The international bank, HSBC has conducted the first Blockchain transaction for the Middle East Automotive’s Industry. The transaction was facilitated by Blockchain platform, Contour, between the Chinese carmaker SAIC Motor and Taajeer Group, the authorized dealer of MG cars in Saudi Arabia.
According to the local reports, the Contour platform facilitated end-to-end digitisation of the credit documentation required for Taajeer group to import a shipment of cars from SAIC in a process that is roughly 10x faster than using physical documents.
Chaker Zeraiki, the head of global trade and receivables finance for HSBC UAE said that the firm’s digitising at scale implies making customers’ lives easier. With Contour, digitising means the firm is cutting costs, reducing risk and speeding up trade’ he added.
HSBC said that distributed ledger technology has the capability to reduce transaction times from between five and ten days to under 24 hours thus, enabling additional trade to be held between markets.
Contour’s platform makes the transactions more secure as data shared on the network is transparent. The platform uses decentralised technology to deploy digital networks for the quick transfer of data across trade routes and the existing fragmented ecosystems worldwide.
The report added that the platform wants to digitise $53bn of global trade finance.
David Leslie, General Manager of the Trade Finance Business at SABB, called the transaction a first of its kind in Saudi Arabia where increased digitisation is placed in accordance with the Vision 2030 initiative. Leslie said, “Blockchain can significantly reduce friction and increase the pace of trade for companies trading with Saudi Arabian entities.”
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