From pages to pixels: How is the UK unlocking potential by accelerating the switch to digital trade?

Surath Sengupta, Head of Transaction Banking Products

From pages to pixels: How is the UK unlocking potential by accelerating the switch to digital trade?

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Two years on from the introduction of the Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA), businesses are seeing significant benefits in terms of transaction speeds, costs, and sustainability – however progress has been slower than anticipated. With digital trade as a core pillar of the UK’s new Trade Strategy, efforts are now focused on maximising the potential of this vast opportunity. Surath Sengupta, Head of Transaction Banking Products, Lloyds Corporate & Institutional, explores how the government is accelerating the uptake of digital documentary trade – and what institutions are doing to help.

Surath Sengupta,
Head of Transaction Banking Products,
Lloyds Corporate & Institutional

A new chapter in trade

In June 2025, the government published its new UK Trade Strategy, designed to strengthen the UK’s global trade position and enhance the competitiveness of British business. The strategy intends to expand international trade and make the UK “the most connected nation in the world, while protecting vital industries from global threats.”

At the heart of the new Trade Strategy are four key pillars encouraging market expansion, enhancing supply chain resilience, leveraging the UK’s global influence to shape international trade rules, and championing free trade. Importantly, however, the strategy also marks a turning point for digital trade, placing it at the heart of the UK’s global economic vision for the first time.

Digital trade as an engine of growth

Lloyds has long championed digital documentary trade and welcomes this national-level focus. Research suggests that widespread adoption of digital trade systems could boost UK GDP by up to 0.9%. The ETDA, which came into force in September 2023, gives Electronic Trade Documents (ETDs) the same legal status as paper. As the first G7 country to legislate for ETDs, the UK offers a unique opportunity for early adopters to gain a competitive edge.

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Many innovative and forward-looking businesses are already seeing tangible benefits, slashing the time involved in trade transactions by days – or even weeks – and reducing costs. The government estimates that trade digitalisation pilots have been responsible for a 40% reduction in shipping time, an 89% drop in paper trade documents, and 90% fewer trade-related emails. But despite this, uptake has been slower than expected. The new Trade Strategy acknowledges this and commits to identifying and removing barriers to adoption.

Supercharging the switch

To accelerate business adoption, the UK Trade Strategy includes a suite of initiatives. A Digital Trade Corridor pilot with key European markets will demonstrate how ETDs can streamline cross-border processes and reduce friction for trading businesses. A new ETD Information Hub will provide practical tools and guidance. The ETDs Task & Finish Group, comprising industry and government stakeholders, will explore policy and technical enablers to scale adoption.

Adoption of ETDs isn’t just a business challenge – it requires transformation within government systems too. The ETD Technical Demonstrator, launched in Spring 2025, is testing how HMRC can directly process commercial data from ETDs to meet customs requirements. This is part of a broader push to validate interoperability across borders. The strategy also reaffirms commitment to a Single Trade Window – a unified digital portal for submitting all border documentation, designed to reduce delays and improve transparency. Together, these initiatives reflect a dual-track approach: driving digital transformation within government systems while creating the infrastructure and incentives for business-led uptake.

Many innovative and forward-looking businesses are already seeing tangible benefits, slashing the time involved in trade transactions by days – or even weeks – and reducing costs.

Surath Sengupta,
Head of Transaction Banking Products,
Lloyds Corporate & Institutional

Digital pioneers

Lloyds has made significant investments in digital trade infrastructure to support our clients. These are not pilots, ETDs are now embedded in day-to-day operations – delivering real, tangible benefits for clients. Lloyds completed the UK’s first transaction under the ETDA on 20th September 2023 - the day it came into force and has since digitised three key negotiable instruments: the Promissory Note, the Bill of Exchange, and the Bill of Lading. This has enabled the end-to-end process for Documentary Collections and Documentary Credits to be digitised across trade corridors where legal frameworks are aligned.

Collaboration is key. Lloyds has partnered with both importing and exporting clients to fully digitise documentary trade flows, embedding digital solutions into core operations. Digital trade activity at Lloyds continues to accelerate - with six times more electronic transactions completed in 2025 to date, compared to the same period last year¹. Once clients experience the speed, efficiency, and transparency of digital trade, they typically don’t return to paper.

The elimination of both paper documents and the subsequent need to courier them has tangible benefits for the businesses involved, including reducing end-to-end transaction times from weeks or months to just days, or in some cases, even hours.

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The UK Trade strategy highlights the significant benefits of digital trade, what kind of support would help your business adopt digital trade more quickly? Select all that apply:

1. Clearer legal guidance
2. Technical support
3. Case studies & success stories
4. Government Incentives

_{¹Data sourced internally from Lloyds}

The speed of these transactions now allows banks to advance funds much faster, enhancing working capital efficiency and unlocking trapped working capital for businesses. There is therefore a clear link between digitalised trade and the opportunity for increased cash flow, flexibility and responsiveness. In addition, the quicker turnaround times for digital trade opens up financing opportunities for transactions with shorter payment terms, such as perishable goods, which typically could not be financed under paper Documentary Trade Products. Lloyds has showcased a range of case studies where this has been the case featuring partners from across the trade ecosystem – including Maersk & Global Tea, Matalan, Enigio, WaveBL, TradeGo, Mercore, Vistry, and Absa – demonstrating the real-world benefits of digital trade.

Our progress in supporting UK businesses maximise the potential of digital

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trade has earned industry-wide recognition, receiving multiple accolades. These include the Global Trade Review (GTR) Best Deals 2025 Awards for the first ‘four-corner’ digital bill of exchange transaction, and Best Bank for Digitalisation (Global) for the second consecutive year – underscoring our leadership in driving meaningful change across the trade finance landscape.

Moving forward together

The UK is a nation built on free and fair trade, and the move to digital trade – and the wider UK Trade Strategy – intends to embrace this history while making UK trade fit for the future. As we embark on a new trajectory defined by growth, modernisation and resilience, businesses can begin to assess their own trade strategy and work with their bank to take advantage of a wealth of new opportunities.

Our progress in supporting UK businesses maximise the potential of digital trade has earned industry-wide recognition, receiving multiple accolades. These include the Global Trade Review (GTR) Best Deals 2025 Awards for the first ‘four-corner’ digital bill of exchange transaction, and Best Bank for Digitalisation (Global) for the second consecutive year – underscoring our leadership in driving meaningful change across the trade finance landscape.

Moving forward together

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Key takeaways

The Electronic Trade Documents Act offers the opportunity to make trade processes faster, cheaper and more efficient, with the potential for significant growth.
The UK government’s new Trade Strategy has placed digital trade at its centre, cementing the opportunity for firms to cut transaction times by days or even weeks.
Lloyds is a pioneer of digital trade, completing the UK’s first digital trade transaction and digitalising three key negotiable instruments since.
We help our clients use digital trade to enhance cash flow and unlock trapped working capital – offering speed, efficiency and transparency.