Alfa-Bank today announced that it joined the Marco Polo Network, the largest and fastest growing trade finance network leveraging Corda Blockchain technology.
According to Dina Merkulova, Head of Trade Finance of Alfa-Bank, the merge is about to bring significant efficiencies in financing trade and working capital: “In line with our objective to offer to our clients the best trade and supply chain finance services, we are looking to leverage the newest technology, including open APIs and distributed ledger technology (DLT), to deliver end-to-end solutions, better customer experience and optimize international supply chain transactions”.
“The Marco Polo Network is the most advanced and forward-looking trade finance and blockchain technology consortium which makes it the best partner to succeed,” she added.
Alfa-Bank is one of the largest commercial banks in Russia in terms of total assets, total equity, and loan portfolio. Headquartered in Moscow, it operates in seven countries, providing financial services to over 380 thousand active corporate customers
Marco Polo offers a state-of-the-art trade finance platform for global working capital needs delivering risk mitigation solutions around payment commitments, receivables financing and factoring solutions. The platform is powered by R3, an enterprise blockchain software firm working with a broad ecosystem of more than 300 members and partners across multiple industries, using Corda blockchain technology and open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) purpose-built for the global trade ecosystem.
It allows banks to easily integrate into trade orchestrations bringing in ERP, procure to pay, logistics, payment, and insurance data real-time into the transactions.
Daniel Cotti, Managing Director, Center of Excellence, Banking & Trade for the Marco Polo Network mentioned that there are exciting times ahead for Marco Polo. “The network is growing at an accelerating pace and benefits from the vision and wealth of expertise brought by the leading institutions joining the consortium”.
Cotti is delighted to welcome Alfa-Bank as one of the major Russian banks, which he calls a key financial institution in Europe further expanding the reach of Marco Polo’s network.
David E. Rutter, CEO of R3 said: “The trade finance infrastructure that institutions rely on to do business are in need of an upgrade. By utilizing cutting-edge blockchain technology, the Marco Polo initiative will improve efficiency and transparency while offering Alfa-Bank access to a wide range of trade finance solutions.”
