Westpac Banking Corp says it has completed a first of its kind end-to-end electronic trade transaction, involving an iron ore shipment from Australia to China.
The transaction, leveraging the essDOCS developed CargoDocs Bank Payment Obligation Plus solution, marks yet another milestone for the bank and reaffirms its position as a leader in trade finance and cross-border payments, says Westpac in a statement.
Westpac has acted as the recipient bank for the seller BHP Billiton, a leading global resources company. The buyer was Cargill, which provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services to the world. Throughout the transaction, data flowed electronically through all four institutions with no data re-entry, leading to a much faster completion time.
Speaking on Westpac’s participation, head of Global Transactional Services, Asia, Axel Boye-Moller, said: “We are very pleased to work alongside key customers BHP Billiton and Cargill, as well as essDOCS and SWIFT, to deliver another 'first'. This is another example of how we are leveraging different technology platforms to deliver innovative solutions for our customers in Australasia and Asia, and helping them achieve greater efficiency and speed in their trade and working capital management.”
Westpac continues to be a leading player in global trade financing and a pioneer of the latest technologies, enabling greater efficiency for customers. This is part of the bank’s targeted and deliberate strategy in Asia to connect customers to the trade, capital and people flows between Asia and Australasia.
