Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially those in developing countries, have historically struggled to gain access to trade finance, which, over time, has led to a global gap that the Asian Development Bank (ABD) estimated at US$1.5 trillion in 2018. The COVID-19 outbreak is further exacerbating these challenges with new research by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) projecting a capacity of US$1.9 to US$5 trillion in the trade credit market just to return to pre-COVID-19 levels. By 2025, the World Economic Forum (WEF) believes the global trade finance gap could reach US$2.5 trillion. SMEs face the biggest challenges obtaining trade finance, a 2019 ADB research found, with the rejection rate of SME proposals standing at 45%, higher relative to mid-sized and larger-sized firms (39%) and multinational corporations (17%). Banks cited anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations as the biggest obstacles to expanding their trade financing operations. While these regulations are critical to ensure that the global financial system is not used to fund terrorism or launder money, they can inadvertently cut off legitimate companies in less-developed markets from the financial support they need to grow. But technological advances are bringing new hopes for the sector with fintech and digitalization expected to help bridge the trade finance gap, particularly amongst SMEs.  

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Blockchain in trade finance Besides alternative funding players, Asia is also home to a number of startups that are using blockchain to improve traceability, transparency and operational efficiencies in trade finance. Dltledgers is another tech startup from Singapore that uses blockchain to facilitate cross-border trade digitization and execution. Dltledgers essentially works as a registry of trade finance transactions. Details associated with trade documents are submitted to the platform, which can then determine whether financing is being sought multiple times for the same cargo. The project is jointly led by Standard Chartered and DBS Bank but brings together several other international financial institutions including ABN Amro, ANZ, CIMB, Deutsche Bank, ICICI Bank, Maybank, OCBC and UOB. It is supported by government agency Enterprise Singapore, with the Association Banks of Singapore acting as an advisor.

"This mitigates against duplicate financing from different bank lenders for the same trade inventory, leading to greater trust and confidence among banks and traders alike - DBS and StanChart"

Since the first transaction went live in early 2018, Dltledgers claims it has executed over S$3 billion worth of live trade finance transactions involving 400+ traders, 65+ banks and tertiary partners. Other noteworthy startups reinventing trade finance in Asia include Capital and Credit Risk Manager (CCRManager) from Singapore, a global digital platform for the secondary trading of trade finance obligations, as well as Liberatrade, a company from Hong Kong that uses AI for supply chain funding, logistics and predictive demand. Read more : Original article

Mind Your Business Segment with #dltledgers

 

21 April 2021
Helping SMEs contribute to the supply chain ecosystem
Listen to what can be done to bring an innovative approach to enable trade among SMEs? In Mind Your Business, Howie Lim speaks to Samir Neji, founder & CEO, dltledgers about helping SMEs contribute to the bigger economy.

 

About #dltledgers

#dltledgers is the leading, independent blockchain platform for trade and supply chain digitisation, headquartered in Singapore. The platform helps companies to digitise their commercial documents, contracts, and bank interactions, enabling them to automate multi-party transactions, streamline processes, and reduce cost. The net result is faster, more cost-effective trade execution, more robust, auditable collaboration between enterprises, and often improved capacity to obtain financing. Network participants include buyers, sellers, trading companies, banks and alternative lenders, as well as carriers, logistics partners, insurers, ports, and a variety of certifying bodies and government agencies. The #dltledgers blockchain platform is a pioneer in enterprise blockchain. It was the first platform of its kind globally to go into full production, and it has processed several billion dollars-worth of live transactions.

www.dlt.sg

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Singapore-based fintech firm, #dltledgers, has completed a Series A funding round led by Regis and Savoy Capital, Vittal, Walden International and various veteran industry leaders. The Series A funding round closed with a total of USD $7 million.

