Digital letter of credit (L/C) developer Contour has been awarded for the progress it has made with its digital trade finance solution, most recently for its work to improve commodity trade financing and for its impact on digital trade finance solutions in Saudi Arabia.

The awards come in a year in which Singapore-based Contour has continued to collaborate with industry partners to expand its digital trade finance network.

Saudi recognition

Contour has won the award for digital innovation at the inaugural GTR Saudi Arabia 2023 Awards.

This award recognises the impact of Contour's innovative digital trade finance solution in helping banks and corporates in the kingdom streamline and simplify complex processes.

Contour has made significant progress in Saudi Arabia, having executed the first blockchain-based transaction in the Middle East's automotive sector in September 2022, and having welcomed the world's largest Islamic bank, Al Rajhi Bank, to its network in November 2022.

Commodity trade finance

Contour has also won the commodity trade finance technology award at the inaugural Commodity Trading Awards 2023. The award recognises Contour's commitment and leadership in making the trade finance industry faster, better and safer, by leveraging distributed ledger technology.

Established three years ago, Contour now serves over 130 corporate customers and 20 of the world's leading trade banks across 51 countries.

Industry partnerships

This year, Contour announced its strategic partnerships with Surecomp (DC World News, 17 March 2023) and TradeGo (DC World News, 3 March 2023) as part of its vision to drive the digital transformation of trade finance.

Contour's platform digitises L/C processing by managing the entire end-to-end process in a collaborative workflow, giving buyers and sellers instant access and real-time visibility of the transaction on one connected platform.

Surecomp and Tradego

Tradego's platform enables the secure and transparent transfer of electronic bills of lading and warehouse receipts for clients across the commodity supply chain, with a focus on commodity flows in and out of China.

Through the collaboration with Surecomp's trade finance platform RIVO, Contour's member banks should be able to access digital L/C workflows directly on Surecomp's back-office applications, providing straight-through automated processing, reducing costs, improving operational efficiency and optimising profitability.

Broadening offering

In 2022, Contour said in May that it would combine its digital L/C solution and extensive trade finance network with Tradelens, which has direct access to major ocean carriers and offerings such as electronic bills of lading (DC World News, 23 May 2022).

In the following September, Contour announced it was acquiring the rulebook and other associated legal documents from the failed digital trade venture developed by the we.trade Innovation DAC joint-venture company, which marketed a bank payment undertaking product as an L/C alternative (DC World News, 14 September 2022).

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or Coastline Solutions.