One of India's new-breed of private sector banks has been working hard over recent years to improve its provision of international trade finance services to its customers.

Correspondent increase

Centurion Bank has, for example, embarked on an ambitious expansion of its worldwide network of correspondent banks. Until quite recently, the bank had arrangements with fewer than 100 banks but now has correspondent banking arrangements with more than 250 correspondent banks.

According to Centurion, its letters of credit are now accepted globally. It also claims to specialise in structuring complex L/Cs and can arrange offshore funding for clients. It provides customised in-house trade finance packages, direct SWIFT connectivity with active branches and specialist services to foreign banks not represented in India.

More arrangements for Russian trades

Most recently, Centurion announced in May that it is to offer a complete range of trade finance services for exports to Russia. According to the bank's executive director, J Moses Harding, Centurion has been nominated by the Reserve Bank of India as a designated bank to provide these services to corporate with trade exposure in Russia.

This builds on an agreement made last December by Centurion with Russia's Bank of Foreign and Economic Affairs (BEFA) for the negotiation of L/Cs issued by BEFA and for L/Cs issued by other Russian banks that have been confirmed by BEFA.

Centurion is now looking to enter into new agreements with other major Russian banks in order to stimulate higher volumes of trade between the two countries. Centurion also says it is looking to tap business from other banks to manage Russian trade deals on a fee-sharing basis.

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