HSBC has launched a new portal to give its financial institution (FI) customers real-time visibility on the status of their transactions, tackling what it says is an important pain point for the market.

The FI Digital Network, launched during Sibos, is an online tool that enables the bank’s FI customers to view the status of their transactions in real time, receive status updates and download reports.

The first use case the bank has found for the network is for bank guarantees – undertakings issued by a bank assuring payment to the beneficiary in the event that an applicant fails to meet its underlying contractual obligation.

“At present, the customer journey for guarantees is fragmented with multiple touchpoints and limited end-to-end visibility,” says Vinay Mendonca, HSBC’s chief growth officer for global trade and receivables finance. “The FI Digital Network offers an improved and simplified customer experience. Not only does the new portal provide full visibility, with real-time updates, it removes the need for manual interventions.”

The bank says that it has carried out a “successful” pilot of guarantee transactions, and is now rolling out the service to cater for the full suite of trade products that its FI clients use.

Speaking to GTR at Sibos about the rationale for launching the product, Mendonca said: “Since Covid-19, we’ve seen a significant increase in focus on digitalising the outward-facing parts of trade finance. With the introduction of this portal, we’re speeding up the underlying processes between banks, improving efficiencies as we aim to truly transform trade.”

HSBC is also offering this functionality through an API, and now plans to work with its FI customers on other tailored solutions to further increase transaction automation.