Citizens Bank in trade finance tech revamp with Finastra and Infosys
On the way out is CSI’s Banktrade trade finance system.
Trade Finance
First pilot client transactions executed on Batavia trade finance platform
IBM and big banks’ blockchain initiative makes progress.
Big guns team up for Marco Polo blockchain trade finance initiative
BNP, Commerzbank and ING joined by Standard Chartered, DNB, and OP Financial Group.
Tradeshift explores new Frontiers with innovation lab launch
To boldly go where many other fintech firms have been before.
Tungsten Network and BNP Paribas e-invoicing takes away pain in supply chain
Tungsten Network will work with BNP Paribas to offer e-invoicing linked receivables purchase and e-invoicing linked supply chain finance (e-SCF) to large corporates in the US and Canada.
Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 29 November 2017
Bitcoin high, Russian firsts, trade finance digitisation, US moves, and an interoperability alliance. Another day of action in the busy blockchain and Bitcoin world. Features Sberbank, IBM, Infosys Finacle, BitFlyer and the Blockchain Interoperability Alliance. Doubt you missed it, but Bitcoin has reached an all time high of $10,000. We were inundated with similar comments […]
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.
Interview: Robert Barnes, TradeIX – the IX in Trade
In an exclusive interview with trade finance specialist TradeIX, co-founder and CEO Robert Barnes explains how banks’ senior management is focusing on one goal and why product silos simply do not work.
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 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”.
R3, CGI and eleven banks develop blockchain-based trade finance app
Following a year of development and testing, R3, CGI and eleven banks unveil a prototype of a trade finance app built of R3’s Corda distributed ledger technology (DLT).
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
Amsterdam Trade Bank streamlines trade finance ops with CargoDocs
Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB) has signed for CargoDocs DocPrep+ from specialist trade finance solutions provider essDOCS.
Nordea fully automates processing of Swift MT798 messaging
Nordea has announced it now can handle the Swift MT798 messaging in a fully automated manner. MT798 facilitates corporate-to-bank (C2B) and bank-to-corporate (B2C) communication for the processing of documentary credits and guarantees.
MasterCard unveils new blockchain
MasterCard has unveiled its own blockchain as it reacts to arch-rival Visa’s partnership with Chain and seeks to use the technology in payments and trade finance. Its version is currently at the testing stage and offers the usual things in this corner of the fintech world. These include smart contracts – scriptable transactions that automate […]
CBA and Wells Fargo in “world-first” interbank blockchain trade transaction
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Wells Fargo and trading firm Brighann Cotton have completed the “first” global trade transaction between two banks using blockchain, smart contracts and the Internet of Things (IoT). The transaction involved a shipment of cotton from Texas to Qingdao, China, using a distributed ledger – Skuchain’s Brackets system – for all […]
Citi’s treasury and trade goes digital with eSubmit
Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions has launched electronic document submission (eSubmit) for account opening. The service is available in “select” Western European countries and allows clients to complete the account opening process by returning electronic versions of documentation rather than paper. Sabine McIntosh, global head of account services product, Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions, says […]
Infosys blockchain powers ICICI Bank and Emirates NBD trade finance ops
ICICI Bank and Emirates NBD say they have successfully executed the “first” banking transactions using blockchain in international trade finance in India and the UAE respectively. The development saw the exchange and authentication of remittance transaction messages as well as original international trade documents related to purchase orders, invoices, shipping and insurance, among others, electronically […]
Blockchain: the theme for 2016
Blockchain and distributed technology have been hot topics at Sibos this year, with a raft of announcements from banks and fintechs alike. One of the areas identified as of most promise is trade finance – an area of banking that is rife with paper-based processes.
Barclays and fintech start-up Wave pioneer blockchain trade finance transaction
Barclays and fintech start-up Wave claim to have become the first organisations to complete a global trade transaction using distributed ledger/blockchain technology. Barclays is now calling on other banks to adopt Wave’s platform. “This can develop into an industry-wide improvement in how trade documentation is managed,” Barclays urges. The letter of credit (LC) transaction between […]
R3 blockchain consortium gets smart on trade finance
R3 and over 15 of its blockchain consortium member banks have “successfully” completed two prototypes using distributed ledger technology for smart contracts. The banks designed and used self-executing transaction agreements – aka smart contracts – on R3’s Corda distributed ledger platform to process accounts receivable (AR) purchase transactions, aka invoice financing or factoring, and letter […]
Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC team up for blockchain-based trade finance innovation
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) have teamed up to develop a blockchain prototype for trade finance innovation. The consortium uses the distributed ledger framework provided by Linux Foundation’s open source Hyperledger Project; and the proof of concept has reduced manual processing in letter of credit transactions. […]
Finding the right fit
Trade finance plays an important role in helping to grease the wheels of the global economy. A largely paper-based process, effort is being put into finding ways to automate and improve processes for banks and corporates.
The emerging threat of trade-based money laundering in trade finance
Money laundering is a global phenomenon, evident in many parts of the world. Techniques have ranged from simple bulk cash movements across borders to more sophisticated techniques hidden in trade transactions. As trade between the Middle East and the rest of the world continues to grow, the threat of trade based money laundering becomes more […]
Commercial lending and supply chain finance under pressure from non-bank players
Digitally enabled supplier finance networks and alternative lenders now pose a significant threat to every part of the commercial lending business, with 84% of banks seeing pressure on the pricing of loan products as a challenge.
Corporates look for new funding options to release trapped capital
Corporate treasurers are increasingly looking beyond traditional of finance to a wider range of alternative funding options that support their working capital requirements, including supply chain finance, trade receivable securitisation and factoring.
… and financial warfare is unleashed
The threat of banks de-risking and exiting regions and businesses in fear of sanctions-related fines is upon us, said Juan Zarate, the ex-deputy national security advisor for combating terrorism to US President George W Bush. Zarate was speaking at a Standard Chartered session yesterday morning about his new book, Treasury Wars: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare.
Goods in transit: how lessons from retail can transform the financial data supply chain
Regulatory mandates call for the financial services industry to collaborate and rethink its data supply chain to tackle systemic risk and improve transparency. Looking at how the retail industry manages its supply chain could hold the key.
New solutions for optimising cash in the retail industry
Managing cash in stores remains a major challenge for retailers – trapped cash hinders working capital management and is unavailable for investment, debt repayment or business expansion. But new ways are being developed to manage store cash …
Swift: capitalising on customer collaboration
Swift’s head of banking talks about how the industry co-operative plans to build services based the data flowing through its interbank messaging systems.
