Bolero’s electronic Bill of Lading (eBL) platform has been at the centre of an important first in the practical application of blockchain technology to the digitisation of trade finance.
For the deal in question, HSBC India and ING Bank Brussels successfully executed a blockchain-enabled Letter of Credit (LC) transaction between the India-based conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) and Tricon Energy USA, a global leader in the distribution of petrochemical derivatives. The end-to-end transaction was completed on R3’s Corda blockchain platform, slashing the amount of time when compared with conventional paper-based processes. It involved a single shared application, rather than requiring multiple isolated digital systems across various counterparties, located around the globe.
This is an important first for the industry, as the Corda platform integrates Bolero’s eBL solution for the issuance and management of eBLs. This allowed title to the goods in this transaction to transfer digitally from Reliance (the seller) to Tricon (the buyer), with full visibility to the banks, enabling the underlying trade to be fully digitised.
The transaction is one of the first fruits of Bolero’s partnership with R3, the enterprise software firm with a goal to deliver new, easy ways of connecting supply chain participants, simplifying and advancing digitisation trade documents.
In its partnership with R3, Bolero is extending the reach of its eBL Title Registry based solution across the supply chain by developing an oracle on Corda, which enables carriers to connect with corporates and other supply chain participants. Relevant parties will be able to endorse and verify an eBL’s title without needing to revert to paper.
The success of this RIL/Tricon Energy transaction is a major step forward as we continue to focus on industry collaboration and interoperability right across global trade. This is allowing us to fulfil our mission to make trade safer, smarter and faster , delivering major efficiency gains for all our banking, corporate and supply chain customers.