Marco Polo completes EU to Asia trade transaction

Bangkok Bank and Commerzbank have jointly run an international trade transaction based on distributed ledger technology (DLT). Payments between the German export customer Schott and the Thai import customer A.P.A. Industries were secured by digitally processing the related data transfer via Corda blockchain technology on the Marco Polo trade finance network.

For the transactions, order and delivery data were agreed between the companies via the Marco Polo network and the payment was secured by a conditional payment commitment from Bangkok Bank, the buyer’s bank. The entire flow of information was efficiently and comprehensibly mapped via R3’s Corda DLT platform. All parties involved (A.P.A. Industries, Bangkok Bank, Commerzbank and Schott) were able to communicate and view trading data simultaneously via specially set up digital nodes.

Securing payments for commercial transactions with traditional instruments is often complex and lengthy due to the many intermediaries and the large number of physical documents involved in the process. Using Trade IX’s DLT platform provides opportunities to make trading easier and faster. After the second successful pilot project, the focus is now on the complete mapping of transactions via the Marco Polo network with direct connection to the customer’s existing supply chain management systems (ERP integration). It is planned to expand the network with additional banks and participants from the transport and insurance industries in order to map the entire value chain in the foreign trade business.

Marco Polo is a Trade Finance project of R3’s blockchain consortium. The provider TradeIX and the member banks develop different solutions supporting Trade and Supply Chain Finance. Meanwhile 22 banks from Europe, Asia-Pacific, Russia, Middle East and North and South America have joined the initiative.