Trade Finance Company

What Trade Finance Company does

Trade Finance Company (TFC) is a privately held, New York-headquartered financial services firm that directly issues trade finance instruments — including Letters of Credit, Standby Letters of Credit, Bank Guarantees, Performance Guarantees, Advance Payment Guarantees, Proof of Funds, Blocked Funds, Bank Comfort Letters, and Ready Willing and Able statements — to importers, exporters, contractors, and project developers engaged in cross-border trade. The firm states it has operated for over 20 years, maintains 23+ offices across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and has facilitated $5B+ in cumulative deal volume across more than 25,000 transactions in 100+ countries. Instruments are delivered via SWIFT messaging, secure email, or courier, typically within 72 hours to 13 days of contract execution. The technology layer is essentially a financial-instrument issuance workflow with SWIFT connectivity; there is no public app, no API, and no documented AI/ML capability.

The company operates on a pure transaction-fee revenue model, charging 1-7% of transaction value with minimum tickets of $250,000 for Letters of Credit and $500,000 for other instruments, and explicitly waives collateral and upfront cash requirements for clients. Approximately 90% of origination comes from bank referrals, with HSBC and Standard Chartered identified as core institutional partners whose clients TFC serves when the bank cannot. A secondary distribution channel, the Business Introducer Program, pays commissions to external partners for referred deals. Revenue is not disclosed and the company has no reported funding history; the firmographic headcount of 11-50 conflicts with the website's claim of 2,000+ team members globally, leaving scale difficult to verify.

Name

Trade Finance Company

Legal name

Trade Finance Company

Website

https://tradefinancecompany.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Trade Finance Company is a privately held financial services firm that directly issues trade finance instruments (Letters of Credit, Bank Guarantees, SBLCs, and related products) to importers, exporters, contractors, and project developers, with ~90% of deal flow sourced from bank referrals across 100+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Trade Finance Services

NAICS

Securities and Commodity Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage (5231), Miscellaneous Intermediation (523910)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200), Finance Services (6199), Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers (6221)

akta.pro primary industry

Trade Finance Operations (LCs, Collections, Guarantees) (FSABALAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Trade Services, Compliance & Controls (Sanctions, AML/KYC, Documentation) (FSABAHAK), Commodity Trade Finance (Soft/Hard Commodities) (FSABAHAI), Trade Finance & Supply Chain Finance Platforms (FSAGAJAL)

Keywords

• Trade finance instruments
• Letters of credit
• Bank guarantees
• Standby letters of credit
• Documentary collections

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices23 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Transaction Issuance Fees: Fees charged as percentage of transaction size for issuing financial instruments. Fees range from 1% to 7% of transaction value depending on complexity, sector, and delivery method. No annual or retainer fees charged.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Trade Finance Company (TFC) is a direct issuer of trade finance instruments for international trade transactions, including Letters of Credit, Standby Letters of Credit, Bank Guarantees, Performance Guarantees, Advance Payment Guarantees, Proof of Funds, Blocked Funds, Bank Comfort Letters, and Ready Willing and Able (RWA) statements. The company issues these instruments directly (not as a broker) with minimum transaction sizes of USD 250,000 for Letters of Credit and USD 500,000 for other guarantees, delivered via SWIFT messaging, secure email, or courier. Approximately 90% of business originates from bank referrals when traditional banks cannot serve clients directly.

Product overview

Trade Finance Company offers a unified suite of trade finance instruments delivered through a direct issuance model. The core portfolio comprises Letters of Credit (LC), Standby Letters of Credit (SBLC), Bank Guarantees (BG), Performance Guarantees, Advance Payment Guarantees, Proof of Funds (POF), Blocked Funds, Bank Comfort Letters, and Ready Willing and Able (RWA) statements. These instruments are issued directly by the company (not as brokers) and delivered via SWIFT messaging, secure email, or courier. Transactions start at $250,000 for Letters of Credit and $500,000 for other guarantees, with fees ranging from 1% to 7% of transaction size.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Letters of Credit (LC)

Quantifiable outcome

• 25,000+ successful deals supported
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and supporting.

• HSBCcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeading global bank that routinely relies on Trade Finance Company's structures for trade finance instruments. TFC works alongside banks rather than against them.
• Standard CharteredcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeading global bank that routinely relies on Trade Finance Company's structures for trade finance instruments. TFC works alongside banks rather than against them.
• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEBRD-financed projects utilize TFC's trade finance instruments. The Khorezm Water Project in Central Asia, financed by EBRD, required TFC's $6M Advance Payment Guarantee.
• Asia NexussupportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerRegional legal and financial partner that collaborated with TFC on structuring guarantees for Central Asia infrastructure projects. Assisted with draft reviews and compliance alignment.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Bolero International: Digital trade finance platform for LC presentation, electronic bills of lading, and trade document exchange. Direct comparable in facilitating traditional trade instruments.
• LiquidX: Trade finance platform providing receivables, payables, and LC monetization services for corporates and banks. Closely comparable as a B2B trade finance intermediary facilitating cross-border instruments.

Emerging players

• WaveBL: Electronic Bill of Lading and trade document platform serving shippers, banks, and traders. Operates in adjacent trade finance digitization space.
• Komgo: Blockchain-based trade finance platform facilitating LC issuance and digital documents among major banks and corporates. Comparable as a trade finance intermediary serving cross-border B2B transactions.
• Contour (formerly Voltron): Digital trade finance network built on R3 Corda for LC issuance among major global banks. Competes in the same letter-of-credit issuance space as TFC but uses blockchain rails.
• Marco Polo Network: Trade finance platform originally by TradeIX and R3, offering programmable trade finance instruments. Comparable as a fintech alternative to traditional LC and guarantee issuance.

Broad incumbents

• Trafigura: Major global commodity trader that issues and uses trade finance instruments at scale. Comparable as a participant in commodity trade finance though operating as a principal rather than intermediary.
• Standard Chartered Bank: Global bank that issues LCs and trade guarantees directly and also refers clients to TFC. Comparable as a broad trade finance incumbent serving cross-border B2B transactions.
• HSBC Trade Finance: World's largest trade finance bank and named partner of TFC. Comparable as a broad trade finance provider offering LCs, guarantees, and supply chain finance.

Regional players

• Coface: European trade credit insurer and trade finance provider. Comparable as a provider of trade risk mitigation instruments and guarantees for international commerce.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tradefinanceco
• Facebookfacebook.com/tradefinancecompanygroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tradefnancecompany

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Trade Finance Company