Today Spanish bank BBVA said it would use Ant Group’s blockchain trade finance platform Trusple in Mexico and Spain. The solution targets SMEs and banks to finance international trade transactions. When Ant – which operates payments app AliPay – first unveiled the platform in September 2020, it had already signed up BNP Paribas, Citi, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered.
Since then, it has partnered with Japan’s Mizuho and MUFG, Thailand’s Krungsri, Singapore’s OCBC Bank and Emirates NBD. Accenture is also a partner.
When a Chinese supplier enters into a contract, the trade is recorded on the platform. Smart contracts can automatically update information, such as the delivery progress. Additionally, banks are integrating with the platform to provide trade finance, enabling automated bank payments using smart contracts. Initially, the banks will provide payment guarantees.
“We hope that by next year, we can help any Spanish or Mexican SME that already makes purchases from Chinese suppliers through this portal with a much simpler, easier and more transparent system,” said Pablo Lopez Tallada, the Head of International Solutions for BBVA Spain.
BBVA will pilot the platform in early 2022, hoping to go live later in the year.
Ant aims to make it simple for companies to adopt Trusple, no matter their level of digitalization. The platform uses the firm’s proprietary blockchain AntChain. Given ongoing regulatory scrutiny in China, which resulted in the withdrawal of Ant’s IPO, we can expect the fast-moving company to put significant energy into international projects such as Trusple.
