Inaugural Trade Club Alliance Virtual Connect brings together over 100 businesses across 4 continents

Last week (19 & 20 November), Santander held the first of our Trade Club Alliance (TCA) virtual connect events, focusing on the food & drink sector. Six of the TCA banking groups, Credit Agricole; Eurobank; Industrial Bank of Korea; Royal Bank of Canada; Santander and Standard Bank joined forces to bring together over 100 food & drink business from across 4 continents. 

Due to the current travel restrictions, the usual way of connecting businesses via conferences and conventions has been impossible across the globe for most of this year. Our two-day virtual event brought businesses together for a series of webinars to share current industry trends, challenges and opportunities for growth in the food & drink sector. Most importantly, it gave the opportunity for businesses to connect and conduct one-to-one meetings with importers and exporters from both new and existing international markets. Santander UK’s clients and prospects who took part were able to reach out and meet with businesses from the other banking groups which could potentially result in new trade relations and partnerships. 

About the Trade Club Alliance 

The TCA is an alliance of fourteen trusted banking groups across the globe. Our collective mission is to make international trade simple, expanding the business horizons of our clients by connecting them all over the world.  Through our online platforms and events, we seek to facilitate prosperous partnerships based not only on mutual financial goals but on a shared ethos driven by human connections. 

John Carroll, Head of International & Transactional Banking, Santander UK said “Our latest Santander Trade Barometer reveals that 28% of internationally-trading businesses cited that ‘Finding Trusted Connections’ was an operational challenge for them. The fact that almost a third cited the inability to attend global or domestic face-to-face events, such as exhibitions and conferences as a result of covid-19, is adding to the difficulty in finding trustworthy connections.

At Santander, we understand the challenges faced by businesses and successful business relies on all parties having complementary goals. Yet that’s about more than numbers; the best partnerships are struck when there’s also a shared ethos. Although we were unable to come together physically, this virtual connect offered our Food & Drink customers an invaluable opportunity to connect as people, find common ground and unlock opportunities to work together all over the world. It is just one of the many ways we can support UK businesses with their ambition to trade internationally”. 

To find more, email international@santander.co.uk or visit Santander Trade, our digital platform to access a wealth or resources and connect with importers and exporters who are customers of the TCA banking groups.