The funding round comes off the back of a record-breaking, third year for #dltledgers—with more than 200% YoY growth, as the need for digitisation across trade finance surges amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. #dltledgers has commenced expanding its 70-strong team by 120% across Asia Pacific, ANZ, Japan India and Middle East. To support #dltledgers’ rapid growth, the company will migrate its blockchain-based solutions from Hyperledger Fabric to Corda, R3’s flagship enterprise blockchain platform—enabling businesses in trade finance to streamline business operations, while reducing transaction and record-keeping costs. David Rutter, Founder and CEO of R3 said: “We are ecstatic that one of the world’s fastest-growing trade digitisation platforms is moving to Corda. #dltledgers was one of the first businesses globally to pass the proof-of-concept stage, launching a full production trade solution in 2018. They have also successfully proven how different blockchains can interoperate, and can create transactional efficiency in trade and supply chain finance. Amit Ghosh, Head of APAC of R3 added: “#dltledgers is spearheading digital innovation in the trade finance industry and we are confident that the team will benefit greatly from Corda. Corda has demonstrated its capabilities and use cases within Asia’s trade finance ecosystem—providing leading trade finance and supply chain ISVs the benefits of blockchain for business—addressing issues of cost, expediency, efficiency, and profitability. We look forward to working very closely with #dltledgers, helping them scale in Asia and across the world’s other trading hubs.” Samir Neji, Founder of #dltledgers said: “We are delighted that our investors see the value of #dltledgers and the transformative solutions we have developed. By migrating our blockchain platform to Corda, the first purpose-built blockchain for enterprise, our current and future clients will benefit from unparalleled security, transparency and performance that comes with Corda. In addition, our platform’s ability to facilitate repeatable transactions enabled us to stand out globally and led to engagements with corporates like Shiseido, Wilmar, Mitsui, Wipro Unza, Vertiv, Schneider Electric—and more than 500 SMEs like Pine Energy Valency International, as well as over 45 banks including ANZ, DBS, Standard Chartered Bank, and Rabobank. The injection of funding will help #dltledgers to amplify its work on partnerships, standards, integration, as well as accelerating product development in several areas. One area is Cognitive Document Automation (CDA)—a unique combination of graphical processing, machine learning, and blockchain—further reducing the effort required to reconcile invoices, purchase orders, packing lists, and other trade documents.” Neji believes CDA will enable customers to cross-match data in real-time in blockchain, right at the moment the documents are uploaded. Singapore-based #dltledgers leverages Corda to digitise interactions between enterprises—enabling multiple parties to execute physical goods transactions and collaborate in a secure, digital environment. Its platform complements existing technologies such as SWIFT, Bolero, essDOCS, SAP, and MS Sharepoint—while supporting the exchange of sensitive data and documents, without having to rely on physical paper documentations.F FarooqSiddiqi, CEO of #dltledgers said: “We are ecstatic to work with R3 and implement Corda within our technology infrastructure. Corda aligns with our goals at #dltledgers—which is to build efficiency in inter-enterprise transactions, reduce friction in physical and financial flows, and to help customers transition to a future dominated by data. We will continue shifting our users from disparate processes, communications, and reliance on email and paper, to a single, private, digital network, which can expand as customers’ requirements evolve. Through that network, users will be able to manage any type of repeatable transaction with external parties. Crucially, this will be a network our customers own, and can itself become an asset with real value.” #dltledgers has played a pivotal role in the transformation of Asia Pacific’s trade finance industry—contributing to Singapore's Trade Finance Registry, the world-first collaboration of 14 banks, led by DBS and Standard Chartered Bank, aiming to fight trade fraud. The company is also working closely with The International Chamber of Commerce, Trade Trust and various government agencies to enable interoperability between different technologies and support government initiatives such as the Parliament’s Bill giving legal certainty to the use of electronic documents. -ENDS- Amit Ghosh, Head of APAC, R3 and Samir Neji, Founder of #dltledgers are available for media interviews and written commentaries.A AboutR3 R3 is an enterprise software firm that is pioneering digital industry transformation. With our foundation in enterprise blockchain technology, we power solutions that deliver trust across the financial services industry and beyond. R3’s enterprise blockchain platform Corda is digitalizing the processes and systems that firms rely on to connect and transact with each other and has more than 350 institutions deploying, servicing and building on it. Our Conclave platform harnesses the promise of confidential computing and Intel® SGX technologies. Conclave empowers businesses to develop applications that analyze and process sensitive data from multiple parties —all without compromising on confidentiality. Our customers and partners have access to an ecosystem of leading systems integrators, cloud providers, technology firms, software vendors, corporates and banks. To ensure our customers derive the greatest value from their investment, we provide services and support to shorten time-to-market, as well as guidance on implementation, integration and building blockchain business networks. Learn more at www.r3.com, www.corda.net, and www.conclave.net. About #dltledgers #dltledgers is the leading, independent blockchain platform for trade and supply chain finance digitisation, headquartered in Singapore. The platform helps corporates and banks to authenticate their commercial documents, contracts, and bank interactions, enabling them to automate multi-party transactions, streamline processes, and reduce cost. The net result is faster, more cost-effective trade execution, more robust, auditable collaboration between enterprises, and often improved capacity to obtain financing. Network participants include buyers, sellers, trading companies, banks and alternative lenders, as well as carriers, logistics partners, insurers, ports, and a variety of certifying bodies and government agencies. #dltledgers was the first platform of its kind globally to go into full production, and it has processed several billion dollars-worth of live transactions. It played a key role in Singapore’s “Trade Finance Registry”, the world-first collaboration of fourteen banks, led by DBS and Standard Chartered Bank, aiming to fight trade fraud. In April it helped Cargill, Rabobank, and commodity trader, Agrocorp, complete groundbreaking, cross-continental trade of wheat, a continuous repeat transactions which run into millions for our customers. Later, global research firm, CB Insights, named #dltledgers as one of the top 50 private companies globally in blockchain. Read more at dlt.sg, or follow #dltledgers on LinkedIn and YouTube. Media contact Joel Lah Wachsman r3@wachsman.com +65 8818 8021

