Standard Chartered is working with Chinese networking conglomerate Huawei on the development of IoT sensors that would automatically trigger payments to corporates by providing real-time data on the movement of goods.
The bank is running pilot trials of OceanConnect, Huawei's cloud-based IoT platform to amass data on the shipment of merchandise that could be used in financing decision.
The bank posits a potential future in which manual paper-based or e-mail instructions for initiating transactions, are replaced by a series of bank and corporate APIs linked to IoT data flows that release funds when certain criteria are fulfilled.
Michael Gorriz, group CIO of Standard Chartered says: “Technology can change the fundamental way we do banking. We found in Huawei a strong partner who shares our passion to transform the way we would like to support our clients and make banking seamless and effortless for them through the application of cutting-edge Internet of Things technology. We look forward to piloting the solution with clients and working with Huawei and other technology partners to explore new use cases.”
The use of IoT data for financing decisions by banks is already gaining ground. Commerzbank, for instance, has developed a prototype for a new 'pay-per-use' loan for capital equipment which taps into the Internet of Things to adjust repayment terms according to the actual usage of the machinery on which the loan was taken out.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia is also experimenting with the use of Internet of Things and blockchain technology to help business clients more efficiently buy and manage expensive assets such as farming equipment.