SINGAPORE, Nov. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Homegrown global trade facilitation platform provider vCargo Cloud Pte. Ltd. (“VCC”) announced today that it has officially launched CamelONE™ Trade Finance on the Networked Trade Platform (“NTP”) with the support of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) and nine leading trade finance banks – ANZ, BNP Paribas, DBS Bank, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (“ICBC”), MUFG Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (“OCBC”), Standard Chartered Bank (“SCB”) and United Overseas Bank (“UOB”).
CamelONE Trade Finance offers secure and simplified trade finance applications, and is the first multi-bank trade finance portal to be developed by a technology company in Southeast Asia. vCargo Cloud commenced development on the portal after the company was confirmed late 2017 as a successful participant in the call for collaboration by Singapore Customs in partnership with Government Technology Agency (“GovTech”).
According to the latest International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) report, global trade reached a new peak of US$18.5 trillion in 2018, underpinning a trade finance revenue pool of US$48 billion. A heavily paper-based industry, trade finance is often noted to be ripe for digital disruption. However, the multitude of documents and parties involved in trade finance transactions has made it difficult for the industry to digitalise quickly.
Designed to simplify trade finance applications, CamelONE Trade Finance will allow the NTP’s business users to subscribe and apply for up to twelve trade finance products via standardised forms in a secure format. Users can conduct simplified paperless trade finance applications through the reuse of their digital trade documents and data via the NTP, as well as receive real-time status updates on their applications, improving efficiency and productivity for both the banks and users.
Trade users will be able to pre-register their interest for early onboarding onto the CamelONE Trade Finance portal from now till 22nd January 2020 via the NTP. There are no registration or subscription fees for the portal.
VCC has a strong track record of building trade facilitation platforms, working together with both corporate and government entities, and is currently already a Value-Added Service provider on the NTP for automated customs permit preparation and Smart eCertificate of Origin applications.
The development of CamelONE Trade Finance is in line with VCC’s mission to create a digitalised global trade ecosystem allowing traders to conduct all trade-related activities in the Buy-Ship-Pay reference model developed by UN/CEFACT.
VCC’s CamelONE trade platform – which has been deployed in 16 countries across Asia and Africa – connects importers, exporters, logistics companies, warehouses, banks, insurers, government agencies and other players on a unified platform that supports the entire trade process.
Mr Desmond Tay, Chief Executive Officer of VCC, commented, “VCC is honoured to be able to work with the NTP, MAS and nine leading trade finance banks to launch CamelONE Trade Finance on the NTP today. We believe this portal will benefit both traders and banks immensely in the long run, and will soon become an integral part of every trader’s activities.”
The integration of CamelONE (VCC) and RSTrade (RSTradehouse LLC) platforms began in September 2018 and the first stage of integration has been completed. While both platforms are marketplace on its own, users can use the integrated platform as one marketplace, providing cross-border trade opportunities for manufacturers, buyers and trade and logistics-related companies from different countries.