8 May 2019 (Vienna / London) – Raiffeisen Bank International announces today that it joins Marco Polo for evaluating and piloting the platform’s distributed ledger technology. Marco Polo is the world’s largest and fastest growing trade finance network powered by Corda blockchain technology, aiming at making trade finance and working capital solutions smarter, more transparent and more efficient.
The Marco Polo Network gathers leading financial institutions, their corporate clients and technology partners to address key challenges of international trade. It leverages R3’s Corda blockchain technology and the distributed trade finance platform from TradeIX to enable bank members to offer a wide range of solutions at scale, for a low marginal cost and with a single integration.
Martina Zimmerl, Head of Trade Finance Department at Raiffeisen Bank International said: “At Raiffeisen Bank International, we’re very committed to bringing the best open account, traditional and structured trade finance solutions to our corporate clients. Joining the Marco Polo Network is a key step in this direction as we’ll be able to further expand our product offering to meet the expectations of our clients in terms of customer experience, time to cash and efficiency.”
Raiffeisen Bank International joins BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, ING, LBBW, Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Natixis, Bangkok Bank, SMBC, Danske Bank, NatWest, DNB, OP Financial Group, BayernLB, Helaba and S-Servicepartner, as a member of the largest network of commercial banks leveraging blockchain for trade finance.
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“The potential that blockchain technology has in transforming the trade finance sector is clear as evidenced with the recently published success of transactions of Marco Polo members on the Marco Polo Network”, said Daniel Cotti, Managing Director, Center of Excellence, Banking & Trade. “With Raiffeisen Bank International joining the Marco Polo Network we are looking forward to expanding our geographic coverage substantially so that Marco Polo really becomes the main trade finance network in Europe and the fastest growing in the world.”
Joining the Marco Polo Network allows financial institutions to develop new and differentiated working capital offerings integrating the latest technology. Their corporate customers can easily access these solutions thanks to APIs and the first ERP-embedded application for working capital finance. The Marco Polo platform also allows members to test blockchain technology while benefiting from the group’s knowledge and expertise.
“The current infrastructure that underlies trade finance is outdated and in need of investment and modernisation,” said David E. Rutter, CEO, R3. “The Marco Polo initiative addresses this by utilizing the latest blockchain technology to meet these issues head on. Marco Polo will improve Raiffeisen Bank’s trade finance efficiency and transparency as well as offering a wide range of solutions in this area.”
About Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI)
RBI regards Austria, where it is a leading corporate and investment bank, as well as Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as its home market. 13 markets of the region are covered by subsidiary banks. Additionally, the RBI Group comprises numerous other financial service providers, for instance in leasing, asset management or M&A.
Around 47,000 employees service 16.1 million customers through more than 2,100 business outlets, the by far largest part thereof in CEE. RBI’s shares are listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. The Austrian Regional Raiffeisen Banks own around 58.8 per cent of the shares, the remainder is in free float. Within the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group, RBI is the central institute of the Regional Raiffeisen Banks and other affiliated credit institutions.
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.
