Surecomp’s trade finance strategy connects the systems banks use to process transactions with the multi-bank tools their corporate customers need to manage them. It addresses a persistent disconnect – even banks that invest heavily in sophisticated portals can still receive corporate instructions by email because clients working with multiple banks face a separate channel for each. By serving both sides of the relationship, Surecomp offers emerging market institutions a way to expand beyond their home markets without adding to that fragmentation or requiring a costly wholesale technology replacement.
“We are a trade finance pure player,” says Enno-Burghard Weitzel, chief solutions officer. “Our uniqueness – we do trade finance on the corporate side and on the banking side.” The company has served banks for four decades, but its current aim is connecting the two ends of a transaction.
A different route to modernisation
At the centre is Surecomp’s trade finance-as-a-service (TFaaS) model, combining its DOKA-NG back office processing system with RIVO, its corporate engagement and multi-bank platform. The cloud-based subscription model gives banks an alternative to building and maintaining every component themselves, while connecting workflows across the bank-corporate relationship.
We are a trade finance pure player. Our uniqueness – we do trade finance on the corporate side and on the banking side
Enno-Burghard Weitzel
The economics matter in emerging markets, where international expansion can mean navigating different regulatory expectations and technology environments. Surecomp can deploy its software as a cloud service, in a private cloud or on-premises, while allowing banks to adopt newer capabilities without necessarily replacing their processing systems immediately. “We’re in for the long run and we serve our customers whatever version they have,” explains Weitzel.
The model has attracted clients. Surecomp reports that TFaaS customer numbers increased almost fourfold in 2025, while RIVO more than doubled its business and transaction volumes grew 10%. Its technology investment rose 25%, supporting an expansion of research, development and AI engineering teams to more than 150 specialists.
Building a franchise across borders
Weitzel sees an opportunity for local and regional banks in Africa to expand their trade finance services across borders. To build that regional reach, these institutions need technology that can support multiple markets without requiring a separate implementation for each jurisdiction.
Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa selected Surecomp’s TFaaS platform to support its international trade finance expansion, while Crown Agents Bank adopted the same solution to modernise operations serving emerging and frontier markets. In East Africa, I&M Bank is introducing an integrated trade finance platform, initially in Kenya, with plans to extend it across Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Mauritius. The project builds on Surecomp’s experience delivering multi-country implementations, including an earlier rollout of its trade finance processing technology across 10 African markets for Absa Group.
Investing in digital channels
A bank’s portal can digitise its processes but still be cumbersome for companies working with multiple banks. RIVO allows companies to manage trade finance instruments across banks, giving institutions a more practical interface for their corporate clients.
AI tackles another stubborn obstacle – the instructions that still arrive as emails and attachments. Surecomp has developed tools that read requests, classify documents and prepare draft transactions for staff to check, so trade specialists can spend less time rekeying information. It also reports that automated guarantee and letter of credit text validation can reduce legal review time by 60%.
The controls are explicit. “Whatever the AI does, it only ever gives you a proposal. It never takes a decision independently,” says Weitzel. In institutions where automation must coexist with regulatory scrutiny and limited specialist resources, that distinction is important.
Surecomp’s strength lies in helping banks modernise at their own pace and improve corporate channels, rather than assuming all are ready for cloud or AI. Banks using its processing technology can introduce RIVO to clients, extending digitisation beyond their own operations.
