Trade Finance


Federal Bank opts for Intellect’s digital transaction banking platform

Federal Bank in India has selected Intellect Design Arena’s digital transaction banking (DTB) platform as part of its revamp. The system is powered by an omnichannel corporate banking exchange (CBX) portal with backend processors for collections and receivables, payables, account services and supply chain finance. Intellect says DTB will also augment the front end of […]

Blockchain: a world of possibilities

Amid the hype around distributed ledger technology and blockchain it can seem they are technologies looking for solutions. In the heavily paper-based business of trade finance, such technology looks promising and progress is being made elsewhere.

Daily News at Sibos 2017 – Day 4

Read our fourth and final Daily News at Sibos edition of the Sibos 2017 conference in Toronto – all the latest news and analysis from Swift’s premier event of the year. Free to read online or pick up a complimentary print copy if you are at Sibos!

De-risking in trade finance: time to act

As financial authorities express concern about de-risking in correspondent banking, a similar phenomenon is emerging in trade finance, driven by the high costs of KYC compliance.

Standard Chartered takes TradeIX and Infor route for digital trade finance drive

Standard Chartered is using TradeIX’s TIX blockchain platform and Infor’s GT Nexus Commerce Network for two separate digitalisation efforts in trade finance. The TradeIX platform enabled Standard Chartered’s unnamed client to “help its customers increase their payment terms whilst maintaining the company’s receivables at current terms”. The financing was offered by Standard Chartered with credit […]

R3 and TradeIX plan open account trade finance DLT network

Enterprise software firm R3 and trade finance specialist TradeIX are developing an end-to-end open account trade finance business network which will be powered by TradeIX and R3’s Corda distributed ledger platform. The initiative is a joint undertaking between the duo, and 12 financial institutions including Bangkok Bank, Barclays, BBVA, Bladex, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, CTBC Bank, […]

HSBC makes a GT Nexus for digital trade

HSBC’s customers in the US can now access GT Nexus’s digital commerce platform for managing supply chain processes. Vinay Mendonca, global head of product and propositions, global trade and receivables finance at HSBC, says: “We, and a number of our customers, identified GT Nexus as a platform that could help our customers improve their financing […]

HSBC digitises global trade with IBM

HSBC and IBM are working on a project “to develop a cognitive intelligence solution combining optical character recognition with advanced robotics to make global trade safer and more efficient”.

Commerzbank processes first BPO live transactions in Austria

Commerzbank has processed the first bank payment obligation (BPO) transactions in Austria, covering the import of bus components from Germany and Italy. The buyer, a customer of Commerzbank Austria, is TAM-Europe, located in Slovenia. The suppliers are MAN Truck & Bus, headquartered in Munich, and ISAF Bus Components, an Italy-based supplier and customer of UniCredit. […]

Saudi British Bank selects Bolero electronic trade document solutions

The Saudi British Bank (SABB) has chosen Bolero International’s electronic trade document solutions for its corporate clients. According to Bolero, SABB is the first bank in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to let its clients initiate transactions electronically – and so “eradicate time-consuming inefficiencies associated with paper documents”. David Dew, managing director, SABB, says the […]

Mizuho trials Australia-Japan trade transaction on blockchain

Mizuho Financial Group, Mizuho Bank, trading and investment firm Marubeni Corporation, and Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance have completed a trade transaction between Australia and Japan using blockchain. The participants say all trade-related processes, from issuing the letter of credit to delivering documents, were completed entirely via a digital platform in this project. (See image below […]

Commerzbank turns to blockchain for digital trade finance

Commerzbank and the Fraunhofer-Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) in Dortmund have teamed up to research and develop the digitisation of trade finance using blockchain. The bank says by using blockchain or distributed ledger technologies (DLT), it will build a decentralised database for internet of things (ioT) applications and smart contracts. This will offer […]

TradeIX unveils blockchain platform for trade finance

TradeIX has launched its TIX Platform, the “first open platform” for trade finance powered by blockchain. The platform provides banks, alternative funders, business-to-business (B2B) networks, technology providers and corporates with a way to finance trade-related assets. Like everyone else commenting on trade finance, Rob Barnes, CEO of TradeIX, says the market has “high-cost, high-maintenance, time-consuming […]

Nasdaq fuels new trading system in Poland

Towarowa Gielda Energii (TGE – Polish Power Exchange) has launched a new trading system provided by Nasdaq. Nasdaq has partnered with TGE since 2008 and the new technology allows TGE to expand future activities, including adding commodity and derivative instruments to its business offering. The trading platform features multi-market model support, a range of order […]

Sweden’s SEB selects CGI for trade transaction action

Swedish financial services group SEB has selected Canada-based CGI’s Trade360 solution for trade finance and emerging digital technologies, such as blockchain. CGI Trade360 is a cloud-based transaction platform and includes a portal for end-to-end transaction management, including regulatory compliance. SEB is the first bank headquartered in Europe that will implement the solution. Robert Pehrson, head […]

Amsterdam Trade Bank revamps tech with Misys and Sentia

Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB) is undergoing a major technology overhaul with Misys as a key partner. The bank is implementing Misys’ solutions from the Fusionbanking and Fusioncapital portfolios to modernise its corporate banking, treasury and capital management (TCM) and trade finance operations.

