Major financial agencies and other service providers shared practices and explored ways to facilitate cross-border trade through financial services at a parallel session of the 8th Hongqiao International Economic Forum on Nov 6.

With the reshaping of the global industrial chain, maritime trade finance has showed strong potential in facilitating smooth operations and enhancing the competitiveness of international trade, said Ren Deqi, chairman of Bank of Communications.

"Finance is the bloodline of the real economy and is meant to provide high quality services for it," he said.

Meanwhile, technologies such as big data and blockchain are accelerating innovation in financial services such as electronic bills of lading and smart contracts, he said.

According to Ren, as the only State-owned bank headquartered in Shanghai, Bank of Communications has been actively participating in developing digital platforms for maritime trade.

It has also cooperated with key stakeholders, including government agencies, foreign trade enterprises and transaction platforms, to strengthen cross-border trade financial services and stabilize the industrial chain.

The forum also witnessed the launch of the BOCOM Trade link platform, which is dedicated to serving foreign trade enterprises through an extensive, convenient, and safe full life-circle service network.

Li Wei, executive vice-president of China Cosco Shipping, proposed five areas where financial services could complement maritime trade.

Based on industrial practices, digitalization may be able to extend to other scenarios for maritime trade beyond just electronic bills of lading. Future cross-border trade could be paperless for the entire process.

By converting logistics data into credit assets, lenders can assess risks more accurately, enabling small and medium-sized enterprises to secure loans based on operational history rather than traditional collateral.