The current financial crisis has provided a useful reminder of how essential trade finance is to international trade. The capacity to trade is significantly affected by both the availability and cost of financing, as well as the availability of instruments to mitigate the risks associated with international trade transactions. Preliminary econometric results using the online ARTNeT Interactive Gravity Modeling Database suggest that a 10 per cent decline in the amount of trade finance may lead to a drop of up to 3.6 per cent of total merchandise trade in developing Asia, a staggering US$129 billion. The availability of trade finance has therefore become a major concern of the trading community (Thomas, 2009).