Ping An Insurance delivered Hong Kong’s first blockchain-based international trade finance platform, eTradeConnect. The platform was initiated by seven founding banks in Hong Kong and facilitated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
Leveraging blockchain’s distributed ledger technology, financial institutions will potentially be able to access real-time, secure and comprehensive trade information to conduct their risk assessment on loans.
The hope is that similar processes will become more efficient, and potentially reduce financial costs for companies by digitalising trade documents in trade loan applications.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the official launch of eTradeConnect, initially connecting 12 joining banks with some of their trade finance pilot clients to share trade information with the use of blockchain technology.
OneConnect, a fintech subsidiary of Ping An, was appointed by the founding banks as the technology provider to help design, develop and deploy the platform. OneConnect is a SaaS platform providing advanced tech to SMEs based on technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud platforms, and biometrics identification, and seem well-suited to the task.
Founding banks of the platform include The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ), Bank of China, The Bank of East Asia, DBS Bank, Hang Seng Bank, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Standard Chartered Bank.
Currently, other member banks are Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications, BNP Paribas, Industrial And Commercial Bank of China and Shanghai Commercial Bank.
Featured image via KPF architectural practice
