This strategic partnership will allow Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets to provide an on-demand trade finance service both for its own customers as well as the growing number of corporates and commodity traders who require a multi-bank service.

The Bolero collaborative trade finance service enables the automation of the end-to-end lifecycle of the Letter of Credit and Guarantee instruments for both Importers and Exporters over a highly secure neutral and standardised channel. A significant number of Corporates, Commodity Traders and Banks are utilising the Bolero service which has increasingly been adopted as the standard channel for multi-bank trade finance.

John Salter, Head of Trade, Payments and Cards - Transaction Banking at Lloyds TSB, said: "We are delighted to be working with Bolero and offering its services to all our trade customers. Through regular dialogue, it had become clear that a number of our corporate clients, especially our larger, multi-bank trade customers, are looking for a service that could deliver a single point of access to their various banks. Signing this agreement with Bolero will now enable us to provide this by giving Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets full access to its multi-bank trade finance service."

"Throughout the difficult economic climate, Lloyds TSB has remained committed to supporting its customers. Understanding their requirements is crucial to providing that support and our partnership with Bolero is another demonstration of our willingness to make sure we provide the right financial solutions to fit customer needs."

"Over the past few months we have established an excellent relationship with Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets. It is clear that Lloyds TSB expects to be recognised as a leader in the provision of trade finance services to its global customers." said Claire Buchanan, SVP, Global Field Operations at Bolero. "Through this partnership with Bolero, the Bank will gain the ability to deliver pver proven value to their own customer community as well to take a leadership role in delivering the same solutions to those corporate and commodity trader customers who require a multi-bank service."

Bolero provides comprehensive Trade Finance applications delivered as web-based SaaS (software as a service) solutions enabling speedy adoption, minimal infrastructure costs and flexible use. Underlying these applications is the unique Bolero electronic multi-banking channel solution which ensures security, legal certainty, non-repudiation and document originality. All Bolero services are deployed for effortless upgrade to full multi-bank use for corporate customers, while at the same time providing a single multi-corporate electronic channel for each bank. Bolero prevents both communities from needing to support multiple bank and/or corporate specific processes, interfaces and data formats, clearly driving standardisation in this space.

"We are impressed with Lloyds TSB's commitment to provide trade finance solutions which truly meet the emerging needs of their corporate clients," says Arthur Vonchek, CEO at Bolero. "We are delighted to welcome them to the growing number of banks globally who are delivering trade finance services over the common Bolero channel, providing benefits for both bank and corporate communities."

"We are aware of the increased adoption of Bolero services and the clear leadership position Bolero now occupies in the collaborative trade finance solutions space." added Mr Salter. "We are already in discussion with a number of customers about immediate deployment of this service."