The transaction involved Cargill and BHP Billiton as buyer and seller respectively, with ANZ as obligor bank. It marks the first use of BPO coupled with an electronic bill of lading and commercial invoices, where data flowed through all participants’ corners with zero data re-entry.

 

Document flow (including bills of lading) is normally separated from BPO transactions, requiring data re-entry and reconciliation. In this solution, title documents and related commercial invoices are electronically transmitted through the essDOCS Platform.

 

By combining electronic bills of lading with the BPO transaction, ANZ and its clients were able not only to submit original data and supporting documents as trade data to be matched against the BPO payment terms on Swift TSU, but also to automate the release of original documents to the buyer upon data match.

 

The integration of this functionality with the Swift network allows seamless BPO execution by providing straight through processing of key data. It also reduces transaction risk and accelerates trade finance processes for all four corners of a BPO transaction.

 

Vivek Gupta, ANZ global head of Trade and Supply Chain Product, said: “This groundbreaking solution reflects ANZ’s ambition to be a leading innovator in Asia-Pacific trade finance and bank of choice for companies active in the Australia-China trade corridor.”

 

Adesh Sarup, ANZ Head of Transaction Banking in Singapore, added: “ANZ is committed to working with our customers to understand their business and treasury objectives, and proactively offering solutions that deliver these. We are delighted to have partnered with both Cargill and BHP on this innovative BPO solution, which reflects our collective drive towards innovation, automation and efficiency in the area of trade finance.”