Vietnam’s HDBank joins HSBC, StanChart-backed Contour trade finance blockchain

HD bank becomes the first bank in Vietnam to join the open trade finance network in order to enhance trade financing to other corporates. This Vietnamese financial institution is a new addition to the Contour network.

In December 2019, HD bank had overall VND 229 trillion, i.e., $9.8 billions worth compressed assets. HD bank has been incorporated with Contour to provide trade finance assistance in Vietnam.

The contours network was established on R3s Corda and has prioritized on maintaining the Letter of Credit allocation method. An LOC is a time taking, and expensive process. The digitization of LOCs in a blockchain network will allow saving time and money.

In this current scenario, the need for digitization is growing every day. The pandemic has shown the worth the need for taking everything on the virtual platform. This enables Vietnamese firms to benefit from the virtual negotiation and Letter of Credits with offsets in the United States, Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

The CEO of Contour stated that the organization’s motive is to provide neutral platforms for all banks and firms for trade finance transactions. To fully enjoy all the benefits that contour provides, one needs to cooperate and build new relations or connections.

The CEO of HD bank, Pham Quoc Thanh, asserted that it saw the abilities of Contour to resolve the issues regarding Letter of Credit and issuance of funds to the firm in a profitable manner. He further added that the organization is looking forward to working with the Contours team to assure an inflated Letter of Credits.

The letter of credit blockchain was previously known as Voltron. The contours network of banks, corporates, and collaborators enable the flow of data instantly and in a secure manner.

By providing power to the blockchain network for LOCs commerce, Contour is helping to curtail the time and also acting as a cost-cutter for the financial institutions as well as the consumers. This blockchain antidote was instigated by ING, HSBC, and a few other banks. With time and improvement in the project, more banks collaborated. After this, the blockchain solution was officially declared.

The main motive of the Contour is to empower financial institutions by leveraging the Banker's commercial credit for trade finance transactions. With more flexibility comes more business and eventually, this would help the exporters run their firms efficiently.

The network of blockchain has instigated various commanders in 14 countries and has involved 50 banks and corporate firms in the global trial. The confederates of this program are HSBC, ING Bank, Standard Chartered, SEB, Bangkok Bank, BNP Paribas, CTBC Holding.

The consultant and partner for this project are Bain & Company, whereas the technical partners are R3 and CryptoBLK.