With an enhanced user experience powered by advanced technology, the new platform delivers greater functionality and seamless integration with banks and other third-party systems, providing end-to-end visibility to corporate clients and banks.

A flexible, modular and scalable platform, Galileo integrates with back-office, treasury, ERP, and blockchain-based eco-systems. Available now, it will over time, replace the current platform and deliver significant enhancements to Bolero’s existing trade applications as well as many new services due to be launched in the coming months.

“Our goal with Galileo is to completely transform the Bolero user experience for clients, providing more intuitive ease-of-use features, faster onboarding, flawless connectivity, and greater security.”

Andrew Raymond, CEO of Bolero

“We’ve made it easier for organisations to embrace and deploy trade digitisation, removing barriers such as cost-of-entry and complexity in implementation. We’ve listened to clients and believe Galileo is part of the future of trade digitisation for banks, corporates and carriers, creating a new, highly connected, digital eco-system. This technology stack, including the full suite of APIs, will transform the day-to-day trade operations of Bolero clients.”

Galileo’s cutting-edge design provides a superior, more intuitive, more secure, end-to-end user experience. Radically improved APIs provide increased flexibility and integration while innovative design gives clients access to all Bolero services through a single log-in. Users will be able to manage all their trade services in one place with a consolidated view of all their transactions. This will allow them to make faster and more informed decisions to help optimise cash-flow and achieve more efficient deployment of working capital.

A major extension in functionality within the platform enables users to create, edit and manage letters of credit, electronic presentations and guarantees, as well as open account transactions and electronic bills of lading. Users can also opt to subscribe to value-added services in areas such as compliance and e-certificates of origin, reducing discrepancies, transforming financing, collaboration, pricing and reporting. This is a true one-stop-shop for Bolero clients.

The post Future-Proofing Digital Trade – Bolero launches Galileo platform for digitisation services appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

All global industries require standards. Remember what a huge step forward it was when the carrier industry agreed on the design for a shipping container. The same is true for electronic trade documents and their supporting systems.

Digitised bills of lading are already enabling trading counterparties to get their hands on cargoes days or weeks faster, freeing up working capital along the supply chain. Now we need to take another major step forward in document standardisation and interoperability so we can share the transformative efficiencies of smart ports, maritime IoT technologies and 5G telecommunications. 

The United Nations’ push towards standardisation 

Numerous international organisations including the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), the World Trade Organization and the World Customs Organization have been working towards common standards and data-sharing, as have some of the world’s biggest carriers. UN/CEFACT, for example, finalised a framework agreement on paperless trade in 2016.

Carriers and ports can sense the opportunity

Alongside these UN-sponsored initiatives, five of the biggest container lines in the world – Maersk, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC and Ocean Network Express (ONE) – have also launched the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) and pending regulatory approval, will be joined by Evergreen Line, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Yang Ming and ZIM.

The emergence of blockchain technology in trade documentation has also given impetus to the search for common standards. Maersk and IBM, for instance, have come up with their own TradeLens platform, while another consortium based in Shanghai is also working on blockchain trade initiatives. This includes COSCO, Yang Ming and CMA CGM along with port operators DP World and PSA International and the technology company CargoSmart (Global Shipping Business Network). The EU is active in this quest as well.

The future may be one of multiple standards

Although standardisation has plenty of momentum, no global consensus has yet been achieved. UN/CEFACT and the WCO can only make recommendations and acceptance will be a matter for individual companies or national regulators. The picture is complicated by banks having their own idiosyncratic transaction and systems which are subject to strict regulation.  

Cross-border governmental cooperation may well be necessary to kickstart acceptance and implementation of new standards. Yet once significant trading nations and blocs such as the US, China and the EU reach a consensus, then the rest of the world will fall in line. It is true too, that carrier industry consolidation will influence how standards evolve.

In view of this complexity, no single set of standards is likely to gain universal acceptance. Carriers, shippers and importers may have to move between different standards, as happens in international banking. 

