Today, Tradeshift announced its partnership with fraud protection firm SiS for a blockchain-based supplier verification app. The firms hope to tackle payments fraud by immutably storing supplier bank details on a blockchain, allowing all invoices to be cross-checked to ensure authenticity.
French firm SiS brings together company CFOs to pool genuine supplier identities. These are stored transparently and safely on a Hyperledger-based blockchain. So clients can verify the bank details requesting payment against a trustworthy ledger. Meanwhile, Tradeshift, a unicorn in digitizing supply chain and trade finance, has an extensive network of 1.5 million clients, including DHL and Unilever, processing over half a trillion dollars.
The AFP claims that 82% of businesses have been targeted by payments fraud in the last year alone. In SiS’s native France, this makes up half of all corporate fraud, in which firms are scammed into paying fraudsters instead of their suppliers. They use counterfeit invoices, hacked emails, or stolen identities to appear genuine.
Tradeshift and SiS today announced their solution: the My SiS-id app. It uses blockchain to automate transaction verification and transparently store bank data. The app, offered through Tradeshift’s appstore, promises to cut company time spent on verifying and cross-checking invoices by up to 80%.
Rémi Demont, the CEO of SiS-id, said: “Preventing fraud is among the biggest issues facing senior financial decision-makers and a huge burden on vital resources.”
“The only way to address this issue effectively is through a collective approach, where the latest technologies ensure knowledge and information can be shared securely for the benefit of the whole community,” Demont continued. Indeed, Tradeshift’s huge customer base can now use the app and contribute to its community by registering supplier details.
“The collaborative approach SiS-id has taken to addressing the multi-billion fraud problem facing businesses fits well with our own mission to connect every business digitally creating economic opportunity for all,” commented Bruno Laborie, the Senior Director of Tradeshift’s Global Alliances.
He added: “Trust and security are absolutely vital to making this mission a reality. The addition of SiS-id to our thriving community of app partners will further enrich the Tradeshift ecosystem of buyers and suppliers by ensuring businesses can trade with one another conveniently and with confidence.”
SiS previously partnered with IBM Cloud to host its blockchain solution, then boasting bank details of over 160,000 firms. Since Tradeshift raised $250 million from the likes of Goldman Sachs and HSBC last year, it has acquired Babelway for document integration and joined forces with ConsenSys-backed Monerium. With Monerium’s e-money, it recently settled a smart invoice on Ethereum for IKEA.
