The Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank to offer export financing
New York, March 17, 2003 - TradeCard Inc., the leading financial supply chain services provider
offering collaborative trade transaction management, announced an agreement with Taiwan-based Shanghai Commercial
& Savings Bank today, that will enable TradeCard members in Taiwan to apply for export financing from the
bank directly through the TradeCard Platform. The Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank is one of the top three
banks in Taiwan in terms of the export negotiation balance processed and the fifth Taiwanese bank to join the
TradeCard network of service partners. The number of online requests for financing for TradeCard partner banks in
Taiwan grew by nearly 500% in 2002 year-on-year.
"When our customers approached us and asked whether we could provide them financing online through TradeCard,
we looked into it and decided that this would help us enhance our customers' business," said Y.P. Chen,
President of the Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank. "As a bank who prides itself on our record of
innovations and focus on our customers' success, we see TradeCard as a perfect match."
After receiving and accepting a purchase order from the buyer on the TradeCard Platform, TradeCard vendor-members
will be able to send a secure online application for financing to the Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank to
ensure additional working capital for managing manufacturing and receivables. The Shanghai Commercial &
Savings Bank will have real-time access to these applications, increasing the speed with which the bank can
respond to and approve the financing requests.
Kurt Cavano, Chairman and CEO, TradeCard Inc. commented: "The partnership with the Shanghai Commercial
& Savings Bank comes at a time of fantastic growth for TradeCard where we add new members daily and our
transaction volume is set to increase by between 700-1000% this year. A greater transaction volume means
greater demand for our financial services such as export finance, and we are pleased to be able to offer our
Taiwanese customers another partner to ensure they have the financing they need to grow their
businesses."
TradeCard has been automating financial processes in international and domestic trade including purchase
order approvals, payment decisions and settlement since its launch in March 2000. Its network of partners
offering value-added services such as trade financing, cargo insurance, payment protection and money movement
has been a critical factor in its success and provides TradeCard members easy online access to all of these
at competitive rates. The TradeCard service partner network comprises over 100 logistics companies, sixteen
financial institutions, the top three inspection services (Bureau Veritas, Inspectorate and SGS), two of the
leading providers of export credit insurance (Coface and GE Commercial Services) and the largest broker of cargo
insurance (Marsh McLennan)
About TradeCard, Inc.
TradeCard is a financial supply chain service provider and manages trade transactions from procurement through to
settlement. The TradeCard solution aligns the documentary and financial requirements of a domestic or
international trade transaction with the physical movement of goods, eliminating time-consuming and error-prone
manual processes. By streamlining and enhancing the steps necessary for purchase order approvals, payment
decisions and settlement, TradeCard provides a cost-effective, practical and patented service for financial
supply chain management.
TradeCard can send and receive trade information and documents to and from any country in the world. Our
money movement capabilities allow us to move money to any country that has a modern banking system. Our
network of financial institution partners allows us to facilitate services such as payment assurance, cargo
insurance and trade finance in many countries.
TradeCard, Inc. is headquartered in New York City with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hong Kong,
Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo.
TradeCard is a registered trademark in the United States and elsewhere throughout the world. TradeCard can
be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.tradecard.com.
About the Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank
Established in Shanghai in 1915 and re-established in Taiwan in 1965, the Shanghai Commercial &
Savings Bank (SCSB) is the only private bank relocated to Taiwan from China. Committed "to serve the
society; to assist industries and business," the bank is widely known for its expertise in foreign
exchange services. Its exchange remittance and trade financing products and services have been well
recognized and adopted by clients. As cross-strait trades grow with Taiwanese enterprises aggressively
entering the China market, SCSB is actively developing OBU business in an effort to create an OBU-based
cross-strait capital-flow platform for businesses in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, with the goal to offer best
services in Greater China. In recent years, SCSB has been working on expanding its business locations and
service offerings as well as e-commerce services.
Approved in August 2001 as the first Taiwanese bank to deal financially with banks in China, SCSB has re-
invested in Shanghai Commercial Bank (Hong Kong) and established a cross-strait correspondent alliance with
Shanghai Bank (China). The bank not only supports government policy and responds to customer needs but also
provides businesses with the fastest remittance channel, for which SCSB was awarded last year with the Best
International Development category of the first Taiwan Excellent Financial Business Elite Award. For more SCSB
information, see http://www.scsb.com.tw
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This press release contains a number of matters that constitute forward-looking
statements. The presentation reflects the current views of TradeCard's
management with respect to future events and is subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements.