HSBC: Trade Finance Optimization

Abstract

The global economic downturn and sluggish consumption have reduced countries` demand for exports and imports. Taiwan`s economy is highly reliant on current account surpluses. When imports and exports decline for a consecutive period of 14 months, the trade finance business is also severely impacted. The purpose of this case study is to guide students to understand what challenges overall supply chain and trade finance businesses are facing, and how they can respond to these challenges. In addition to the traditional competitors in the trade finance business, the banking industries are facing competition from Internet companies. Armed with their existing advantages in the B2B market, the Internet companies are gradually seizing banks’ core business. The use of algorithms to provide lines of credit and the application of big data to understand customer needs are two innovations used by Internet companies that banks should refer to when developing trade finance business. This study summarizes the trade finance optimization solutions for banks into three system requirements, and analyzes in detail the feasibility, advantages, and disadvantages of the various functions already provided by Internet companies for trade finance. Subsequently, the core concepts of the ABCDE Project directed by the government are used to redefine the short-term and medium-term strategies for the Hong kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation to optimize its trade finance business.

全球經濟衰退，消費不振導致各國的進出口需求降低。台灣是一個高度依賴經常帳順超的經濟體，當進出口連續14個月衰退後，銀行業的貿易融資業務也遭遇到非常大的衝擊。本個案的目的主要是引導學生瞭解整個供應鏈相關的貿易融資業務面對了哪些挑戰，以及應該如何因應這些挑戰。除了貿易融資傳統的競爭對手，銀行業也面對了來自網路業者的競爭。網路業者挾著原本在B2B市場裡的優勢，逐漸對銀行的本業蠶食鯨吞，不論是利用演算法來提供授信的額度，或是利用大數據來瞭解客戶的需求，各種創新都是銀行在發展貿易融資業務時，值得參考學習的對象。為了幫助電子化的有效實施，本個案將銀行業優化貿易融資的因應方案歸納成三大類的系統需求，並且對貿易融資網路業者已經提供的各式功能做深入的分析，其可行性、優缺點，並配合政府ABCDE計畫實施之電子化精神，重新規劃未來短期及中期的貿易融資優化策略。銀行除了改善本身的系統來增加貿易融資的市場競爭性，同時也可以和網路業者策略聯盟來提升市占率。近來非常熱門的區塊鏈技術，本文也有探討其用於貿易融資的可行性。