komgo, a new blockchain-based platform backed by some of the world’s largest commodity trade finance banks, is now live.
komgo is a platform that digitises and streamlines trade and commodity finance. Founded as an independent venture in August 2018, its 15 shareholders include a mix of corporate and financial players: ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Citi, Crédit Agricole, Gunvor, ING, Koch Supply & Trading, Macquarie, Mercuria, MUFG Bank, Natixis, Rabobank, Shell, SGS and Société Générale.
Its foundation followed two experiments carried out on ING’s Easy Trading Connect platform in energy and soft commodities trading in 2017 and early 2018 respectively.
The komgo platform will initially offer two products: a digital letter of credit (LC) and a know your customer (KYC) solution. The digital LC, which is now live, allows commodity houses and other players to submit digital trade data and documents to their banks. The KYC solution, meanwhile, will go live in mid-January. It will standardise and facilitate the KYC process, enabling the exchange of documents on a “need to know” basis and without using a central database, meaning that users keep their documents within their own premises.
Source: Global Trade Review