Sweet sixteen keen on CCRManager’s trade finance platform

Sixteen financial institutions (FIs) are onboard for CCRManager’s new electronic platform, developed for the distribution of trade finance, supply chain finance and working capital assets. Bank of China, DBS Bank, ICICI Bank, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and UniCredit have signed up as members of the platform to support their trade risk distribution businesses. In addition, […]

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 17 May 2017

The world moves fast, so you need a fast read. A round-up of key events in the blockchain and Bitcoin arena. Featuring Coinsilium Group, SatoshiPay, Aragon, ShapeShift and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Blockchain accelerator Coinsilium Group reveals that SatoshiPay, a “nano-payments” company in which Coinsilium has a 12.08% equity interest, has added PayPal as a new […]

All go for Mizuho and IBM blockchain-powered trade finance

Mizuho Financial Group, Mizuho Bank and IBM Japan have teamed up to build a blockchain-based trade financing platform – with commercialisation edging ever forward. With the platform, Mizuho is aiming to “make it easier” for parties involved in the supply chain, including exporters, importers, shippers, insurance companies, port operators and port authorities, to “share critical […]

Central Bank of Lesotho overhauls tech with Intellect Design Arena

The Central Bank of Lesotho has gone live on Intellect Design Arena’s Quantum Central Banking Solution (QCBS). According to India-based Intellect, the “key highlight was an accelerated implementation with zero errors during migration despite complex integration with multiple external interfaces”. Mothetsi Sekoati, head of business solution at Central Bank of Lesotho, says the project is […]

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 11 April 2017

Make the most of your limited time with this brief blockchain and Bitcoin round-up. Featuring Commercial Bank of Qatar, Russia, Waves Platform, and a farmer. The Commercial Bank of Qatar has completed an initial pilot phase using the “first ever” blockchain network to process international transfers in partnership with ABank in Turkey, National Bank of […]

Hong Kong trade finance goes Deloitte-fully blockchain

Deloitte, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and trade finance banks in Hong Kong have developed a distributed ledger technology (DLT) proof of concept (PoC) for trade finance. Industry participants include Bank of China (Hong Kong), the Bank of East Asia, Hang Seng Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered (Hong Kong). The blockchain project has created […]

How crude! IBM oils up for blockchain threesome

Natixis, IBM and physical commodities trading group Trafigura have launched the first blockchain solution in commodity trade finance for US crude oil transactions. The distributed ledger platform, built on the Linux Foundation open source Hyperledger Fabric, allows “major steps” in a crude oil transaction to be digitised on the blockchain, ensuring that famous trinity of […]

Tradeshift’s AI Ada aids commerce

Supply chain finance firm Tradeshift has unveiled Ada – an artificial intelligence (AI) layer on its commerce platform. Ada will learn from user interactions, “improve business processes”, and offer contextual information. It is available to third-party developers and interacts with users platform-wide as a conversational interface. Christian Lanng, CEO and co-founder of Tradeshift, says Ada […]

Austria’s Raiffeisen revamps trade finance tech with Intellect

Five Austrian Raiffeisen regional banks and Raiffeisen Bank International will implement Intellect Design Arena’s digital trade finance platform as the group looks to standardise its operations. Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien, Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark, Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich, Raiffeisen-Landesbank Tirol and Raiffeisenlandesbank Vorarlberg Waren- und Revisionsverband regristrierte Genossenschaft mit beschränkter Haftung and Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI, a large banking group in […]

IBM and Maersk first for cross-border supply chain on blockchain

Maersk and IBM have unveiled the “first industry-wide” cross-border supply chain solution on blockchain. According to IBM, 90% of goods in global trade are carried by the ocean shipping industry each year. Their new blockchain solution will do the usual things – help manage and track the paper trail of shipping containers across the world […]

ING and Société Générale oil up on blockchain

ING and Société Générale have used blockchain to carry out a live oil trade between parties with Mercuria, the global commodity trading group. The platform, called “Easy Trading Connect”, is designed for paperless trading and aims to digitalise and standardise commodity transactions in order to “increase speed and efficiencies” in the trade process. The prototype […]

Trade finance and blockchain: the right time

Financial institutions and technology companies have tinkered with trade finance for years, but progress has been slow. Despite automation advances in many areas of financial services, trade finance remains a largely paper-based, manual process. But it could be one area where blockchain technology will be successfully applied.

IBM unveils Dubai blockchain deal

IBM has launched a blockchain initiative for trade finance with telecom operator du, Dubai Customs, Dubai Trade, Emirates NBD and Banco Santander. The plan is to explore the use of logistics solutions for the import and re-export process of goods in and out of Dubai. Using Hyperledger Fabric and IBM Cloud, their blockchain solution transmits […]

RBI investigates blockchain for financial applications in India

The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has recently issued a whitepaper, “Applications of Blockchain Technology to Banking and Financial Sector in India”. We summarise the report and highlight the key findings.