Since 2005 SEB has been working closely with Bolero, with this agreement the partnership will extend at both a strategic and tactical level.

With this agreement, SEB and Bolero will provide multi-bank services to its customers globally. The Bolero multi-bank service automates the end-to-end lifecycle of the Letter of Credit and Guarantee instruments for both Importers and Exporters removing substantially the costs complexity, discrepancies and time delays associated with the traditional paper based or partially electronic processes.

Lars Millberg, Global Head, Trade Finance, Global Transaction Services at SEB says: "We have actively supported the Bolero multi-bank channel for a number of our key corporate customers and clearly understand the value provided by multi-banking solutions. It is clear that this has allowed us to develop a closer relationship with these customers. There is no doubt that the market for multi-banking solutions is growing rapidly and our decision to partner with Bolero confirms SEB's commitment to the needs of its customers as well as to the provision of a standardised multi-banking channel".

As a neutral third party messaging platform it ensures ease of inter-operability for both Corporate and its Banks and a high level of straight through automation and eliminates the need for the corporate or the bank to build multiple expensive peer-to-peer integration connections.

By automating the Trade Finance Process including the electronic channel to its multiple banking partners, a corporate can have the benefit of a risk mitigation instrument without the majority of costs and issues traditionally associated with the Letter of Credit. This allows a corporate to reduce time, cost and complexity providing visibility and certainty, eliminating errors and allowing it to manage working capital more effectively.

"SEB have shown both a willingness to understand and support their customers as well as true leadership in this area." said Claire Buchanan, Senior Vice President, Global Field Operations at Bolero. "We have an excellent working relationship with SEB and are delighted with their decision to standardise on the Bolero Multi-Banking platform. We look forward to working even more closely with SEB and with our corporate clients as this huge market continues to evolve."