Bahrain-based Bank ABC has deployed the Fusion Trade Innovation platform to standardise its core wholesale banking systems and processes and meet a dramatic increase in demand for export letters of credit (L/Cs) according to Finastra, the fintech software vendor that developed the platform.

Bank ABC operates across five continents, covering countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia.

L/C boost

"When demand for export L/Cs skyrocketed in Europe, we were able to bring in trade finance experts from other locations in the group to help meet increased business with next to no additional training," according to deputy group head of operations at Bank ABC, Paul Baker.

He says that deploying the system enabled the bank to support a threefold growth in its L/C business in late 2018.

"The standardised, end-to-end trade finance processes in Fusion Trade Innovation simplifies our ability to deploy operations in new jurisdictions," according to Baker who says that they recently introduced services in a completely new market in under two weeks or 80 per cent faster than what would have been achievable before.

Standardised system

Bank ABC deployed Fusion Trade Innovation to standardise its core wholesale banking systems and processes for 10 jurisdictions on to one central hub.

Since aligning its wholesale banking workflows with this single system, the bank says it has achieved significant efficiency savings and maintenance cost reductions.

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