Crédit Agricole CIB launches Smart Platform Assisted SustainablE, Asia Pacific’s first ESG-linked trade finance solution

Crédit Agricole CIB announced the launch of Smart Platform Assisted SustainablE (SPASE), an innovative first-in-APAC, ESG-linked, AI-powered trade finance solution that leverages trade transaction data to generate a measurable and auditable view of ESG performance across suppliers, products and trade flows. It enables corporates to review their value chain operations for financial benefits and sustainable business opportunities.

Improvements on sustainable development in global trade finance have been modest due to the critical bottleneck - the manual, supplier-by-supplier ESG assessment process is excessively time-consuming and resource-intensive. Nevertheless many corporates are also indicating significant needs to increase transparency on the sustainable impact of their supply chain and are calling for sustainable trade finance solutions. 

Crédit Agricole CIB originated SPASE to eliminate this bottleneck for global trade corporates, tapping into an unexplored market segment in Asia Pacific. 

Powered by AI, SPASE automatically transforms the corporates’ raw transaction data into aggregated and comprehensive ESG dashboards for every transaction in their trade finance portfolios, converting ESG performance data into actionable intelligence for making informed business decisions. 

Integrating sustainability directly at a transaction level, SPASE enables trade finance corporates to rebalance their portfolios and reduce operational costs by expanding relationships with high-impact suppliers and business opportunities in its value chains. SPASE will also help bolster sustainable development in the global trade finance sector. Suppliers will be motivated to invest in operational improvements to achieve higher ESG scores on SPASE for more commercial opportunities. 

SPASE positions Crédit Agricole CIB as the pioneer in this emerging field in Asia-Pacific, enabling the Bank to capture first-mover advantage and strengthen its position as the global frontrunner in sustainable finance. The Bank has piloted SPASE in Asia-Pacific, with Hong Kong based regional sourcing hub of a global leader in industrial services. The Bank plans to progressively introduce the new solution across the region, where significant trading activities and demand for sustainable finance are expected to show exponential growth.