Original Post Singapore/ Nairobi, March 18^th, 2021 – The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and dltledgers are pleased to announce their most recent 3-year agreement, via which TDB aims to scale-up the volume of trade finance transacted via blockchain in Africa using dltledgers’ platform. TDB and dltledgers have been collaborating since 2019 on pioneering the use of distributed ledger technology to execute end-to-end trade finance on the continent. That first year, USD 22 million in white cane sugar was imported from India by Ethiopia, with Singapore-based Agrocorp as the seller and trading company, and all trade finance activities concluded via blockchain. With this maiden transaction, TDB became the first African DFI to conclude a trade finance transaction using blockchain. When Covid-19 hit, TDB accelerated the use of this technology to conclude an additional USD 150 million in intra-African trade finance transactions, this time consisting of fertilizers imported from Morocco’s OCP by Ethiopia. These became the first intra-African trade finance transactions to be executed via blockchain. Admassu Tadesse, TDB Group Managing Director and TDB CEO said “as part of our response to the pandemic, we have been providing liquidity to our clients to curtail cross-border trade and supply chains disruptions, and ultimately, to help our Member States continue working towards their development objectives. With transport logistics slowing down, blockchain has been instrumental in making this happen. We are thrilled to continue our partnership with dltledgers which will enable us to increase our volume of trade finance executed via blockchain during this difficult period, and beyond.” Michael Awori, TDB Deputy CEO and COO said that: “thanks to the use of blockchain, we are now able to improve the turnaround time of our transactions, reducing it from 3 to 6 weeks to under 2 hours, lowering the cost and carbon footprint of our administrative processes by eliminating paperwork, and further enhancing trust between the different stakeholders in a trade thanks to the neutral governance provided by blockchain which in turn enables better protection of their data, and much more. As these advantages are gaining traction in our ecosystem of stakeholders, we look forward to work with more financial institutions in our region as well as traders and suppliers, both globally and in Africa, who stand to significantly benefit from the digitization of their trade finance activities.” Farooq Siddiqi, CEO of dltledgers, said: “we are delighted to partner with TDB in bringing innovative digitisation solutions to their corporate clients in Africa. The creation of private permissioned networks over blockchain enables closer collaboration and trust between the bank and its customers. Benefits include facilitation of trade finance, improved visibility of the underlying flows, and better client experience. It is a pleasure to work with such a forward-thinking organisation and we are excited to help TDB scale its digital capabilities in 2021 and beyond.” While it is estimated that 80 to 90% of global trade relies on some form of trade finance, the trade finance market size is expected to reach about USD 10 trillion by 2026. Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize the way this is done, and to further boost overall global trade volumes thanks to reduced trade costs. According to an IBM survey of more than 1,000 executives from large corporations in 34 countries and 22 industries globally, with customer satisfaction ranking first as a measure of operational success across blockchain networks, 85% of CTOs and CIOs expect to work with multiple blockchain technologies within the next 3 years. TDB is committed to remaining at the forefront of innovation on various fronts, including in terms of technology. In the digitization of trade finance using blockchain, not only is TDB leading the way in Africa, but it is also a sizeable player globally, due to the comparatively larger quantum of its transactions.   XXX   About TDB Established in 1985, the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) is a multilateral, treaty-based, investment-grade development finance institution, with 41 sovereign and institutional shareholders and assets of USD 7 bn. TDB serves 22 economies in its region, with the mandate to finance and foster trade, regional economic integration, and sustainable development. TDB is part of the TDB Group, which also comprises TDF (the Trade and Development Fund), ESATF (the Eastern and Southern African Trade Fund), TCI (TDB Captive Insurance), and the TDB Academy. www.tdbgroup.org About dltledgers dltledgers is a global platform company with Singapore as its HQ. We are a customer centric platform for cross border trade execution. Several regional and global banks have signed up and operate as network partners in offering trade financing services in the platform. Apart from counter party assignment in blockchain, we network shipping, logistics, ports and other network partners into a trusted trade network for our customers. With digitisation and blockchain, Cross border trade is being transformed like never before. dltledgers blockchain platform leads the pack with over USD 3 billion trade executed globally. Media Contacts Anne-Marie Iskandar Senior Communications Officer, Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations Trade and Development Bank anne-marie.iskandar@tdbgroup.org   James Green Chief Marketing Officer Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) Pte Ltd (dltledgers) jamesmg@dlt.sg Parm Sangha, Veena Pureswaran, and Smitha Soma, “Advancing global trade with blockchain,” IMB Institute for Business Value, May 2020, https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/WVDE0MXG

