National Bank of Canada (NBC) has collaborated with ICT and business consulting services firm CGI and blockchain technology start-up Skuchain on a pilot programme aimed at improving and streamlining the processes for negotiating standby letters of credit (L/Cs) and guarantees.

The pilot integrated the CGI Trade360 trade finance platform with Skuchain's Contract Builder, an application built on the company's Brackets platform for smart contracts on a blockchain.

Smart contracts

The integration enables NBC to provide trade finance services digitally to customers conducting business on a blockchain solution. Customers can initiate, conduct and conclude negotiations of standby L/Cs and guarantees entirely on smart contracts.

These contracts intelligently construct agreements and securely communicate any changes in terms to relevant parties.

Benefits

The result is a blockchain-based contract negotiation tool that the collaborators say is enormously effective in standby L/C and guarantee processing.

The platform aims to improve processing times, reduce risks and help strengthen the bank's customer relationships.

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