Today Standard Chartered announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chinese supply chain finance platform Linklogis. The startup runs a blockchain-enabled platform that gives large buyers visibility over their supply chains. Additionally, it offers SME suppliers cheaper access to credit because there’s a lower risk given they know the invoices are approved by the buyer.
In addition to extending funding, both parties will explore other areas of cooperation. One area is to speed up onboarding of clients for Standard Chartered through digitization. Another avenue is using Linklogis’ data and analytics methodologies to enhance risk management.
Linklogis was founded in 2016 and in 2018 received $220 million in Series C funding led by the Singapore Government Investment Corporation (GIC). Other investors include Tencent, CITIC and Bertelsmann. The company’s accumulated transactions total almost 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion).
“We are delighted to partner with Linklogis and explore potential opportunities for the co-creation of innovative client offerings to further grow our presence in China,” said Simon Cooper, CEO of Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking at Standard Chartered.
Charles Song, Chairman & CEO of Linklogis said: “It has always been our mission as a fintech company to create the most professional and best in class supply chain financing platform with the most advanced technology to enhance the financing solutions for our clients. Today, with the collaboration and partnership with leading financial institution Standard Chartered Bank, we strive to build a revolutionary and innovative technological application that will solve the fundamental funding problems faced by SMEs.”
Another player in the Chinese supply chain finance sector is p2p lending platform Dianrong.
StanChart and blockchain trade finance
Standard Chartered is very active in blockchain for trade finance. A few weeks ago its Singapore subsidiary participated in a blockchain transaction for Agrocorp.
The bank is a member of the R3 Marco Polo trade finance consortium where the technology partners is TradeIX. In August last year, the bank announced that it was working with TradeIX and Siemens Financial Services to develop blockchain-based bank guarantees for financial services. The technology used is R3’s Corda.
The bank is also a founding member of eTradeConnect the trade finance platform set up by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority which launched at the end of October and is powered by Hyperledger Fabric.
