Global Finance is proud to announce the winners of the Best Regional Trade Finance Banks for 2026.

This year’s recipients—Standard Bank, DBS, Banreservas, Raiffeisen Bank International, BBVA, Bank ABC, BNY Mellon, and UniCredit—distinguished themselves by leveraging innovative digital platforms, expanding global and regional connectivity, and developing specialized solutions to navigate increasingly complex trade environments. From supporting key economic corridors in Asia-Pacific to pioneering sustainable finance across Africa and the CEE, these institutions are setting the standard for efficiency, compliance, and client service in the global trade ecosystem.

Best Trade Finance Bank in Western Europe

UniCredit

UniCredit transformed its trade finance across 18 countries into a global product factory using a unified strategy and strong client proximity. A trade finance redesign harmonized 80% of core processes in 18 countries within six months, establishing a global back-office hub.

A new management platform is rolling out for factoring, streamlining client onboarding, credit approval, and contractual management, accelerating credit line opening.

Day-to-day operations like invoice assignment will be faster with a more user-friendly interface. In 2025, UniCredit Factoring launched a supply chain financing program for cash flow and sustainability optimization.

UniCredit rolled out its FI e-banking portal in Italy and Germany, now serving over 100 FI clients. The International Payment Initiative (IPI) will link with the FI portal, creating a seamless front-end for transaction management.

TRADE FINANCE GATE (TFG) usage reached over 81% by September 2025. UniCredit launched Trade Finance OCR (TFO) for LC availments (Italy, Germany, Austria), adopted for over 98% of cases, scanning and extracting key data with machine-learning to continuously decrease processing timing by 50%.

TFO integrates vessel tracking and unlocks analytics for strategic decision-making.