Standard Chartered Bank announced on Wednesday it has successfully executed a pilot transaction for PTT Group, PTT International Trading Pte Ltd and IRPC Public Company Limited. Standard Chartered reported that due to the significant cargo value, oil companies are often reliant on Letters of Credit as a form of short-term trade finance. However, this process is paperwork-intensive and requires up to five days for the delivery of these documents.
“This pilot involved the shipment of an oil product from Thailand to Singapore. Standard Chartered was able to digitise and simplify the end to end exchange of information between all parties in the transaction on the Voltron platform, including the issuance, advising and negotiation of LC and presentation of documents. As the documents were sent electronically, all trade participants can view real time updates on the progress of the transaction. This resulted in a significant reduction of processing time to less than 12 hours, in addition to achieving greater transparency and cost efficiencies across the supply chain.”
Samuel Mathew, Global Head, Documentary Trade Product Management at Standard Chartered Bank, stated:
“This pilot transaction marks the first of many that will follow from our participation with Voltron to digitise trade and enhance the client journey. As our clients increasingly look to technology to address the challenges of today’s global trade environment, we are extremely optimistic and excited about the potential opportunities that Voltron brings to the industry with its demonstrated benefits in improved speed and reduced risks of settlement, as well as its flexibility in connecting banks, businesses and other third-party providers in its network.”
Standard Chartered went on to add that it is one of the founding members of Voltron, a blockchain-based open industry platform to digitally create, exchange, approve and issue Letters of Credits.