DBS closed a trade financing transaction valued in excess of $40,000 on AntChain’s Trusple international trade and financial services system. The deal was closed for Singapore’s iQuartz, which produces, fabricates and distributes “quartz stone” materials to clients in Singapore and the United States, according to a Monday (March 15) announcement.
“By leveraging emerging technologies such as blockchain, DBS is lowering the barriers for [small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs)] to participate in Asia’s post-pandemic economic revival as cross-border trade activity in the region picks up,” Joyce Tee, group head of SME Banking for DBS, said in the announcement.
In the past, SMBs like iQuartz needed to contend with long, non-automated workflows and intricate paperwork as they participated in international trade with vendors in other countries, the announcement stated.
Through Trusple, however, iQuartz’s trade order was instantaneously registered on the blockchain, increasing transparency and providing iQuartz with more supervision over its supply chain. And, after the trade commitment has been satisfied and acknowledged through the web, DBS will also facilitate payment to the firm’s vendor automatically through the system, according to the announcement.
Moreover, SMBs can buy invoice financing and apply for bank payment guarantees through Trusple, the announcement stated.
“The partnership between DBS and Trusple will greatly facilitate our growing purchase of raw materials from China to support iQuartz’s current business growth trajectory to be one of the biggest manufacturers of quartz stone in Southeast Asia,” iQuartz Chief Financial Officer Joshua Huang said in the announcement.
The news comes as Ant Group, which runs Alipay, debuted Trusple in Shanghai in September.
Separately, in December, decentralized digital finance trade system Contour said it finished an experimental blockchain transaction between Tainan Spinning and Century Synthetic Fiber Corporation in Vietnam.
“The inefficient paper-based processes which have plagued international trade for decades are not fit for purpose,” Contour CEO Carl Wegner said in a release at the time. “Instead, the future of trade will be without barriers, allowing collaboration across the entire trade ecosystem.”
