Banks And Digital Platforms In International Trade: New Models Of Interaction

This article explores changes in international trade in the digital platform economy, especially as it relates to changing roles for banks and new types of interactions between financial institutions and platform ecosystems. Section 1 discusses the impact of digitalisation of trade processes on traditional banking functions in trade finance, cross border payments and risk management. While there is an increasing literature on the role of digital platforms in trade, there is by and large a lack of knowledge on the concrete ways in which banks plug into digital trade platforms and how channelling through these platforms affect trade efficiency, especially in the case of developing economies.
In response to this gap, this study utilizes a systemic and comparative approach, merging a qualitative study of global citizen security practices with a synthesis of analytical reports of international organizations. The research focuses on identifying and organizing several interaction models of banks and digital platforms, such as embedded finance, digital trade finance, electronic document management, and joint banking platform ecosystems. This allows us to translate into quantitative indicators for 2024 the qualitative trends identified for these models in terms of their practical impact on international trade operations.
The results show that the profound embedding of banking services into digital stacks has driven down transaction costs, and shortened settlement and letter of credit processing times, while increasing transparency around cross border trade. Results confirm that digital platforms are not replacing banks, but remaking them as fully integrated players in trade ecosystems. Study finds implications for banking role in international trade obsolescence, regulatory adaptation, further platform integration, and the opportunity to utilize platform data analytics to strengthen banking support for international trade, expand small and medium enterprise participation, and enhance latent efficiencies and resilience potential in global trade systems