Ex-Batavia Members, we.trade Merge Blockchain Trade Finance Efforts

Blockchain trade finance consortium we.trade has grown with the addition of three new bank members, reports in CryptoNinjas said Tuesday (Oct. 2).

UBS is joining the consortium, as are CaixaBank and Erste Group. The three were part of the former Batavia consortium, another group formed to explore blockchain in trade finance and management. The financial institutions (FIs) join we.trade’s existing bank partners HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Rabobank, Santander and others, now totaling 12.

In a statement, we.trade Chief Operating Officer Roberto Mancone said the addition of the three banks “confirms the previously announced roadmap of we.trade and keeps us on track with our strategy of expanding our global coverage network over the coming quarters with banking and non-banking partners.”

CaixaBank Director of Foreign Trade & Exchange Mar Santana Rollán said joining we.trade will enable the bank to provide multinational corporate customers with digital trade solutions, while UBS Head of CIC Products and Services Andy Kollegger noted that its participation with the group will benefit corporate customers in Switzerland in their global trading operations.

The underlying blockchain technology used by we.trade is provided by IBM, and its General Manager of Blockchain Services Jason Kelley pointed to we.trade’s ability “to securely share data within a permissioned network” enabling banks to “finance supply chain processes more efficiently and with greater trust.”

The same day, another blockchain supply chain outfit, Eximchain, announced plans to launch its solution this week after partnering with a range of companies, including YOOSourcing in China.

“The lack of transparency, connectivity and agility is a huge problem in the global supply chain industry,” said Eximchain Founder and CEO Hope Liu in a statement, according to Supply Chain Management Review reports. “With global trade increasing at a tremendous rate, and boosted by eCommerce in Asia-Pacific, supply chain players around the world are looking at technology to help them reduce costs and be more efficient in their processes.”