Why Universal Identifiers Hold the Key to Creating an Inclusive Global Trade Ecosystem
Enno-Burghard Weitzel, Senior Vice-President of Strategy, Digitization and Business Development at Surecomp, explains how using the LEI for digital identity verification in trade finance transactions is improving operational efficiencies for customers while driving inclusive trade growth.
Author: Enno-Burghard Weitzel, Senior Vice-President of Strategy, Digitization and Business Development at Surecomp
Date: 2022-10-05
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In early 2022, GLEIF partnered with Surecomp to embed the Global LEI Index into its cloud-based trade finance solution. Following this, we caught up with Enno-Burghard Weitzel, SVP of Strategy and Business Development at Surecomp, to explore how using the LEI for digital identity verification is fostering trusted, efficient, and inclusive trade networks.
Why are verifiable identities so vital in the trade finance process?
The LEI is incredibly important for all trade participants, particularly since the prevalence of fraudulent transactions has been on the rise since the start of the pandemic. Providing our customers real-time access to unique identification data of legal entities is critical for efficient, trust-based trade finance relationships.
The LEI Index makes the verification process more efficient and saves valuable time by eliminating the need to manually input each entity’s data since entering an LEI means that the rest of the data fields will fill automatically. This makes for easy implementation of Know Your Customer (KYC), anti-fraud, and Anti Money Laundering (AML) solutions. It also prevents human error, both from mistakes caused by mistyping information and from accidentally mixing up types of identities.
How will Surecomp use the LEI data, and what is the long-term goal of the partnership?
LEI data is integrated into our RIVO platform, which is a centralized management solution for trade finance transactions. Incorporating LEI data will allow our customers to verify the identity of trade participants quickly and will facilitate greater trust and transparency within trade transactions.
What were the main motivators behind Surecomp’s decision to utilize the Global LEI Index?
Integrating LEI data into the RIVO platform provides a way to streamline identity verification processes and standardizes entity identification for better KYC, fraud, and AML compliance.
What new benefits will this partnership deliver to Surecomp customers?
Offering our customers easier access to LEI data increases transparency, trust, and efficiency in the entire trade finance process. Since LEI data facilitates (KYC) compliance and provides customers with immediate certainty and authentication that the credentials of their trade counterparts are verified and trustworthy, our customers will benefit from enhanced risk mitigation, increased transparency, and more efficient and faster identity verification for their transactions.
How will Surecomp’s business operations benefit from this integration with the Global LEI Index?
We are in the process of building an ecosystem of multiple complementary solutions to go hand-in-hand with our RIVO platform. These solutions will integrate seamlessly, so our clients will be able to use them without friction. Incorporating LEI data will enable us to make this ecosystem frictionless since our clients will be able to input an LEI once and then have access to many different solutions in the trade finance world, such as ESG, compliance, AML, and fraud prevention, at the same time.
What impact could ID initiatives, such as the LEI, have on future global trade networks?
Global trade networks can benefit significantly from ID verification and management initiatives. They allow financiers and corporates to reduce the time they spend on KYC checks as part of the transaction lifecycle, further improving operational efficiencies and driving trade growth. These initiatives also help close the trade finance gap by making it easier for banks to verify Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) customers.
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Enno-Burghard Weitzel joined Surecomp in March 2021 as Senior Vice-President of Strategy, Digitization, and Business Development. Helping the company fulfill its mission of setting the new global standard in trade finance digitization, his role primarily involves driving the strategic direction to ensure product development is completely aligned with customer needs. A seasoned expert in the field of corporate banking with a focus on cash and trade, Enno spent five years at the leading global management consulting firm McKinsey. He has also held senior positions at Commerzbank, one of the world’s top 20 trade finance banks. Enno’s command of the trade finance industry and his strong customer orientation are key to enabling customers to drive growth through enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, fostering collaboration, and improving customer service.
