Harmonising data standards for cross-border trade documents and cross-border payments to enable further digitisation of the financial and physical business processes of international trade

Abstract

This paper discusses the ICC Digital Standards Initiative to further digitise the business processes relating to 36 trade documents used for international financial and/or physical supply chains. After describing the existing data standards for the subjects and objects used for those documents and for cross-border payments, the paper argues that the further digitisation of business and reporting processes needs both the public sector (central banks, customs, financial intelligence units, statistical organisations) and the private sector (exporters and importers and their service providers such as banks and logistical firms) to adopt a unique global identifier for businesses. This paper explains why the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) initiative, driven by the Group of 20 and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), provides an appropriate solution for the realisation of paperless trade.