Link copied 
Commercial Bank, a private sector bank in Qatar, has announced its participation in the first Blockchain Open Account Trade Finance Trial on the Marco Polo Platform. It is purportedly the biggest trial on the R3 Corda Network to date.
In its press release, the bank explained that the existing bank finance process to open account trade is quite cumbersome, requiring verification and validation of documents such as invoices, shipping documents, insurance, etc. Marco Polo addresses these challenges by bringing its state-of-the-art technology and platform to facilitate trade finance in a reliable and fast environment fulfilling all at one place.
TradeIX and R3, in collaboration with a number of financial giants, have developed a solution for Open Account trade financing, which is powered by TradeIX’s TIX platform and R3’s Corda blockchain platform.
"The Marco Polo Network offers its members access to innovative risk mitigations solutions such as receivables discounting, and aims at making trade finance more transparent, smarter and better connected and is championed by new technology providers TradeIX and R3. Marco Polo enables end-to-end, real-time, seamless connectivity between trade participants," Commercial bank explained.
Dr. Leonie Lethbridge, Commercial Bank executive general manager and chief operating officer, added that the bank is always on the lookout for innovative ways in improving their service.
"Our participation in Marco Polo’s global trial comes to second our commitment towards innovation and customer service," Dr. Lethbridge added.
Meanwhile, the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) imposed a ban on crypto-asset services last month. The regulator said that all authorized firms are "not currently permitted to provide and/or facilitate the provision of Virtual Asset Services or otherwise exchange, trade or deal in Virtual Assets, until further notice."
