2026 - supply chain finance
So another year passes by - what will 2026 bring to supply chain finance, trade finance and trade digitalisation?
These three markets are the core of PrimaTrade's proposition as a next generation platform enabling companies to:
Extend supply chain finance to their whole supply chain delivering significant working capital efficiencies that we convert into P&L
Digitalise trade processes including purchase order matching - so processes go faster, with more accuracy, automation and better compliance, removing LCs if you still have them
Seamlessly manage multiple funding sources within the same programme, including your own cash, to optimise utilisation and maximise efficiency
2025 - it was planned to be a steady year
Most banks and platforms kicked off 2025 with reasonable expectations of a steady year. Largely that was borne out. Achieving a 10% growth in outstandings is very deliverable most years, without needing to bring on significant new clients or break open new ground.
On the banking side, most banks started the year with a focus on the core proposition that is now 20+ years' old - and which has paid them well delivering strong revenues and steady year-on-year growth.
We saw two big stories for platforms:
Payment cards - with significant growth in usage driven by the interest-free periods that buyers can obtain, plus rebates / kick-backs that come from card issuers. Perhaps not so good for suppliers who are, ultimately, paying a high commission for both of those benefits. But this goes to show how P&L wins for buyers can lead them towards solutions for the long tail of the supply chain.
Maturity extensions - using a payment service provider to pay suppliers on their due dates that in turn grants buyers further time to pay. A simple way to create additional trade credit without suppliers having to be involved.
But we have ended the year in a different place to where we started.
2025 - a game of two halves?
We noticed a marked change in the market during the second half of 2025 - perhaps driven by increased market volatility in trade and supply chains arising out of the US - and also shifting credit stories as some sectors have come under pressure.
During the second half of 2025, there's been a marked uptick in banks and platforms increasingly looking for game-changing innovations.
It's been a story waiting to happen for a number of years - the innovations are out there and proven at scale - but the pressure to move has finally emerged.
What's happened?
Banks: PrimaTrade is now being actively promoted by a number of major commercial banking teams as part of their core offering to clients. If you would like to know more, and to see if there's credit appetite that we can bring you via an introduction, please just in get in touch.
Platforms: We have seen a marked increase in interest from the big legacy players in the innovations that we and other new platforms are offering. Perhaps numbers are not where they need to be. We can forecast tie-ups and consolidations emerging during 2026 as legacy players add new capabilities that they need to expand existing programs and win new clients in an increasingly competitive marketplace, meeting the demands of their shareholders and owners.
2026 - innovations?
Where are the big wins coming from?
PO matching - with digitisation comes purchase order matching - all as part of the supplier journey. This enables buyer invoice approvals to be automated upfront, supplier payments to be made earlier, and the operational cost for buyer teams to support SCF to come right down allowing programmes to be expanded to many more (if not all) suppliers.
Trade digitalisation - digitising supplier paperwork at source to drive automation on the buyer-side enabling SCF programmes to be offered to many more (if not all) suppliers.
True multi-funder - enabling new SCF programmes to be added easily to existing, whilst enabling buyers to self-syndicate and seamlessly merge their own treasury funds with cash that comes in from external funders.
New digital instruments - implementing digital bills of exchange that enable buyers to enjoy additional trade credit out of their supply chain beyond legal limits on invoice terms - particularly in Europe.
Customs - buyers use the data captured from suppliers to automate other tasks, like customs filings, saving fees paid externally to brokers and aligning their trade compliance functions with their accounts payable functions.
2026 - an interesting year for supply chain finance
January is already shaping up to be quite exciting. As McKinsey noted in their review of supply chain finance back in 2020:
"Significant value in the global supply-chain finance (SCF) market remains untapped. Nearly 80 percent of eligible assets do not benefit from better working-capital financing, and the remaining one-fifth of assets are often inefficiently financed."
This could be the year when the market finally starts to deliver for clients.
Shortly we will be launching a new "SCF comparison" app on our website - available for anyone to use.
Our app allows you to measure the economic value that an existing SCF programme generates - and then see how that economic value might change when you take advantage of the innovations that the next generation of SCF platforms can deliver.
The app should be interesting for banks, platforms and corporates alike.
It includes the ability to simulate how changes in the SCF program impact financial ratios and results and to see what happens if you replace expensive card payment programmes with lower cost, automated, long-tail SCF.
Looking for better SCF or for new credit capacity?
If you would like to get in touch or find out more about our new major banking partners - here are our details: