Trade finance blockchains consolidate into we.trade

Today we.trade, the nine bank trade finance consortium confirmed joining forces with some former Batavia consortium banks, as previously reported. Both consortia share IBM as a common technology partner. In early July, we.trade was the first trade finance blockchain to go live. Three of Batavia’s five banks, CaixaBank, Erste Group and UBS, will join we.trade as equal shareholders and the country coverage increases from eleven to thirteen. Commerzbank is also part of the R3/TradeIX Marco Polo consortium and will not be joining we.trade, and nor will Bank of Montreal.

Rationale

Marleen Wapenaar, we.trade product owner for Rabobank and a we.trade Alternate Board Director, explained the rationale behind the consolidation: “In the trade ecosystem we’d like as many banks as possible so we can service as many customers as possible.” To take advantage of we.trade, both the buyer and seller have to bank with a we.trade member. Wapenaar continued re Batavia: “They have more or less the same vision, so we thought it would be handy to shake hands and do it together.”

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