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Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), the African corporate and investment bank part of FirstRand Limited, has selected the Surecomp® Trade Finance-as-a-Service (TFaaS) solution for its digital trade finance operation.
The cloud-based solution will initially launch in South Africa before being rolled out to other markets as RMB strengthens its international presence in trade finance capabilities. The bank has operations in over 35 countries across Africa and offices in the UK, the US, India, and China.
Surecomp’s TFaaS platform promises to deliver straight-through processing automation and enhanced communication between RMB and its clients, potentially reducing transaction processing times whilst improving operational oversight.
“An API-first technology architecture is critical to our modernisation journey, to support interoperability, scalability and flexibility in our system design, and accelerate innovation and time to market,” said Gavin Moss, chief information officer for treasury and trade solutions at RMB.
A 2024 study revealed that 76% of banks rank digital transformation as either their top priority or among the top three, with many institutions focusing on cloud-based infrastructure and API-driven platforms to enhance operational efficiency and customer experience. Within this, the demand for cloud computing services in Africa is experiencing significant growth, with annual rates of 25% to 30%, surpassing projections for Europe and North America.
RMB’s adoption represents a step towards meeting this demand, shifting towards a fully Software-as-a-Service model. “By choosing TFaaS, RMB is embracing a cloud-first approach to trade finance, benefiting from straight-through processing, lower operational costs, and a scalable solution,” said Tal Weiser, chief revenue officer at Surecomp. This is all whilst ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, including SWIFT messaging requirements.
