LCconnect and Bolero have announced an agreement that they say links for the first time a letter of credit (L/C) origination system with an electronic trade documentation system.

According to a statement issued by LCconnect - an online financial services platform for L/Cs - its clients that are also able to interface with the Bolero system will be able to deliver L/C information securely and efficiently online.

Towards a complete e-commerce solution?

Bolero's commercial director, Peter Scott, reckons "the LCconnect platform will enable our corporate and bank clients to easily integrate their L/C origination process with the Bolero System" and he thinks the partnership "can offer clients a more complete e-commerce solution".

LCconnect says its secure collaborative transaction network and information system provides lower costs, pricing transparency and greater automation of a traditionally manual and time-consuming origination process. Bolero claims its system enables users to securely exchange legally binding electronic trade documents via the Internet.

Cost savings

The partners say they are to develop an interface between their systems. Their aim is to allow a Bolero-enabled user of LCconnect to select a bank to issue or confirm an L/C and then transmit its transactional details through Bolero's secure messaging platform directly to the bank.

Founder and co-president of LCconnect, Lukasz Cianciara, sees Bolero as "a valuable partner in our goal of maximizing the efficiencies in the L/C execution process for all players". He also predicts the partnership will provide "significant operational and cost savings".

New York based LCconnect claims its online L/C portal enables users to efficiently and speedily execute online both documentary and standby L/C transactions. Bolero is pursuing its aim to provide a secure electronic platform for the transmission of business data and documents along the entire trade. It says eight out of the world's top ten banks have now signed up to Bolero, as have more than 50 major corporations, several trading houses and five of the world's top ten container shipping lines.

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