Global Trade Association Launches Industry-Wide Anti-Fraud Initiative

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), in partnership with HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citi, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, ING, ABN AMRO, and Rabobank, today announced the launch of the Global Trade Finance Anti-Fraud Initiative (GTFAFI), a coordinated industry programme to combat the $80 billion annual fraud problem in international trade finance.\n\nThe initiative has three operational components. First, a shared AI-powered document verification platform that allows participating banks to check trade documents against a centralised database of known fraudulent patterns and flagged issuers — addressing the phantom shipment and document forgery fraud typologies that account for approximately 40% of all trade finance fraud losses.\n\nSecond, a suspicious transaction reporting network that allows participating institutions to share anonymised data about transactions that exhibited fraud indicators, building a collective intelligence database that improves fraud detection across the network. The network will be governed by a data sharing agreement developed in consultation with competition regulators in the EU, UK, and US.\n\nThird, a buyer and seller verification registry that provides participating banks with access to verified company information — including beneficial ownership, operating history, and counterparty references — for companies seeking to use trade finance facilities for the first time.\n\n"Trade finance fraud costs the global economy tens of billions of dollars annually and undermines confidence in the documentary credit system that underpins international commerce," said ICC Secretary General John Denton. "Addressing it requires coordination that no individual institution can provide alone. This initiative creates that coordination."\n\nThe initiative is initially open to ICC Banking Commission member banks and will be opened to a wider participant base, including fintech trade finance platforms and trade credit insurers, from next year.