Banco Santander signed an agreement with Bolero at the end of July 2010 which will allow the bank unrestricted use of Bolero's multi-bank collaborative trade finance service. It began live transactions with the first major global customer during September 2010.

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 fast growing number of Corporates are now utilising the Bolero service in collaboration with their partner banks, clearly positioning Bolero as the channel of choice for multi-bank trade finance.

Dámaso Cebrián, Trade & Supply Chain Finance Europe at Banco Santander, said: "As a successful global bank, Santander is very focused on the needs of its corporate customers. We have specifically discussed the use of Bolero with a growing number of our larger customers and are delighted that we are now in a position to fully support the Bolero service."

"We are working in close partnership with Santander as they begin live operation." said Claire Buchanan, SVP, Global Field Operations at Bolero. "We have been impressed at the expertise and commitment shown by the bank in deploying the Bolero solution in a very short period of time to the first of its corporate customers. At the same time we are also working with Santander to extend this same multi-bank service to other identified global customers."

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 att 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.

"I am delighted that Santander is now partnering with us at Bolero and extending the value this provides to our growing list of corporate customers," says Arthur Vonchek, CEO at Bolero. "As a major global bank, Santander is a welcome addition to the community of banks now supporting Bolero multi-bank trade finance services."

"At Santander, we are committed to provide innovative solutions and leading-edge technology to fully meet the requirements of our customers, and we see Bolero as a valuable proposition for our larger customers who choose multi-bank trade finance services," added Dámaso Cebrián, Trade & Supply Chain Finance Europe, Santander.