A group of trade finance veterans has launched ETR Digital, a technology company offering digital negotiable instruments (DNIs) to businesses and banks for trade.

The company says in a release that it “specialises in transforming working capital performance and access to liquidity by delivering DNIs”.

Digital negotiable instruments, including digital promissory notes and bills of exchange, can offer major advantages in terms of speed and safety over their paper counterparts. The company claims businesses can reduce transaction costs by up to 80% by switching to their service.

ETR Digital is providing its promissory notes and bills of exchange in partnership with an undisclosed “globally recognised electronic signature and ID verification provider”, and will also offer quantum encryption technology from Arqit to customers that require enhanced security.

ETR Digital’s leadership team is made up of chief executive Dominic Broom, former senior vice-president of working capital technology at Arqit and ex-head of global trade finance at BNY Mellon; chief operating officer Roger Hynes, who previously served as Arqit’s director of business development for financial services cyber security; chief product officer Wayne Mills, member of the International Chamber of Commerce’s digital taskforce and former head of transaction banking at Lloyds; and chief legal officer Toby Schumacher, a trade-focused barrister.

“ETR Digital’s entry into the DNI space follows two years of development work by the team,” Broom tells GTR. “Our DNI service has already generated interest beyond the UK, with positive engagement from businesses in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

“The landscape for adoption of DNIs is increasingly promising, bolstered by growing corporate and institutional awareness of the benefits of digitalisation, amplified by industry bodies like the International Chamber of Commerce and the International Trade and Forfaiting Association.”

Broom has long been an advocate for the revival of negotiable instruments in digital form. At Arqit last year, he oversaw the rollout of a liquidity calculator designed to show corporates how DNIs would help improve their cash conversion cycles.

“Now that [negotiable documents are] recognised in digital form, the utility for your average treasury team is just going to be dramatically enhanced because of the time and speed and ease with which these can be created,” Broom said at the time. A similar calculator is offered on ETR Digital’s website.