Whichever standards are adopted, they must not introduce additional costs or add to existing constraints. Solutions must be future-proofed without requiring new processes or system upgrades. In addition, they must support and express all legal obligations, data governance and privacy requirements. This includes, for example, the 2016 implementation of the IMO’s Verified Gross Mass Declaration.

Interoperability will require neutral third party platforms that work in the real world

Interoperability between systems will also require several neutral third parties, whose platforms need to be tried and tested by existing networks of carriers, banks and corporates. This cannot be left to chance. Big name companies in world trade must already trust and rely on them and they need to be recognised by industry bodies such the International Group of P&I Clubs which collectively ensure more than 90 per cent of the world’s ocean-going tonnage.

Any platform needs to demonstrate not only gains in terms of speed, security and automation, but also the ability to achieve full integration with the entire global supply chain. Standards are not only about technology but also about legal compliance and the assurance that documents are legally watertight in a respected jurisdiction. Platforms must be safe, fast, agile and perfectly suited to the multi-faceted demands of banks, carriers, forwarders and corporates. 

Advances in document digitisation mean we are on the brink of exciting change in the global trade system. Everyone must, nevertheless, understand that for new standards in documentation such as bills of lading to work effectively and securely right round the globe, they must be underpinned by platforms that already have an established network of significant banks, carriers, forwarders and corporates. Innovation has to be accompanied by, or embedded in, real world solutions that big players are ready to adopt.

The post Bolero: Practical applications on proven platforms will drive the standardisation of digital trade documents appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

Blockchain and the distributed ledger technology (DLT) behind it have huge potential to transform the administrative processes that eat up time and cause so much anxiety in international trade and shipping.

Distributed Ledger Technology Amongst Corporates

The post A fast route to blockchain could start from existing B2B trusted networks appeared first on Trade Finance Global.

Jacco possesses over 30 years’ experience in the International Trade and Commodity Finance Banking space, having worked both for and with numerous major Trade Banks over the past three decades. With his vast wealth of knowledge and deep understanding of Trade and Finance processes both from a Bank and Corporate perspective, Jacco serves as a trusted advisor to numerous Corporates and Financial Institutions across the globe.

In his role as Managing Director, essDOCS Consulting, Jacco provides customers with pragmatic, expert support and advice in their transition towards adopting/embedding trade digitisation into their business. As a SWIFT-certified Trade & Supply Chain Finance consultant, Jacco frequently moderates, speaks and participates in panels at international Trade and Supply Chain Finance events organized by institutions such as SIBOS, ICC, FIBA, SWIFT and more.

TFG: Tell me about your history / background in trade finance

I started in Trade Finance straight out of school back in the early eighties. At that time everything still went manual. Meaning we only had typewriters, calculates and a very basic telex machine to handle products like Letters of Credit. Back then a CC still meant a actual Carbon Copy of the letter created on the typewriter. How things have changed!

Through the years I have witnessed many changes in terms of technology (e.g. back office systems and client portals), rules and regulations (e.g UCP revisions) standardisation (e.g. SWIFT MTxxx messages) and developments (e.g. Bank Payment Obligation). My career has taken me through all the disciplines of Trade and Commodity Finance, ranging from operations to sales and eventually training all around the globe. This experience is vital for my current role within essDOCS in many ways. Not just internally but also externally when consulting customers and (development) banks.

TFG: What excites you the most about trade finance?

If you have done the maths you can see that I have been in Trade Finance for over 30 years and honestly I still love it and it is not to difficult to explain why. Most of all because Trade Finance is tangible and real. It enables actual transactions being done around the globe that result production and shipment of goods.

Maybe the best example I can give come from my assignments for the Development Banks, with whom I am still working today. I was involved in a program where we enabled banks to start offering trade finance products. Until then a local importer could only import from Western Europe by paying cash in advance and borrowing that cash against 24pct interest per annum. He then had to hope for the best in terms of timely shipment or even shipment at all for that matter. Huge risks and cost.

When the program was done, the bank could offer this customer Letters of Credit whereby the Development Bank would enable confirmation of that L/C in Western Europe. This opened up a whole new spectrum of risk mitigation, financing, terms & conditions and most importantly, business opportunities. Which enabled economic growth.

