank only pay if the seller could show the documents you and the seller have agreed upon in the contract. If you export, the Letters of Credit will secure the payment from the buyer. If the exporter is not prepared to assume the risk on the buyer's bank, the exporter could ask its bank for confirmation of the Letters of Credit.

With a correct structure, the Letters of Credit will offer you financing possibilities. An importer could be offered deferred payment, but the exporter could receive funds upon delivery through discounting.

SEB can help you with the confirmation, discounting, and pre-checking of documents.

A Documentary Collection

A Documentary Collection is a payment form which can be used by a seller or a buyer in order to strengthen its position in a transaction. In this process, the banks of both the seller and the buyer handle the documents but do not commit to making payments themselves.

Importing on a collection basis eliminates the need for the buyer to have a credit limit at their bank, unlike other international trade methods such as Letters of Credit, which necessitate a suitable credit facility.

Financing

We assist clients by facilitating early-stage financing for goods and services within the supply chain. Our trade financing solutions help companies optimize their cash flow and achieve better returns on invested capital. Advising on the right solution requires a deep understanding of our client's unique needs, business and the geographical areas involved. Since financing solutions often rely on trade finance products, this allows for clear and well-understood documentation for financing agreements.

Sustainable Trade Finance

We offer Sustainable Linked Guarantees and Green Guarantees for environmental and social responsibility in international trade, with integrated sustainability principles into trade transactions.

Learn more about how SEB broadens the range - Sweco first with sustainability-linked guarantee

Sustainability-linked guarantee

Sustainability-linked guarantees are standard guarantees with the specific addition that the pricing structure incentivises the corporation’s achievement of ambitious, predetermined sustainability performance objectives. The design for Sustainability-Linked Guarantees is similar to that of sustainability-linked loans, i.e. the product is linked to the company’s sustainability strategy and targets. The methodology for selecting KPIs and related targets also follows the same procedure as for a sustainability-linked loan, and these processes are outlined in the sustainability-linked loan principles.

Green Guarantee

A Green Guarantee is like any other Bank Guarantee, except that it is exclusively used for projects or products aligned with SEB’s framework for green financing, SEB Green Bond Framework. In this way, the Green Guarantee supports projects and assets that contribute to an environmentally sustainable society.

A Green Guarantee is linked to green assets in ten categories, such as Renewable Energy and Green Buildings.

How to connect to SEB – Digital access

New Trade Finance Portal

To continue to offer a great customer experience we are developing a new online portal for Trade Finance. SEB will roll out the new Trade Finance portal during 2024-2026, product by product and will gradually replace the existing portal Online Trade Finance (OTF).

Log in to Online Trade Finance

SEB's Online Trade Finance (OTF) offers a secure internet banking platform for Export Letter of Credits, Import Letter of Credits, Direct Collections, and Guarantees. With its user-friendly interface and 24/7 availability, clients can securely manage their trade finance operations online.

Corporate access via SWIFT

Connecting to MT798 enables corporates to utilise SWIFT's FIN system for exchanging trade data. MT798 ensures secure communication between corporates and SWIFT member banks. MT978 offers a centralised solution for customers with multiple banks.

Download our general terms and condition documents applied for our Nordic countries.

Our dedicated team of experts is here to guide you through the complexities of local market dynamics, finding flexible solutions to ensure that your business needs are met. Together with you, we will support your needs within Trade Finance across the globe.

Our Trade Finance solutions experts