Lloyds Bank is collaborating with Komgo, a blockchain platform, for streamlining its commercial banking division. 

Blockchain to streamline international trade process

On September 25^th, FStech, a UK-based financial news outlet, reported that Lloyds Bank, which is one of the “Big Four” clearing banks in the UK, announced that it would be implementing Komgo’s platform to allow faster international commodity trade finance, adding:

“Komgo’s DLT platform digitises and streamlines the commodity trade finance process, enabling businesses to quickly and automatically exchange data and associated documents across a wide range of solutions – from letters of credit and KYC management to receivables discounting – in a digital, secure and decentralised way.”

The Komgo platform uses blockchain technology for optimizing financial procedures, increase trade efficiencies and combat fraudulent activities. The platform is powered by 15 commodity investors and banks, including ABM Amro, ING, and the oil giant Shell. 

The managing director of Lloyds Bank commercial banking, Gwynne Master, said that the cross-border trade procedure is time consuming and unwieldy, adding:

“The process of trading a single commodity can take over 100 days, involves many players, considerable paperwork, and risk. Trade is particularly onerous for our commodities clients, where faster turnaround times and a streamlined channel are key requirements.”

Furthermore, Master said that Llyods Bank made the decision to work with Komgo for making the internal trade process faster for its corporate customers by notably digitalizing and streamlining the procedure. 

Crypto is attracting big-name banks

As reported earlier, Peter Wuffli, the former CEO of UBS, a major Swiss multinational investment bank, said that major banks like Credit Suisse and UBS focus more on industry development and cryptocurrencies.

“From what we hear, interest has clearly picked up since the licenses were granted. Bank executives are asking their middle management to figure out whether this is just another fintech fad that comes and goes, or whether it is really transformational,” said Wuffli.