Natural calamities such as the current COVID-19 coronavirus demonstrate how reliance on paper trade documentation continues to expose the global supply chain to disruption.

The International Chamber of Shipping estimates COVID-19 is costing the industry $350 million each week. Container spot rates are down, and idle capacity in the world fleet on the increase, while boxes stack up on Chinese quaysides. The impact of the virus has caused some carmakers to suspend operations and there are warnings of falls in Apple smartphone production.

Adverse events such as COVID-19 almost always have complex ramifications for international trade. However, digital technology has now given us the means of alleviating many of the problems – especially in relation to the paperwork that is essential to export/import transactions.

The electronic transfer of critical documents such as bills of lading, letters of credit and letters of indemnity in digital format delivers huge advantages. Think about what happens to paper documents. They have to be couriered either by people using land or air transport crossing physical borders. If there are restrictions in travel and the movement of people  (as there is in China and South Korea)  in force to prevent the spread of infection, then documents stay put and the transaction they support cannot proceed. Similarly, if office staff (at either end) are absent for prolonged periods because of a virus outbreak, all the creation, checking and dispatching of these documents are subsequently halted.

Now consider what happens if we digitise that paper flow. Automation takes care of the data uploading necessary to create digital trade finance documents. The transfer between parties is at the click of a mouse across secure digital networks, which is all a huge advantage in offices short of staff. Compliance checking, too, is automated.

End-to-end visibility on an advanced digital platform also means documents do not disappear, as paper versions frequently do in transit. Encryption and audit trails, meanwhile, reduce the many opportunities for fraud and forgery with paper documents, as they are never out of sight.

One feature of supply chain disruption is that carriers under pressure to achieve fast turn-around are sometimes tempted to release cargoes without presentation of the bill of lading, causing significant problems. The sheer speed of electronic transfer reduces the chances of this happening. Electronic bills of lading (eBLs), letters of credit, packing lists, guarantees and letters of indemnity all transfer at the speed of the internet. There is no waiting around for documents to arrive.

Research has revealed that electronic bills of lading (eBLs) require a tenth of the time it takes to process their traditional paper equivalents. Even without delays caused by acts of god and disease outbreaks, cargoes often sit in port awaiting the arrival of the paper documentation, heightening the potential for demurrage penalties. This is especially true on shorter routes.

Transferring eBLs so swiftly is critical during a time of great disruption. Bills of lading are documents of title and confer ownership of cargo. Without a bill of lading or, where necessary, a letter of indemnity, shipowners may be unwilling to release the relevant cargo. Yet the shipment that has all the correct documentation attached to it is most likely to be released first, especially when normal operations resume.

Digitisation also alleviates many of the difficulties in the financial supply chain connecting exporters, carriers and importers. When bank branches suspend operations to reduce the spread of infection, for example, letters of credit may not be issued in time to meet the payment requirements for goods.

As we move into an era of more powerful storms, increased trade friction and unpredictable virus outbreaks, corporates, banks and carriers all need to think harder about digitising their trade finance documentation if they want to avoid severe delays.

In an article on the COVID-19 difficulties, the Financial Times said the outbreak had prompted a surge in the use of remote working solutions in Asia.  Now is the time for global trade to undergo a similar digital transformation and end the dependence on paper.

The digitisation of trade finance documents cannot eradicate all the problems of epidemics or regional disputes, but it will make trade safer, smarter and faster, abolishing the reliance on out-dated methods that only increase the level of risk.

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Global trade is on the cusp of a major digital transformation. Exporters, importers, banks and carriers are continuously trying to streamline paper-intensive operational processes, seeking safer, smarter and faster digital solutions.

While the industry is buzzing with options such as distributed ledger technology, AI/NLP, RPA etc., in reality most organisations still find digitisation a bridge that is difficult to cross. The industry in itself has come a long way with governments and trade bodies taking steps to create and foster trade ecosystems. Yet the lack of ubiquity and interoperability in these disparate initiatives still remains a challenge for businesses.

We at Bolero, are pleased to announce the launch of Galileo, our brand new platform for digital trade that seeks to solve some of these key challenges. Galileo has been designed to keep the customer experience central, enabling seamless interactive digital conversations. It is truly open and ecosystem-ready; the only digital platform that enables the convergence of physical and financial supply chain by incorporating multi-banking capability with eBL flows.

In the new platform, corporate clients will be able to access all Bolero services through a single user interface, get end-to-end visibility of their transactions and connect with their counterparties and multiple banks.

Banks will have a consolidated view of transactions across different clients and will be able to connect the new platform with their back-office systems through APIs.

With Galileo’s modern and open architecture, Bolero will provide value-added services to clients through pre-integrated partner solutions. Document pre-check is one such service that we are adding in partnership with Traydstream. As trade technology evolves, clients can expect new services to be added much in the same way as an app store.