  Singapore, 9 March 2021 –TradeFlow Capital Management (TradeFlow), has entered into a partnership with #dltledgers promising to reduce the liquidity shortage for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) trading bulk commodities around the globe. Estimated by the Asian Development Bank in 2019 to be US$ 1.5 Tn, this trade gap has worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic, and is projected to increase to US$3.4 Tn. International Labour Organisation studies indicate SMEs provide more than two-thirds of all jobs worldwide and account for the majority of new job creation. Enabling trade for SMEs may help alleviate the hardships caused by the pandemic. This partnership leverages on the strengths of both companies to enable trade that traditional trade finance lending cannot effectively support.  TradeFlow will look to leverage the distributed ledger technology of #dltledgers. This enables firms to capture, authenticate, and share data and documents linked to physical commodity cargoes, and supports the speedy and accurate validation, reconciliation and matching of the information exchanged between trading parties. TradeFlow which has been employing digitisation approaches in its business for scalability since 2018, utilises its proprietary Digital Transaction and Risk Transformation Engine (DTRTE) to enable global physical commodity trade for SMEs, leveraging on its innovative non-credit, non-lending investment model. TradeFlow’s DTRTE architecture provides the added advantage of superior risk-adjusted returns and capital preservation for investors and is highly complementary to traditional trade finance lending institutions like banks. Through this partnership of two leading industry innovators, TradeFlow and #dltledgers will enhance proven capabilities to support SME trade at scale.  #dltledgers will expand its reach among SMEs, and bring existing subscribers a non-credit trade enabling solution, which is an alternative to trade credit or financing. As a result of the collaboration, SMEs can expect to benefit from shorter turnaround times, less effort spent on repetitive and manual processes, and fewer rejected trade finance applications. Farooq Siddiqi, CEO of #dltledgers said, “At a time when many trade finance providers are retreating, we are delighted to advance through this partnership with TradeFlow to help create more optionality for traders globally.  This is good news for the 400+ SMEs on our platform. We’re excited to align ourselves with industry leading firms like TradeFlow for urgently needed, innovative approaches to enabling trade among SMEs.” Tom James, CEO of TradeFlow said, “TradeFlow and #dltledgers are aligned in that both our firms strive to innovate and bring digitised solutions to the international trading community that add value in operational and capital efficiency. “ John Collis, CRO of TradeFlow commented, “Cooperating with #dltledgers and entering into this partnership will further TradeFlow’s mission in enabling SME trade worldwide.“ Oswald Kuyler, Managing Director of the ICC’s Digital Standards Initiative, said: “As countries around the world grapple with vaccines and ongoing fallout from the crisis, a dependable supply chain is more critical than ever. We’re delighted to see companies like TradeFlow and #dltledgers working together to create better trade and more functional supply chains, especially among SMEs, which in many cases have been the worst affected. This unique partnership will enable SMEs both to move beyond paper and to complete trades that may otherwise have been starved of capital. It’s great to see businesses chipping away at the trade finance gap, and another example of innovation in Singapore.” CONTACT For more information related to  dltledgers, please contact James Green at: jamesmg@dlt.sg / +65 9151 5207. For more information related to  TradeFlow, please contact Daniel Chua at : Daniel.chua@tradeflow.capital / +65 9177 6348 About TradeFlow TradeFlow Capital Management (TradeFlow) is the world’s first FinTech-powered commodities trade enabler focused on SMEs. TradeFlow consists of a diverse team of experts with the focused mission of addressing the increasing trade finance gap faced by global SMEs operating as producers/traders/end-users in the bulk commodity trading space. By performing an enabling role in international trade and globalization, TradeFlow creates growth opportunities for businesses and economies. To date, TradeFlow has successfully invested in more than US$500mn of physical commodity trade through 700+ transactions across 15+ countries and 25+ commodity types, with more than 800 SME counterpart entities KYC reviewed. The TradeFlow Funds*, advised by TradeFlow, were conceived in 2016 and launched in 2018. Headquartered in the Asian financial hub Singapore, TradeFlow is a FinTech Certified Company (SFA), a Corporate Member of the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA), and a Member of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA). * No.1 SME-focused trade finance fund in annual net returns to investors in 2020, as reported by Preqin Alternative Investment Database records www.tradeflow.capital Please bookmark our media: TradeFlow TV | Twitter | LinkedIN About #dltledgers #dltledgers is the leading, independent blockchain platform for trade and supply chain digitisation, headquartered in Singapore. The platform helps companies to digitise their commercial documents, contracts, and bank interactions, enabling them to automate multi-party transactions, streamline processes, and reduce cost. The net result is faster, more cost-effective trade execution, more robust, auditable collaboration between enterprises, and often improved capacity to obtain financing. Network participants include buyers, sellers, trading companies, banks and alternative lenders, as well as carriers, logistics partners, insurers, ports, and a variety of certifying bodies and government agencies. The #dltledgers blockchain platform is a pioneer in enterprise blockchain. It was the first platform of its kind globally to go into full production, and it has processed several billion dollars-worth of live transactions. www.dlt.sg Follow updates on: LinkedIn | YouTube

