Consistent with other electronic presentations with BHP Billiton as the beneficiary, the other parties engaged in this exercise were the applicant, Tae Kyung Ind. Co. Ltd. in South Korea, the issuing bank, Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), the advising and negotiating bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and "K" Line Pte Ltd, the shipping company. Unlike other 'electronic presentation' initiatives, this program was not simply restricted to pre-checking of scanned electronic documents, or direct examination of documents electronically by the advising bank. This program proved the ability to drive the presentation end-to-end through to being promptly honoured and paid by the issuing bank.

"Although Bolero has had the required technology and legal infrastructure available for some time, we are now seeing leaders in the industry driving the adoption of these electronic processes on a broader basis." said Arthur Vonchek, CEO of Bolero. "The continued rapid expansion of the Bolero community of corporates and banks involved in trade finance collaboration has also provided a strong foundation for the extension of value into electronic presentation and the general use of an end-to-end electronic Bill of Lading."

The Bolero service was developed after extensive consultation with a broad spectrum of key industry stakeholders and technology development in conjunction with SWIFT, (the member owned Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication). The common legal infrastructure for all Bolero services is the unique Bolero Rulebook, developed following a comprehensive feasibility study into the legal issues related to electronic Bills of Lading and the broader use of electronic commerce in cross border trade. The study was undertaken by Allen & Overy and Richards Butler, two major international law firms based in London and represents one of the most extensive studies ever undertaken into electronic commerce related legal issues.

"We are very excited about t the success of the live pilot which demonstrates both the reality as well as the substantial opportunities associated with straight through document presentation.", says Arthur Vonchek, CEO of Bolero. "This initiative has demonstrated the practicality of an end-to-end electronic Bill of Lading. The willingness to support this initiative shown by key trade partners such as "K" Line Pte Ltd is testimony to the fact that this is increasingly seen as the way forward in international trade."

Mr. Yutaka Kuge, General Manager, from "K" Line Pte Ltd, in expressing his optimism for such transactions, said, "Electronic BOL's provide significant benefits to all parties in the supply chain. For ship-owners specifically, the most notable advantages are a fully traceable audit trail of BOL ownership and faster turnaround of administrative processes around BOL's by elimination of physical BOL's getting delayed or even lost during the transfer between the various parties."

Bolero provides comprehensive Trade Finance applications delivered as web-based SaaS (software as a service) solutions enabling speedy adoption, minimal infrastructure costs and flexible use. Underlying these applications is the unique Bolero electronic multi-banking channel solution which ensures security, legal certainty, non-repudiation and document originality. All Bolero services are deployed for effortless multi-bank use for corporate customers, while at the same time providing a single multi-corporate electronic channel for each bank. Bolero prevents both communities from needing to support multiple bank and/or corporate specific processes, interfaces and data formats, clearly driving simplification and standardisation.