Lloyds and Mercore Pioneering Digital Trade Finance with Landmark Secondary Market Transactions

Lloyds and Mercore Pioneering Digital Trade Finance with Landmark Secondary Market Transactions

(IN BRIEF) Lloyds and Mercore have completed a series of landmark digital transactions involving the secondary participation in a digital bill of exchange (DBE), unlocking faster and more liquid trade processes. This innovative solution, powered by Enigio’s trace:original platform, streamlines the secondary purchase process, reducing transaction times from days to hours. The collaboration demonstrates the efficiency and potential of digital negotiable instruments (DNIs) in the secondary market, enabling broader participation in global trade and improving financial inclusion. These transactions are part of a broader push towards digital trade finance, following other world-first initiatives completed by the companies in 2024.

(PRESS RELEASE) LONDON, 12-May-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — Lloyds and Mercore have successfully completed a series of groundbreaking digital transactions, marking a significant milestone in trade finance with the secondary participation in an accepted digital bill of exchange (DBE). This innovative process has streamlined the secondary purchase process, dramatically reducing completion times and unlocking greater liquidity for global trade.

The trades involved Mercore’s client shipping sugar from Central America to a longstanding client of Lloyds in the UK. These transactions were secured by a DBE, which was drawn by the exporter and accepted by the importer. Once Lloyds confirmed acceptance, Mercore funded the transaction against the DBE, with Lloyds participating in the trade through a Master Participation Agreement. This collaboration enabled an increased flow of liquidity, showcasing the advantages of using digital negotiable instruments (DNIs) in the secondary market.

In what are believed to be the first-ever secondary market transactions of their kind, these deals demonstrate the immense potential of digital trade documents to enhance the efficiency of cross-border trade. Traditionally, secondary purchases of bills of exchange in trade finance required physical paper instruments, but digital trade documentation has allowed transaction times to be reduced from days to mere hours in some cases.

Surath Sengupta, Head of Trade and Working Capital for Lloyds, emphasized the importance of this collaboration, saying, “The speed and efficiency of this secondary market collaboration between Mercore, a non-bank lender, and Lloyds, a relationship bank, is a key driver of financial inclusion. By leveraging digital innovation, we are improving both the speed of funding and the amount of financing available for trade flows across the globe.”

Anthony Wadsworth-Hill, Co-founder and Deputy CEO at Mercore, expressed his excitement over the achievement, adding, “We are delighted to collaborate with trusted partners like Lloyds and Enigio to drive forward the future of digital trade. This is a fantastic milestone, and the successful use of digital negotiable instruments in the secondary market highlights the growing maturity of digital trade finance.”

Enigio’s trace:original solution, which powers the creation and transfer of digital trade documents, was used to complete all these transactions, including the landmark secondary deals. The platform removes the need for physically transferring paper negotiable instruments, allowing documents to be ‘possessed’ by an individual, transferred between parties, and distinguished from copies, similar to their paper-based counterparts. One key feature of Enigio’s platform is that only the document creator needs to be an Enigio user, which simplifies broader market participation and enables secondary purchasers to hold digital bills of exchange without the need to sign commercial terms with Enigio.

This milestone follows a series of other world-first transactions completed by Lloyds and Mercore in October 2024, including the first-ever node-to-node transfer of a digital trade document between two financial institutions and the first “Four-Corner” transactions involving two financial institutions handling a digital negotiable instrument with an importer or exporter.

Notes to editors
Lloyds’ support for businesses

• Lloyds supports more than one million UK businesses with leading digital and relationship banking services, as they start up, grow, thrive and trade internationally.
• Through a network of relationship teams based across the UK, as well as internationally, it delivers a mix of local understanding and global expertise necessary to provide long-term support to its clients to help businesses fulfil their growth aspirations.
• It offers a broad range of financing beyond term lending, which spans import and export trade finance, structured and asset finance, securitisation facilities and capital market funding.
• Its product specialists provide bespoke financial services and solutions, including tailored cash management, international trade, treasury and risk management services.

Mercore… Financing trade. Digitally
• Mercore is committed to revolutionising global trade and supply chain finance by offering fast, cost-effective, resilient, and sustainable digital financing solutions for businesses of all sizes.
• By leveraging cutting-edge digital technologies, Mercore streamlines financing processes, ensuring robust compliance with anti-financial crime regulations and providing specialist expertise in managing complex AML/KYC risks.
• Mercore offers a range of digital financial products, including Digital Supply Chain Finance, Digital Receivables Finance, Digital Bill of Exchange, Digital Promissory Notes, and Digital Corporate Passport solutions.
• Through comprehensive due diligence services, Mercore ensures compliance and effective risk management, supporting clients from SMEs to large corporations on a global scale.

Media Contact:

Shayla Reid
shayla.reid@citypress.com
0161 235 0303

SOURCE: Lloyds Banking Group plc