About Us

Polo Trade Finance Ltd. provides compliance risk management and backend processing services to companies that transact in trade finance instruments and related trade transactions. Initially formed in 2008 as an international trade finance brokerage house, the firm has arranged, supported, and structured thousands of trade finance facilities. Today, Polo’s focus is on compliance, specifically assisting small to mid-sized trade finance departments to meet modern regulatory requirements.

The risk to companies from increased and overlapping regulatory oversight and new legislation in just the last few years is stark. From the OECD’s recently enacted Common Reporting Standard initiative to FINRA’s new AML policy pronouncements, banks and finance companies have passed increasingly Kafkian regulatory obligations on to their clients, often with little assistance aside from boilerplate notices. Making matters worse, a trade finance company’s potential compliance obligations for a particular deal are not necessarily limited to a single regulatory scheme. As any dealmaker knows, once in motion transactions tend to take on a life of their own – weaving in and out of various jurisdictions with potential buyers coming and going – all with little or no notice. Polo is prepared to navigate the regulatory compliance thicket wherever a deal takes it. The firm is staffed with lawyers, accountants, trade financiers, and compliance specialists to advise clients on how best to structure a transaction to meet all regulatory requirements.

In conjunction with Polo’s compliance risk management services, the firm helps clients obtain trade finance facilities. In many cases, this entails assisting them to overhaul their back-end processes, record keeping, filing, and other aspects of their business. These processes are performed in concert with – and with an eye towards – satisfying any potential compliance standard. 

Regulators’ enforcement tools are only sharpening; their nets only widening. The competitive advantage in international trade finance today is compliance. From document presentations to booking keeping to AML procedure reviews, Polo ensures that its clients are best prepared for the regulatory challenges in each and every facet of their business.