Galileo has been designed in collaboration with our customers spanning corporates , carriers and banks and brings together the collective mindshare from over two decades of trade experience and industry-wide expertise. It redefines the user experience and promises to deliver much more  functionality.

With the new Galileo platform, we have future-proofed digitisation to make it more accessible, more connected and fully capable of integration with critical third-party applications. Galileo will provide access to the best of the world’s evolving trade eco-systems, where interoperability opens the door to new solutions and new services.

Personally, working on Galileo has been a very fulfilling experience. You can read the exclusive interview that Global Trade Review did with Andrew Raymond and myself. Inviting more conversations around Galileo at anchal.tiwari@bolero.net

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Users of the Bolero digitisation platform will have the option to select Traydstream’s powerful data analytics and integrated AI tools to validate transaction documentation against the underlying trade transaction as well as a vast, evolving library of ICC trade rules. Exporters will be able to pre-check their documents prior to submission to their banks, substantially reducing the likelihood of rejection and fee-incurring delays. In the same manner banks will be able to run automatic discrepancy checks on the millions of trade documents they process making substantial savings in both time and money.

Shishir Vyas, Head of Partner Solutions at Traydstream, said: “Entering into partnership with Bolero is an exciting move for us, as we share a belief in the transformational capacity of digitisation. We have been growing rapidly, working with major banks and corporates and look forward to extending our highly advanced, and scalable technology to deliver cost and efficiency gains to Bolero customers.”

Traydstream’s modular technology extracts data intelligently, using AI and optical character recognition. It slashes the time to complete checks on the dozens of documents generated by a single shipment, using a machine learning based engine to check against the underlying trade transaction with over a quarter million rules permutations. This is a huge advantage for all exporters and banks when trade operations expertise is in short supply and billions of trade documents are in circulation at any time. Mistakes or delays can be very costly.

Anchal Tiwari, VP Product Management and Strategy at Bolero, said: “This landmark partnership with Traydstream is another significant development for Bolero and is in line with Bolero’s strategic ambition to enable third parties to provide value added services to the global Bolero client base. No other platform has this level of functionality. Integrating Traydstream’s document checking service will be a great advantage for all our corporate and bank customers helping them to save time and mitigate risk exposure while reducing costs. It’s a great set of tools to offer.”

For more information, please contact:

Joanna Elliott

The Whiteoaks Consultancy

Tel: + 44 (0) 1252 727313

joannae@whiteoaks.co.uk

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London, 28^th June 2016: Bolero International, the leading trade finance digitisation platform, was recently named as one of this year’s recipients of Global Trade Review Asia’s Leaders in Trade awards.

The annual awards recognise the best trade finance institutions and technology providers in Asia, covering a wide range of categories including “best trade finance software provider in Asia,” for which Bolero was the recipient. GTR Asia relies on votes from those involved in the trade finance sector to determine the recipient of each award. This year, the publication received a record number of corporate votes.

Bolero’s award win is simultaneous with its ongoing and extensive expansion into the Asian markets. Earlier this month, the company officially announced the launch of its new Shanghai offices, as well as the appointment of Neil Johnson as its Head of Business Development for the Asia-Pacific region. This expansion is complemented by Bolero’s growing relationship with the Bank of China, for whom the company enables over 400 domestic and international branches, as well as new partnerships with DBS Bank in Singapore and Huaxia Bank in China.

“Being recognised as the top trade finance software provider in this important region is incredibly gratifying and we are very thankful to our customers who voted for us,” Ian Kerr, CEO of Bolero, said. “It exhibits the region’s eagerness for progress and shows that the sector as a whole is ready to embrace the digitisation of international trade. We look forward to continuing to expand our presence in Asia.”  Founder and Managing Director of Global Trade Review, Peter Gubbins, added “This is a richly deserved recognition for the work that Bolero has done in Asia over many years that we expect to see flourish with recent key developments”.

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About Bolero (www.bolero.net)

Bolero is a global leader in the electronic settlement of contracts between buyers and sellers. From initial purchase order to final payment including supporting trade financing and the documentary control of goods, Bolero helps organisations to improve cash-flow and working capital whilst increasing efficiency, control and visibility as well as mitigating risk and fraud.

Bolero has led the way in driving the digitisation of global trade transactions, bringing the industry’s first electronic Bill of Lading solution to market. Today we power more than 6 million trade documents and $80bn worth of global trade transactions per annum connecting buyers, sellers, financiers, credit underwriters and payment providers & networks.

For more information, please contact:

Jennifer Rook

The Whiteoaks Consultancy

Tel: + 44 (0) 1252 727313

jenniferr@whiteoaks.co.uk

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