Standard Chartered bank has launched a blockchain-powered trade finance platform through a joint venture with Linklogis which is a Chinese supply chain finance technology provider.
The platform which is called Olea will target to meet the needs of institutional investors that are looking for opportunities in an alternative asset class with businesses requiring supply chain financing.
Standard Chartered became Linklogis’ first global bank investor in 2020, one year after the two entities had signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperatively explore and develop solutions for the supply chain finance ecosystem. The bank has previously worked with China-based fintech leaders that include Alipay owner Ant Group, whose Antchain-based global trade platform, Trusple, has been used by Standard Chartered, Citi, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank and many others.
Olea is reportedly expected to help Standard Chartered raise its profile in global digital trade finance, and the choice to implement a blockchain infrastructure continues the bank’s ongoing engagement with the technology. Standard Chartered has itself previously collaborated on using blockchain for trade finance with many of these same banks through the eTrade Connect blockchain trade finance platform launched in Hong Kong in 2018.
