It is undoubtable that the economic fallout of COVID-19 has been monumental, exacerbated by high debt and unemployment levels of the African continent’s economies.
Enabling economic opportunities is now more critical than ever to spur the country and the continent’s growth. A key technique to accomplish this is through facilitating and supporting trade, in the form of exports and imports as well as local trade.
At Standard Bank, we aim to be a partner in your growth journey. With Trade by Standard Bank we can help create a secure and trusted environment for you to trade by providing an end-to-end trade solution ecosystem. This includes the following:
- Introductions to new vetted potential buyers – locally and around the globe.
- Assistance with diversifying your supplier base and products through access to new international, vetted suppliers.
- The provision of working capital finance.
- Risk reduction products to mitigate risks of non-delivery, non-payments from customers and foreign currency fluctuations.
- A single point of contact to assist in all your importing needs, including all-in costing, logistics facilitation, product track-and-trace services, payments, foreign exchange covers and customs clearing.
One of the biggest challenges for many African businesses, is finding trusted customers and suppliers to trade with – locally, on the rest of the continent and globally. One of the trade solutions at Standard Bank offers our customers an innovative digital platform that connects clients to a world of vetted buyers and suppliers. Our platform’s sophisticated algorithms will match you with relevant businesses that you can connect with. This is further supported by a dedicated team to help you get the most out of the platform by proactively identifying and engaging with suppliers and buyers that meet your requirements and providing you with specific market insights.
Access to this exclusive service includes:
- Facilitated introductions to pre-vetted businesses from over 60 countries.
- A secure platform to correspond with businesses around the new opportunities.
- The chance to participate in both virtual and physical international trade shows and events.
Assisting in finding additional customers and suppliers is only the start of our solutions. As your business grows, the need for additional support capacity arises – both operational and financial.
As Trade by Standard Bank, we provide businesses with import trade management services through an expert, single point of contact, who proactively works with you throughout your import journey.
This includes timeline planning, production tracking, access to world-class logistics providers as well as real-time tracking on all goods and management of shipping documents and arrangements. We also assist by helping to manage payment processes and customs requirements (duties, taxes and clearing). We further help clients to ensure they meet all other relevant regulatory requirements.
In addition, we ensure that you have the working capital you need to grow with loan products that help by extending your cash-flow cycle. These are designed to provide businesses the cash-flow capacity needed between purchasing goods, the manufacturing process and their eventual sale.
Furthermore, we provide a range of risk-mitigating financial products that cover buyer payment and supplier performance risks, like letters of credit and guarantees. Our foreign exchange products are also able to mitigate currency risks.
These solutions allow us to play a vital strategic role in our clients’ sustainable business growth – both locally and internationally. We are able to leverage this position and knowledge of our clients’ businesses and local markets to give them the bespoke advice they need.
As Trade by Standard Bank, we partner with you to achieve growth, so that we can support the economies of the African markets in which we operate.
For more information on Trade by Standard Bank, please contact your trade sales manager, relationship manager or account executive, email TradeSalesFulfilment@standardbank.co.za or go to our website www.standardbank.co.za/tradepoint.
