Munich, 25 April 2019 – BayernLB, Helaba and S-Servicepartner have announced today that they’ve joined the Marco Polo Network for piloting and evaluating purposes. Marco Polo is the largest and fastest growing trade finance network in the world, powered by distributed ledger technology (DLT) and focusing on bringing significant efficiencies in financing trade.
The Marco Polo Network is a joint initiative bringing together R3, TradeIX and 20 leading financial institutions based in Europe, North and South America, Middle East and Asia Pacific. Their mission is to provide and grow the first distributed trade finance network, allowing banks to offer access to open account, traditional and structured trade finance solutions to their corporate clients in a more efficient, transparent and connected way.
R3’s Corda blockchain technology was developed with enterprise privacy and connectivity requirements in mind, and therefore ideally suited for financial transactions. It provides permissioned and real-time visibility that fosters an unprecedented level of trust and collaboration among trading parties.
Daniel Cotti, Managing Director, Centre of Excellence for Banking and Trade for the Marco Polo Network, said “Today, we have the resources and technology to transform the way banks serve their trade finance customers and enable easier access to credit, while minimizing risk and increasing transparency.” We’re delighted to welcome BayernLB, Helaba and S-Servicepartner as valuable partners on this journey to fundamentally evolve how corporate clients access working capital finance.”
The Marco Polo Network is also challenging the status quo with the recent release of the first working capital finance App embedded into the ERP system. Launched earlier this month on Oracle Netsuite, the Marco Polo ERP App allows companies to access and manage trade finance programs and working capital solutions directly from within their ERP system.
Florian Seitz, Head of Trade & Export Finance, BayernLB said “Joining the Marco Polo Network considerably enhances our range of digital solutions to the benefit of our customers. It allows us to settle trade finance transactions securely and transparently and all the parties concerned profit from the efficiency gains Marco Polo generates by connecting ERP systems. This provides real value added for our export-oriented customers.”
Dr. Martin Scheele, Head of Asset Backed Finance, Helaba, said: “Helaba already offers its customers a wide range of tailor-made working capital financing solutions. Going forward the Marco Polo platform will enable us to connect much more efficiently with our customers, investors and important service providers such as credit insurers. The platform, based on Corda blockchain technology, therefore offers an ideal environment for optimising and further expanding our product portfolio in order to provide secure and tailor made solutions to our customers with less administrative effort on both sides.”
Robert Seelen, Head of International Services, S-Servicepartner, said: “We are delighted to collaborate with the Marco Polo Network and help pave the way for a more transparent and efficient way to leverage supply chain finance solutions for all institutes of the S-Finanzgruppe, especially the savings banks, and their business clients. We are also proud to contribute to the development of modern and digital solutions that will benefit global trade by driving more business opportunities in Germany.”
About BayernLB
BayernLB is a leading financial services provider for the Bavarian and German economies. Its focus is on serving its customers. These include Mittelstand companies and large corporates, savings banks and public authorities, customers in the real estate industry, and retail customers, who are served primarily by the Deutsche Kreditbank (DKB) subsidiary. It is owned by the Free State of Bavaria and the Bavarian savings banks.
About Helaba
One of the leading banks in the German financial capital of Frankfurt, the Helaba Group employs approximately 6,100 people and has a total asset of 163 bn Euro. It offers a complete range of financial services from a single source for companies, banks and institutional investors.
Helaba provides innovative, high-quality financial products and services for the Sparkassen. It serves as the Sparkasse central bank for Hesse, Thuringia, North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg, making Helaba a strong partner for some 40 percent of Germany’s Sparkassen. Helaba is also the regional market leader in retail banking through its subsidiary Frankfurter Sparkasse and has a presence in direct banking through 1822direkt. Landesbausparkasse Hessen-Thueringen, Helaba’s independent home loans and savings division, uses the Sparkassen as sales partners and is the market leader in both Hesse and Thuringia. WIBank, which comes under Helaba’s Public Development and Infrastructure Business unit, supports development programmes for the State of Hesse. Helaba also engages in many areas of public life by sponsoring groundbreaking cultural, educational, environmental, sports and social projects.
About TradeIX
TradeIX, is an award-winning technology platform provider and network operator driving innovation and driving change in facilitating the flow of goods, money, and credit in the $8 trillion trade finance market. Its distributed TradeIX Platform is delivered to the corporate clients of the Marco Polo member banks via ERP-embedded applications. The distributed TradeIX Platform is enabling the Marco Polo Network, the world’s fastest growing trade finance network.
Some of the smartest financial institutions and companies in the world work with TradeIX, including ING, BNP Paribas, DHL, AIG, Oracle, and many other Fortune 500 companies from various industries.
