Bolero International, a provider of trade finance digitisation solutions, has entered into a partnership with blockchain platform dltledgers, adding its electronic bill of lading (eBL) solution to dltledgers’ offering.

Built on Hyperledger Fabric, the Singapore-based dltledgers platform focuses on cross-border commodity trade and trade finance. It enables trading companies to connect to their supply chain network and digitalise trade processes and financing documentation. Smart contracts allow traders to automate the creation of trade flows and build a digitally signed consensus framework among multiple parties. Banks and other trade finance providers, meanwhile, can offer instant trade financing support through the platform, which facilitates letter of credit (LC) transactions and supply chain financing.

“Until now, the only part of executing a trade that couldn’t be done digitally with dltledgers was the bill of lading. We don’t have our own P&I Club-approved solution,” says Farooq Siddiqi, CEO of dltledgers. “At the core of this partnership is therefore Bolero’s eBL. They have the technology, and they have the rule book which allows a fully digital transfer of title, without a paper document.”

This new collaboration will mean a dltledgers customer wishing to conduct a transaction will be able to issue, approve, transfer and track their eBL directly on the dltledgers platform, while the document itself will be transferred within Bolero. This, according to dltledgers, means that it can now provide true, end-to-end digitisation for its customers, enabling them to make a complete shift from paper-based trade execution to digital.

“As well as delivering immediate efficiencies and cost savings, this is helping our users to prepare for the next wave of data-driven trade finance, which is much closer to reality than many realise,” says Siddiqi. “Here in Singapore, it will also help them stay one step ahead of compliance and regulatory changes. With the new code of conduct announced last month by the Association of Banks in Singapore, supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, this is an increasingly important consideration for anyone in the sector.”

Unlike Bolero’s recent partnership with Mitigram, signed last month, this deal does not include a revenue sharing agreement. Instead, customers will, at least for now, sign two agreements – one with dltledgers and another with Bolero, Siddiqi tells GTR, adding: “This is important, as the customer must sign Bolero’s rule book. This means that both parties can invoice the customer separately, with no need for reseller agreements.”

This is the latest in several link-ups to blockchain trade platforms for Bolero, which already provides electronic bills of lading as a service to trade finance network Contour, and earlier this year became part of the Marco Polo Network.