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Standard Chartered has invested blockchain-based trade finance platform Contour, rebranded from blockchain trade finance project Voltron last week, CoinDesk reported. The amount invested has not been disclosed
Officially announced in October 2018, Voltron initially began as a project within the R3 blockchain consortium. Built on R3’s Corda platform, it aimed to digitalize the letter of credit (LC) process which can significantly lower the processing time and cost.
Voltron rebranded as Contour following a series of live pilots in 14 countries and a global trial with more than 50 banks and corporates, which reduced processing times for LCs by over 90%, from 5-10 days to under 24 hours.
In August 2019, Standard Chartered executed its first blockchain-based LoC transaction on Voltron. On Tuesday, the bank's Global Head of Transaction Banking Lisa Robins revealed that they have successfully streamlined the trade process by cutting down on the amount of paper needed.
Contour made a launch announcement via press release three days ago. It was supported by Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, BNP Paribas SA, CTBC Venture Capital Co. Ltd, HSBC Investment Bank Holdings Limited, ING Bank N.V., Standard Chartered UK Holdings Limited, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ), Bain & Company, Inc., CryptoBLK Limited and R3.
The company is led by CEO Carl Wegner, a trade finance veteran who joined the team following a successful tenure building R3’s presence across Asia.
“The opportunity cost in trade finance is huge. Trillions of dollars in commodities, products and services are transacted daily, but the sector is still characterised by slow, duplicative and expensive processes. Contour delivers a network where trusted information is shared in real-time, effectively digitising Letters of Credit across all users in the transaction,” Wegner said.
Contour said that it is going into full commercialization of its offering and has established itself in Singapore as a fully independent network. It is expected to launch a commercial version in the second half of the year, Global Trade Review reported.
“We are now focusing on scaling the network with more banks, corporates and partners, and look forward to continuing to collaborate with our growing community,” Wegner added.
