The we.trade blockchain for trade finance platform established by a coalition of nine banks is gaining momentum, conducting seven live trade transactions by ten companies via four partner banks.
Powered by Hyperledger Fabric, we.trade makes use of smart contracts to improve transparency for open account trade transactions. Deutsche Bank, HSBC, KBC, Natixis, Nordea, Rabobank, Santander, Societe Generale and UniCredit are all members of the we-trade consortium.
Omer Ahsan, head of customer propositions at HSBC and a we.trade board member says: “Last week three of our clients executed transactions using we.trade: Fluid Pumps used the platform to complete an open account transaction with a customer in Finland, GPS Food Group completed an intercompany transaction that included the use of a Bank Payment Undertaking and also executed two open account transactions with Paragon Quality Foods.”
Roberto Mancone, chief operations officer, we.trade, says the transactions signify the first commercially viable open account trades harnessing blockchain technology.
“These transactions prove that we.trade is a robust and commercially viable proposition," he says. "The next step will be getting buy-in from additional banks and their customers in Europe and further afield."
At present we.trade is operating across eleven European countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Mancone says the ambition is to expand into additional markets in Europe and globally as further banking partners come on board.