Breaking news:ICC Trade Register and FCI announce cooperation to enhance global trade finance data

At the 58th Annual Meeting of the Factors Chain International (FCI), held in Lisbon on 8 June 2026, the ICC Trade Register and FCI announced a strategic cooperation to improve the availability and quality of global data on international factoring and supply chain finance. 

Chenyue Mao, Chair of FCI, said, “This cooperation reflects FCI’s commitment to further strengthening the global factoring industry through data-driven insights.” 

“By contributing factoring data to the ICC Trade Register, we are helping to create a more complete and accurate picture of trade and receivables finance, to the benefit of our members and the wider financial community.”

Samuel Mathews, Chair of the ICC Trade Register, said, “The inclusion of factoring data is a natural and important next step in the evolution of the ICC Trade Register.” 

“Partnering with FCI enables us to significantly enhance the scope and relevance of the dataset, providing stakeholders with deeper insights and reinforcing the role of trade finance as a safe and essential financing tool for global commerce.”

A glance at the ICC Trade Register and FCI

The ICC Trade Register, established under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in 2008, is a leading industry initiative that provides banks, regulators, and market participants with robust aggregated data and analysis on trade finance products. 

Over the years, it has become a key reference point demonstrating the low-risk profile and resilience of trade finance through high-quality empirical data.

FCI, the global association for factoring and receivables finance, represents a network of institutions engaged in both domestic and international factoring. 

It plays a central role in promoting standardisation, best practices, and the development of receivables finance markets globally.

Since expanding its scope in 2018 to include supply chain finance data, initially focusing on payables finance, the ICC Trade Register has sought to provide a more comprehensive view of short-term trade-related financing. However, the absence of factoring data has left the market picture incomplete.

Through this cooperation, FCI will contribute aggregated factoring data to complement the existing datasets within the ICC Trade Register. 

This collaboration is a critical step toward bridging the long-recognised data gap between payables-based supply chain finance and receivables-based financing solutions.

Benefits for trade finance across the globe

The partnership is expected to deliver meaningful benefits across the trade finance ecosystem.

Enhanced market transparency. A more complete dataset will enable deeper insights into trade and working capital finance across various products and geographies.

Stronger regulatory advocacy. The combined datasets will bolster the industry’s ability to demonstrate the risk profile and economic importance of trade finance to regulators and policymakers.

Improved risk analytics. Participants will benefit from richer benchmarking, improved modelling, and a better understanding of credit and performance dynamics across both payables and receivables financing.

Support for industry development. The initiative will foster greater alignment between key industry bodies and support ongoing standardisation efforts.

Ongoing discussions have highlighted that integrating factoring and trade finance data represents a “material uplift for the visibility of the register” and constitutes a key milestone in its evolution.

Next steps for implementation

Both organisations will work towards formalising the cooperation through a Memorandum of Understanding or a similar legal agreement. Parallel workstreams will focus on defining the operational setup, including governance, data submission frameworks, technical integration, and communication strategies for stakeholders.

An initial milestone will be the presentation of the cooperation framework to the broader FCI and ICC communities, paving the way for implementation and future joint publications.