The financing facility, which was developed in partnership with a «leading Chinese logistics player,» offers multi-tier financing solutions to more than 1,000 of suppliers in the company’s supply chain ecosystem, DBS said.
DBS has announced the launch of «Rong-E Lian,» the bank's first multi-tier financing facility on a logistics blockchain platform to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China get faster access to trade financing, the bank said in a press release on Wednesday.
By integrating its digital onboarding service onto the blockchain platform, it can verify supplier credentials within seconds. Digital trade financing services can then be disbursed to upstream suppliers in the ecosystem within 24 hours, the announcement said.
This initiative is part of the bank's efforts to explore initiatives to deepen and broaden its partnership with businesses in the Greater Bay Area region, known as the «Silicon Valley of the East.» In December, finews.asia reported the bank's launch of a blockchain platform for automotive logistics. It also launched HeveaConnect, a digital trading marketplace for sustainable rubber, and Agrocorp, a digital trade platform for commodities, in 2018.
Democratizing Trade Finance
DBS said it hopes to serve SMEs that may have limited access to trade financing due to their lack of scale or credit history. The bank said it completed its first multi-tier financing transaction on Rong-E Lian in August.
«By using new technologies such as blockchain and APIs, we hope to democratise trade finance by providing SMEs more affordable and convenient access to bank credit to enable them to realise their business ambitions, serve their customers well and expand into new markets with ease,» Neil Ge, CEO of DBS China, said about the launch of Rong-E Lian.
