International trade organisations release compliance guidance for trade transactions

PARIS - The Banking Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Wolfsberg Group, and the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT) have jointly issued a guidance document which updates the Wolfsberg Group's Trade Finance Principles paper last revised in 2011.

ICC says this broader industry edition addresses the due diligence required by global and regional financial institutions of all sizes in the financing of international trade.

The document was updated to reflect growing regulatory expectations and the more stringent application of existing regulations faced by the industry today, ICC said. “The collaborative effort will help standardise the practice of financial crimes compliance for trade transactions.”

Publication of the document is the culmination of more than two years of work undertaken by the organisations and their members.

"In keeping with the traditional work of the ICC Banking Commission, this guidance on sound financial crimes risk management for traditional trade products (helps) set standards by which banks should conduct their trade business to provide a sound basis for the continuation of the finance of international trade by banks," said Olivier Paul, Head of Policy of the ICC Banking Commission.  www.iccwbo.org (ATI).