Surecomp, the global trade finance fintech leader, hosted a series of client summits between March 11-14, 2019. The Asia Client Summit was made up various one-day events in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok, Thailand respectively. The summit was attended by delegates from over a dozen Asia-based Surecomp client banks and affiliates. The Asia Client Summit featured presentations about Surecomp’s new digital offering and updates to their core-products as well as several live demonstrations. Clients in attendance were users of Surecomp’s trade finance solutions.

Anat Elgrichi, Surecomp’s general manager of Asia-Pacific, kicked-off the program by welcoming guests and introducing members of the Surecomp executive team, many of whom flew in from across the globe for the event and the opportunity to meet face-to-face with Asian clients. “Surecomp prides itself on having a global network but also offering local support”, Elgrichi said. She thanked attendees for their business and their role in the growth of  Surecomp APAC operations that have seen a significant expansion  from seven to forty employees in the years since opening a Singapore office in 2015.  

The theme of the Asia Client Summit was ‘paving the way for trade finance innovation’ and sessions focused on exploring the new digital products that Surecomp has released over the past few months, each of which complement Surecomp’s core trade finance systems. The foundation of Surecomp’s digital offering is APIsure, the first comprehensive trade finance open API platform on the market. Participants at the Asia Client Summit were able to get an overview of its capabilities during the APIsure demo, where they saw the ease of building a mobile application in minutes using the open API; the example showcased in real-time was an app that issues letters of credit via an L/C API on the APIsure portal. 

Attending delegates also got an opportunity to  log into the APIsure developer portal, which was announced in February, and to experience the process for themselves.  “It is a very positive sign for us that [Surecomp] has moved beyond just selling trade finance software…and can offer a more comprehensive end-to-end lifecycle solution to their clients”, said Patricia Ong, Regional Trade Finance Technology Head at DBS, Singapore’s number one bank and a Surecomp customer for eighteen years. Surecomp also unveiled – and subsequently showcased – a complete end-to-end demonstration of SureConnect. Coming later in 2019, SureConnect is a distributed network that leverages APIsure to enable secure peer-to-peer communication between banks and corporates.

One of the conference high points was the discussion about SureStore, a trade finance app-store that uses the open API to provide banks and corporates with value-added apps from third-party partners. These apps interface with Surecomp core-products and focus in various business areas including RPA, RegTech and data analytics. By leveraging third-party technology, Surecomp is well positioned to be the bridge between trade finance companies and the banks. “I was particularly engaged by the SureStore conversation about data capturing and artificial intelligence. This is a vision that our bank shares with Surecomp” said Pradeep Kumar Sekhara Panicker from Standard Chartered Bank, a Surecomp client of over thirty years. 

Delegates enjoyed a lively discussion about the exciting new updates to the core Surecomp trade finance systems that their banks utilize, presentations detailed the features and functionalities behind Surecomp’s newest back-office trade finance software and its cloud implementation option. Each day concluded with a thorough presentation about SWIFT 2020 and the upcoming changes to MT700 messages and Surecomp’s plan for ensuring that all clients are prepared well in advance of the dramatic changes. The excitement was palpable as delegates left the conference with a strong understanding of the industry’s future course and Surecomp’s role as their trade finance partner.