Piramal Glass leads the way in streamlining cross-border trade digitisation using the #dltledgers blockchain platform. Mumbai, 15^th January 2021: Piramal Glass, Asia’s largest speciality glass manufacturer, has successfully kicked off its first cross-border trade digitisation programme using blockchain. The company is prioritising the technology in 2021 as a means of unlocking hidden margins and efficiency through digital automation. The team partnered with enterprise blockchain platform, #dltledgers, a leading fintech operating out of Singapore and India. The first phase of this project had four main objectives: to validate the production use of blockchain in Piramal Glass’ supply chain and export operations; to increase transparency while protecting sensitive data and customer integrity; to understand if the technology could enable multiple stakeholders to collaborate on initiatives, such as sustainability; and to establish if blockchain delivers business value in terms of efficiency improvement and ease of use. The Piramal Glass project may signal for India what is already happening elsewhere around the world – the rising penetration of blockchain in enterprise applications. For years, blockchain was criticised for failing to deliver on its initial business promise. 2020, however, appears to have been a pivotal year. As Deloitte’s 2020 global blockchain survey concluded: “leaders no longer consider the technology ground-breaking and merely promising – they now see it as integral to organizational innovation.” India has yet to see the exponential rise in blockchain adoption that is being witnessed elsewhere globally, but with organisations like Piramal Group starting to move, this may be about to change. The Piramal Glass project will now progress into its next phase. Focusing on driving visibility and efficiency, the objective will be to streamline supply chain processes throughout the company’s global manufacturing operations, and to build out the company’s private, digital network of suppliers and buyers. The #dltledgers platform will have seamless connectivity with Piramal’s existing SAP systems, and will enable export and import digitisation with multiple, global suppliers and buyers simultaneously. As the project proceeds, it will expand into more supply chain product flows, new areas like sustainability tracking, and tackle processes that depend on time-sensitive document transfer, IP security, and authenticity. Sudip Mazumder, Global Chief Digital & Information Officer, Piramal Glass Ltd, said of the project: “The most obvious benefits were the increased level of transparency and auditability between stakeholders in the supply chain, as well as a reduction in manual processes. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that the platform created a sense of urgency, speeding up key business processes, improving collaboration, and even increasing confidence among customers”. #dltledgers’ Managing Director, India and South Asia, Raji Iyengar, commented: “Piramal Glass took a very structured approach to this project, enabling the #dltledgers team to work almost as an extension of the Piramal team. Clearly, the leadership here has a crisp vision and an urge to stay ahead in the digital transformation journey. Blockchain-based trade digitisation is a great way to keep the wheels of trade moving, especially in pandemic times.” Singapore-headquartered #dltledgers has a global partnership agreement with Microsoft’s cloud offering, Azure. This enables the platform to scale quickly via a subscription-based “software-as-a-service” (SaaS) model. Designed to be “plug-and-play”, the platform integrates easily with existing processes, with a relatively light touch on existing systems. Vijay Shah, Vice Chairman of Piramal Glass and Piramal Group board member, added: “Piramal Glass is transforming into a digitally-enabled business. The board is aligning digital initiatives with the company’s organizational strategy. Our customers and vendors are key to our business, so secrecy, privacy, and protecting the Intellectual Property of our stakeholders is of paramount importance. We see blockchain technology is an integral part of our ability to achieve this going forward”. #dltledgers is the leading, independent fintech platform for trade and supply chain digitisation and finance in blockchain. Based in Singapore, the platform facilitates inter-enterprise collaboration, connecting the “digital islands” across its value chain to create a trusted trade framework and supply chain ecosystem for its users. Network participants include buyers, sellers, trading companies, and finance providers, as well as carriers, logistics partners, insurers, ports, and a variety of certifying bodies and government agencies. The #dltledgers blockchain platform is a pioneer in enterprise blockchain, having executed over USD 2.5 billion worth of live transactions, involving over 500 subscribed traders, 45 banks, and 4500+ ecosystem partners. Piramal Glass Ltd is a globally recognised brand offering end-to-end glass packaging solutions in over 50 countries. The company is the largest speciality glass player in Asia and one of the fastest growing companies in the world. It is a one-stop-shop for glass packaging solutions across pharmaceutical, cosmetics and perfumery, and specialty food and beverage businesses. With best-in-class manufacturing facilities and configuration of technology, design, and layout, Piramal Glass aims to meet and exceed its customers’ expectations. The Company is on a mission to become the world’s most preferred supplier of glass flaconnage through continuous value addition, superior quality and unmatched service. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/6608_2020-global-blockchain-survey/DI_CIR%202020%20global%20blockchain%20survey.pdf

