Putting trust back into the trade transaction

Governments led by those in Singapore and Hong Kong are helping drive widespread support for a global move towards digital trade . . . 

In May this year, Singapore-based fintech company CCRManager Pte Ltd, launched an innovative 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 pioneer members of the platform to support their trade risk distribution business globally.
In addition, ANZ Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BBVA, Bank of East Asia, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation have signed a Letter of Intent to become members of CCRManager within the next few months.
The platform has been developed with the support of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and major global financial institutions.
CCRManager will provide the global financial sector with infrastructure designed to enhance capital, credit, and liquidity management.
In launching the platform, Tan Kah Chye, Chairman of CCRManager, described it as “truly a collaborative effort” which had taken more than 1,000 man hours to help design and refine the platform. “This is our contribution to development of the global financial ecosystem as a group,” Tan said.
The platform is web-based, and will enable banks to manage the entire process of distributing trade finance internationally to other banks, credit insurers, and fund managers.
Users of CCRManager will be able to list assets for distribution, negotiate deals, and manage supporting documentation in a secure environment. They will also have access to tools for data analytics, market benchmarking, and pricing indices.
Man Ka Kit, CEO of CCRManager, said: “We estimate the secondary market for trade finance assets, at approximately US$1.7 trillion, is roughly 10% of global cross-border trade. As an infrastructure platform, we believe CCRManager will address this entire market, help unlock more capital and increase the supply of trade finance globally.”

Nurtured by MAS’ Financial Sector Development Fund, CCRManager is one of a growing number of trade fintech initiatives coming out of Singapore.
It aims to make CCRManager a global initiative, with system-testing of the platform taking place simultaneously across 14 countries.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has developed proof-of-concept for a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) or Blockchain-based platform for trade finance.
With Deloitte as its consultant, HKMA is working with a consortium of banks, including Bank of China (Hong Kong), Bank of East Asia, Hang Seng Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) on the proof-of-concept platform.
The project, focussing on trade finance, has resulted in the design and development of a proof-of-concept leveraging DLT to create a platform for banks, buyers and sellers, and logistics companies.
This proof-of-concept has demonstrated the application of DLT in digitising paper-intensive processes through smart contracts, reducing the risk of fraudulent trade and duplicate financing, and improving the transparency and new product innovation of industry as a whole.
“Nearly half of the trade transactions in Hong Kong fail to obtain financing due to the lack of trust and potential fraudulent loss,” said Paul Sin, a partner with Deloitte China, who leads the fintech practice.