TradeCard, which at one stage marketed itself as a company with a web-based product to replace the letter of credit (L/C), now seems to have mellowed its approach to documentary credits.

Far from proposing that TradeCard could replace the L/C for some companies, chairman Kurt Cavano appears in an interview in a Chinese business paper to be adopting an approach that accepts that the system and the company works alongside other types of trade finance and providers.

Range of services

In an interview with the Weekend Standard, Cavano said TradeCard is now working with banks and financial institutions that offer customers a range of financial services, including L/Cs and pre-export finance.

Cavano added that whilst open account trading is by far the biggest volume on the TradeCard system, the company works with partner financial institutions that can offer L/Cs to buyers.

Financial performance

In the interview Cavano did not divulge TradeCard's financial performance it is a private company but he did say that the company has now processed "billions of US dollars worth of orders".

Business grew by 123 per cent in 2004, the second year in a row TradeCard had doubled its revenue he said.

China and textiles

Many of TradeCard's customers are in the textile sector where the end of quotas could have a significant impact.

A significant proportion of TradeCard's customers are Chinese firms that are able to sell via TradeCard but find it difficult to buy through the system because of what Cavano describes as the "challenging credit situation for companies in China".

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