According to a report by the business news outlet The Business Times, the multinational DBS Bank is the first bank from Singapore to join the blockchain trade-finance network Contour. Major institutions, including BNP Paribas, Bangkok Bank, ING, HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Citi Ventures, founded the blockchain network Contour. The Singapore-based bank is looking forward to digitizing its end-to-end letters of credit settlement process through the Contour’s blockchain solutions. DBS aims to diminish settlement time, decrease paperwork, and simplify the trading process.
DBS aims to digitize trade settlement.
The multinational bank DBS aims to digitize the process of trade settlement. The blockchain network, Contour, will also assist DBS’s corporate customers in conducting real-time digital pre-issuance negotiations between claimants and beneficiaries, which will increase the efficiency in the issuance of letters of credit. The real-time tracking of transactions and trail audits will increase transparency and help negate or resolve discrepancies more effectively. The group head of global transaction services at DBS Bank, John Laurens, said that it is about changing the way industries work by providing greater transparency, security, and speed to build sustainable trade ecosystems that can weather the peaks and dips of economic cycles and are resilient in times of crisis.
Contour completed a successful trial last year.
The blockchain network trade-finance Contour had conducted a successful trial last year in March, where it recorded a 30 million USD in letter-of-credit transactions. In the traditional trade finance system, most processes require human interference and tons of paperwork. Given the ongoing pandemic, it is now more urgent than ever to prepare for a more contactless form of the trade process. Ajay Sharma, the HSBC’s regional head of global trade and receivables finance, previously claimed that utilizing blockchain for trade finance has overcome the current physical constraints.
