Batavia, a blockchain-based trade finance platform that was developed by a consortium of international banks and IBM, has recently completed their very first live pilot transactions with corporate clients. The consortium of companies involved with developing Batavia includes Bank of Montreal (BMO), CaixaBank, Commerzbank, Erste Group, IBM and UBS.
The initial transactions included trading cars between Germany and Spain, and trading raw materials for furniture production from Austria to Spain. These transactions are very important, as they help to establish Batavia as an open ecosystem, built on the IBM blockchain platform.
Batavia covers the entire process of the trade, and thus is responsible for the forming of the agreement, the closing of trade agreements and also executing smart payments, all while recording each transaction on the blockchain. The smart payments can be triggered automatically by certain specified events in the supply chain. Also, the platform is able to tie track and trace tools, along with risk management tools, to key events within the supply chain. These are just some of the many features that help Batavia become a solid foundation for a future trade financed ecosystem.
When speaking on this milestone for Batavia, Managing Director and Head of Global Trade and Banking at BMO, Jeffrey Shell, spoke of the company’s commitment to innovation
“We are proud to have played a significant role in achieving this milestone – successfully enabling international trade using Blockchain,” “We are committed to continuing to develop innovative solutions that help our clients reach new markets; simply, safely and quickly.”
Numerous large companies working together with Batavia has been part of the reason for its success in transactions. CaixaBank, Commerzbank and Erse Group are major powers in the European financial sector, with tens of millions of clients collectively. BMO has been serving North American customers for over 200 years and is the 8th largest bank in the continent.
Speaking on this collaboration and the importance of partnerships between firms, Jason Kelley, the general manager of IBM Blockchain Services, said the following:
“The complexity of today’s global financial systems is making it more important than ever for networks of institutions to work together with their clients to efficiently and securely share trade data,” “The members of Batavia have demonstrated how sharing data among permissioned network members can accelerate cross-border trades and bring new transparency to the financial system, both in real-time and at scale.”
These transactions by Batavia are the first of hopefully many for Batavia as they shift their focus to the development of a production-ready solution. This could potentially include collaborations or partnerships with additional fintech start-ups and/or financial institutions. If successful, Batavia could potentially remodel the client experience by providing an automated way to secure, finance and arrange international trades and transactions.