One of the world's largest diversified natural resources companies - Swiss-based commodities trading house Glencore International - has selected Bolero technology for the online automation of its letter of credit (L/C) application process.

The US$70 billion plus turnover group has worked initially with Bolero and Credit Suisse on the first phase of what Bolero says will become a significant multi-bank financial supply chain automation initiative for Glencore.

BoleroAdvise

Bolero claims its online technology will save time and cut costs for Glencore by improving the speed, efficiency and accuracy of its L/C and guarantees process. The technology also aims to provide Glencore with a full audit trail, which would reduce its procure-to-pay and order-to-cash cycles, and reduce inaccuracies and delays due to manual entry.

Glencore will use the BoleroAdvise solution (DC World News, 8 October 2004) with the aim of speeding up the time taken to order fulfilment by bringing all its outstanding documentary credit advices online for electronic viewing, amending, printing and downloading.

BoleroApply

The trading giant will also use the BoleroApply solution for the full automation of its L/C application process.

According to Bolero this solution will eventually replace Glencore's existing electronic L/C carrier system and its telex, fax and paper solutions.

Bank neutral

BoleroAdvise aims to provide Glencore with a bank-neutral platform that supports full multi-bank operation, allowing the company's export business to receive all its L/C advices in the same standard format.

On the import side, BoleroApply's single user interface aims to provide Glencore with support for all L/C applications and reduce the likelihood of manual errors, cutting errors and rejection rates.

Advantages

Glencore says, according to a statement issued by Bolero, that automating its L/Cs with Bolero should provide it with faster delivery of notifications, enhanced accuracy and an electronic audit trail, thus helping the group to speed up the time taken to order fulfilment and giving it the potential for accelerated cash-flow.

Perhaps more significantly, Glencore adds in the statement that the Bolero solution gives it a consolidated view of all its L/Cs, thus helping it to optimise cash flow and maximise credit line opportunities with its different banks.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.