 

Singapore, 15th December – Jeremy Kua, a corporate banking professional for the last 15 years, has been appointed Head of Financial Institution (FI) Relationships for Singapore-based fintech, #dltledgers – one of Asia’s leading lights in the digitisation of cross-border trade. Kua is moving on from European inventory finance firm, Falcon Group, where he spent three years as Business Development Director.   Despite the impact of the pandemic, #dltledgers’ growth has continued in 2020. Income has doubled and trade volume has passed S$3.5 billion (USD 2.6bn). The company is also benefitting from tailwinds – first from its successful Trade Finance Registry proof-of-concept, which is now in the hands of the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), then from the awarding of two government grants. More recently, the ABS announced the government-backed “Code of Best Practices for Commodity Financing”, which stresses the importance of transparency and robust risk management in trade – two key advantages of a platform like #dltledgers. In light of recent momentum, the Singapore-based firm is strengthening its team across the business. Kua’s appointment, the latest in a string of recent bank hires, comes as no surprise: he worked with new CEO, Farooq Siddiqi, who himself joined from Falcon in November.   Kua’s focus at #dltledgers will be to lead strategic partnerships with financial institutions. He brings to the company experience in relationship management, product sales, and structuring, having spent most of his career between ANZ Banking Group, Standard Chartered Bank, and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi. He also has a B.A. in Economics from Boston University.   Speaking on his appointment Kua said, “I’m excited to have joined one of the world’s fastest-growing trade digitisation platforms and am delighted to be working with Farooq again. I’m also looking forward to reconnecting with many people in my professional network. 2021 is likely to see a split between businesses who invest in the future of trade and those who do not. I  believe in #dltledgers’ vision and I am excited to be part of the story”. CEO, Farooq Siddiqi, was equally enthused, “Jeremy and I have a strong working relationship – our styles and appetite for risk are similar. I’m excited he’s back on my team”. Since its launch in 2018, #dltledgers has digitised over S$3.5 billion-worth of cross-border trade transactions, powering trade flows spanning 28 countries on four continents. As the Singapore Government builds on its position as a pioneer in digital trade, as illustrated by the expanding list of Digital Economy Agreements, #dltledgers’ forecast is bullish. The company is predicting significant growth in revenue, trade volume, and international footprint.