Tradecard, which announced its online alternative to letters of credit (L/Cs) in the first half of 2000, is launching operations in Brazil. This marks the expansion into the Latin American region by the New York-headquartered company that also has offices in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo and London.

Transactions over Tradecard's system have so far been biased towards deals made between North American and Asian companies but CEO Kurt Cavano sees the launch of the Brazilian operation as "a solid base from which to further launch services in Latin America."

The total of trade transactions processed through the Tradecard system according to the company has now exceeded US$50 million - a figure that investors in the business must hope will increase very substantially. In this respect, Tradecard and its backers must be encouraged that some new clients seem to be signing up to the service after using it with trading partners.

One recent convert to an online L/C alternative - US coated woodfree paper producer Sappi - said it had evaluated several online alternatives and experienced Tradecard services in trade transactions with several buyers before it chose Tradecard.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.