TFG: What are the biggest changes in trade finance you’ve seen over the last 10 years?

There are many big changes such as the focus on compliance & sanctions, regulations (basle II and III), the entry of Non Bank finance providers and digitisation. From within essDOCS I clearly notice a strong uptake on customers wanting to “move away” from paper in their physical and financial supply chain processes. SWIFT has also anticipated on the need for a more data driven approach by introducing the Bank Payment Obligation, which I believe is a crucial development. However big changes in the traditional environment of Trade Finance tend to happen very slowly, unless they are imposed such as specific regulations.

On the other hand, no one questions digitisation is the future which is clearly demonstrated by many banks joining early adapter Blockchain initiatives. Enabling that transition towards digitisation is key and the main focus of essDOCS, which for me makes total sense and is why I joined essDOCS.

TFG: What is essDOCS and how did it start?

essDOCS started roughly 11 years ago and is the brainchild of two former University of Pennsylvania MBA students who spent many a late night wondering why the shipping industry was trapped in the past, and what could be done to propel it to the future. Post-graduation, the two classmates founded Electronic Shipping Solutions (currently ‘essDOCS’) with the purpose of delivering the first industry-accepted electronic Bill of Lading (eB/L) solution.

The first five years were spend getting the framework in place e.g. the legal agreement and technology. The last 6 years the essDOCS has grown at tremendous rates. Whereby today we operate in 73 countries with over 3700 customers. These customers include the main players in the commodity finance space (Energy, Metals, Agri and Chemicals) as well as major banks around the globe.
Through years of testing, industry input and extensive R&D, our company has since extended and expanded its offerings to cover a wide range of electronic document & data solutions, helping businesses improve physical and financial operations, in addition to facilitating optimal compliance, traceability and trade finance execution.

TFG: How is it going and tell me about some of your recent successes?

As mentioned before we have a excellent growth rate however we still innovate. More and more we enable the utilisation to these digital documents under bank transactions. One recent example is a supply chain which involved multiple corporates and banks in Europe and Australia whereby the entire chain was handled with our electronic documents and on our electronic platform. In this case the underlying bank products was a documentary collection, however we also enable e-UCP transactions and Bank Payment Obligations. The use of electronic documents and CargoDocs allows for more efficient and secure handling of transactions. Major traders use our DocPrep+ solution to create all their documents, even if sometimes they still need to be produced in paper. For them the platform allows them to embark on the road to digitisation as well as having one single tool to create and store their documents.

TFG: You work a lot in emerging markets – where are the biggest opportunities and growing markets for trade finance?

I think there are two main angles here, one is that Trade Finance enables economic growth as mentioned above from a development bank perspective. However technology can also be a main opportunity.

For banks who currently don’t offer traditional trade finance products it would be much easier to leap frog towards solutions like the bank payment obligation in combination with electronic documents. Why fist adopt the knowledge and labour intense traditional products if you can just as well ‘skip that step’. Again here is an area where we enable that transition by offering BPO+ tools to both corporates and banks.

SME financing is a huge issue globally and especially in the emerging markets, here again I see a role for trade finance and digitisation. The technology is there, it is now about educating and enabling the transition.

TFG: In your opinion, how are recent oil slumps impacting global trade (if at all)?

Interesting question, the recent oil slumps definitely have an effect however I would state that the effect doesn’t effect Global Trade that much. Traders are used to price fluctuation in any type of commodity and they have the skills to make money regardless if the prices go up or down. Honestly a volatile market is often very attractive for traders. Next to that there is still a huge need for oil in todays day and age.

TFG: Where is the strategic focus for essDOCS in the short to medium term future?

The tag line “the leading enabler of paperless trade” is as true today as it was from the start, it is our ambition to allow our customers to gradually reach this 100 pct paperless trade status.

This means will will keep innovating, expanding the essDOCS user community and partner with key players around the globe to achieve our goals.

The post How are essDOCS paving the way for paperless trade? appeared first on Trade Finance Global.