Batavia, a blokchain-based trade finance platform developed by a consortium of international banks and IBM, has passed its first live pilot transactions with corporate clients.
Jointly developed by Bank of Montreal (BMO), CaixaBank, Commerzbank, Erste Group, IBM and UBS, the initial transactions on Batavia included the trading of cars from Germany to Spain and textiles for furniture production from Austria to Spain
Batavia encompasses both the closing of trade agreements and the execution of smart payments, which can be automatically triggered by specified events in the supply chain and recorded in the blockchain.
The platform is able to integrate track and trace key events in the supply chain and signals from IoT devices about the location and condition of goods in transit.
Niko Giesbert, divisional board, fixed income, currencies & commodities and trade finance and cash management, Commerzbank says: "Our joint successful live transaction demonstrates the potential of such a platform. Trade data and smart payment, which is automatically triggered by the transport data, form an important basis for risk management and financing instruments and add value to every supply chain. "
He says the Batavia project is looking to enter a new phase focused on the building out of a production-ready solution. This may include joining forces with fintechs, financial institutions or other innovation leaders in the market.
The paper-intensive trade finance process is viewed as ready-made for the application of blockchain technologgy. Earlier this week India's Icici bank announced that it had successfully onboarded more than 250 corporate customers to a custom-developed blockchain platform for domestic and international trade finance.