DBS Bank and the Hong Kong chapter of GS1 have launched a digital post-shipment trade financing solution catering to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Utilising GS1 Hong Kong’s ezTRADE platform, companies will now be able to utilise their trade data to access financing in a "digital and straight-through" manner instead of manually submitting hundreds of invoices every month, a DBS Hong Kong spokesperson said.
Founded by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in 1989, GS1 Hong Kong is the local chapter of GS1, a not-for-profit, Brussels-based global standards organisation that develops and drives the adoption of “easy-to-implement” global standards for businesses to identify, capture and share vital information about products, locations and assets.
The DBS spokesperson said DBS Bank and GS1 Hong Kong will use trade transaction data to provide SMEs in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and food & beverage (F&B) sectors with a digital post-shipment trade solution.
This digital offering would make it easy for SMEs to access working capital with just one click via the bank’s corporate banking platform, DBS IDEAL.
By using GS1 Hong Kong’s ezTRADE data and DBS’ digital capabilities, SMEs would be able to obtain trade financing within the same day, the spokesperson said.
SMEs will no longer need to submit hundreds of invoices manually to the bank. This “paperless approach to trade financing not only frees SMEs from repetitive document submission”, but also paves the way for more digital and sustainable business practices, DBS Hong Kong’s MD and head of institutional banking group, Alex Cheung said.
He said through DBS’ predictive analytics capabilities, invoice data would be used to assess the financial health of SMEs.
The amount of financing SMEs can access would be updated on a dynamic and recurring basis, he added.
“This is an optimised solution that is available to all GS1 Hong Kong members using the ezTRADE platform for transactions and SMEs can enjoy a fast turnaround time and draw down on their facility to meet the needs of their business,” Cheung said.
GS1 Hong Kong’s chief executive, Anna Lin said the partnership with DBS capitalises on GS1’s “rich datasets to enhance SMEs’ cash flow, bringing great value to our members in their continued digitalisation journey”.
Lin added that as one of the early participants of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Commercial Data Interchange (CDI) pilot initiative, GS1 aims to “nurture a collaborative digital trade finance ecosystem – building on our close collaboration with more financial institutions and delivering innovative solutions for the Hong Kong business community”.
