Finastra, a global heavyweight in financial services software, is bringing a fresh wave of efficiency to trade finance with its Trade Innovation Nexus integration layer, showcased at Sibos 2025. Designed to accelerate adoption of its Trade Innovation software, the platform promises to simplify interoperability between banks and the wider fintech ecosystem.

Streamlining Trade Finance
The cloud-ready solution delivers a unified set of REST APIs, integration tools, and services that connect Finastra’s Trade Innovation software with third-party platforms—including core banking systems. By reducing time to market for new services, it allows banks to innovate faster while maintaining robust integration capabilities.

Finastra frames the solution around four core capabilities:

• Maintain: Automates static data management, handling reference data and system tailoring requirements.
• Transact: Supports lifecycle management, automating workflow processing for trade transactions.
• Build: Simplifies onboarding by ingesting upstream system data to create new transactions.
• Connect: Offers pre-defined adapters for seamless integration with other platforms across the trade ecosystem.

Why It Matters
Trade finance has long been a pain point for banks burdened with legacy systems and siloed processes. Finastra’s Nexus layer addresses these challenges by delivering scalable, resilient integrations that reduce complexity and operational costs. For banks, this translates to faster service deployment, improved data visibility, and enhanced agility in digital trade.

Rob Downs, VP of Product Management at Finastra, said, “This offering highlights our commitment to modernizing trade finance, supporting digital trade, and enabling secure and scalable integration. We’re proud of the scalability and resilience benefits it brings and are excited to empower banks to innovate, reduce integration complexity and costs, as well as enhancing agility and accelerating migration from legacy systems.”

Market Implications
As banks increasingly pursue digital-first strategies, solutions like Trade Innovation Nexus are crucial for maintaining competitive edge. Competitors in the trade finance software space—such as Temenos, Finacle, and Kyriba—also emphasize API-driven integration, but Finastra’s focus on pre-defined adapters and lifecycle automation could accelerate adoption among institutions seeking quick deployment without sacrificing compliance or control.

Bottom Line
With Nexus, Finastra is positioning itself as a key enabler of next-gen trade finance. By simplifying integrations, automating workflows, and enhancing system visibility, the platform promises to help banks meet the growing demand for digital trade solutions—while making life a little easier for IT teams still wrangling legacy systems.