Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited (“Bangkok Bank”), one of the largest regional banks in South East Asia and Thailand’s largest lender, has joined the Marco Polo trade finance initiative run by enterprise software firm R3 and trade finance technology specialist TradeIX.
Launched in 2017, Marco Polo is focusing on a Trade Finance Platform built on an interoperable business network powered by open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and blockchain technology.
Together with some of the world’s leading financial institutions, TradeIX and R3 have developed for Marco Polo a solution for Open Account trade financing powered by TradeIX’s TIX platform and R3’s Corda blockchain technology.
Marco Polo enables end-to-end, real-time, seamless connectivity between trade participants, eliminating the data silos which prevent free flow of trade data and assets causing inefficiencies and discrepancies.
Initially the solution is focused on three distinct areas of trade finance: risk mitigation by provision of payment commitments based on the matching of trade data, payables finance, and receivables finance. It will be delivered via TradeIX’s TIX platform, an open platform providing applications, technology tools and core infrastructure for the trade finance ecosystem, and Corda, the world’s only blockchain platform designed from the ground up for businesses operating in complex and highly-regulated markets.
Ian Guy Gillard, Bangkok Bank Executive Vice President, said: “Bangkok Bank is committed to using innovative technologies to meet the needs of our customers. We are delighted to be working with R3, TradeIX and several leading banks on the Marco Polo project in which we are applying Distributed Ledger technologies to address the complexities and inefficiencies of Trade Finance.”
Pornnit Dunnvatanachit, Bangkok Bank Executive Vice President said: “Our customers are increasingly deploying sophisticated technologies in their operations and Marco Polo provides an innovative way to respond to their needs. Through effective use of technology, we can simplify complex processes and support faster and more secure transactions which in turn will help to encourage the use of digital channels.
David E. Rutter, CEO of R3, comments: “Bangkok Bank was the first Thai bank to join R3 back in 2016, and we are excited to build on our relationship with them as we work with TradeIX to establish Marco Polo as a new standard in trade finance technology.”
Daniel Cotti, CFO and Bank Partner Relationships at TradeIX, comments: “We are delighted that Bangkok Bank has joined the Marco Polo network and we are looking forward to delivering its benefits to the bank and its corporate clients. The Marco Polo initiative powered by the TIX platform from TradeIX and R3’s Corda blockchain technology provides a unique solution to the banks to reshape the way they are serving their clients to meet their trade finance needs and the way they interact with each other.