In collaboration with
Share
There's a lot to gain by digitising global trade, from reducing costs and improving transparency to mitigating fraud and addressing the
Compared to their paper equivalent, electronic Bills of Lading (eBL) reduce the risk of document loss and fraud, speed up the transfer of documents and shrink the carbon footprint associated with paper processes. McKinsey predicts that adopting eBL could save the industry
While the requirement for widespread eBL adoption is generally recognised, there's still a long way to go. In 2022, only 2.1% of bills and lading and waybills in the container trade were electronic, according to the
There's much room for optimism
Numerous industry initiatives are currently ongoing aimed at boosting eBL adoption.
For instance, around 80 institutions have signed up to
And with a significant proportion of global trade conducted using English law documents, an important milestone was the passing of the
The need for eBL interoperability
So far, so good. But the current lack of technical interoperability between existing eBL platforms presents a significant obstacle to wholesale adoption.
The nine eBL providers authorised by the
We've heard from our community that such 'digital islands' are not sustainable. Interoperability is needed between different eBL platforms so that users can interact with each other using a single identity.
Given our long history of enabling global interoperability - and recent initiatives such as our solution to interlink central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) - we believe Swift can play an important part in addressing the eBL challenge.
A collaborative solution
In 2022, we started working with our
Then, earlier in 2023, we ran a Proof of Concept (PoC) to test how an interoperability solution could work in practice. In its first phase, we collaborated with eBL platforms edoxOnline and CargoX to test the use of a single ubiquitous API contract to open up a secure channel with Swift.
We then expanded the PoC to include two additional eBL platform providers - TradeGo and WaveBL - as well as
Shirish Wadivkar
Standards set with the industry - combined with global interoperability facilitated by Swift - can enable eBL providers and digital trade platforms to seamlessly interact with banks, corporates, and the wider trade ecosystem.
Shirish Wadivkar Global Head, Wholesale Payments & Trade Strategy, Swift
And a positive outcome
The PoC successfully demonstrated that financial institutions could exchange eBL across multiple trade platforms using their existing Swift connectivity - instead of having to connect to each platform individually. By reusing their connection to Swift, institutions wouldn't need to develop custom point-to-point integrations with multiple, fragile and complex dependencies.
The solution would offer the high security, legal and compliance standards that financial institutions require when managing transactions. As such, it has the potential to enable interoperability between participants, while improving efficiency, reducing costs and reducing the risk of fraud.
'Standards set with the industry - combined with global interoperability facilitated by Swift - can enable eBL providers and digital trade platforms to seamlessly interact with banks, corporates, and the wider trade ecosystem. Such industry-wide collaboration is essential to achieve a 'zero paper trade' future,' said Shirish Wadivkar, Global Head, Wholesale Payments & Trade Strategy at Swift.
What's next?
While our solution has the potential to enable eBL interoperability over Swift, more collaborative work is needed before a production-ready solution can be developed. We'll continue to engage with our members and the broader trade industry to address additional challenges in the areas of legal interoperability, technical accessibility, ecosystem-wide standards and adoption.
Connecting global trade: Enabling interoperability between financial institutions and electronic Bill of Lading (eBL) platforms
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What our participants have to say
Alejandro Pernias, CEO of Global Share (edoxOnline), said: 'Another important step towards interoperability between the eBL service providers and banks. The successful PoC Proof of Concept carried out using the Swift infrastructure unveils and projects an easy way for different banks to interconnect with the different eBL service providers with the aim of achieving a seamless interconnectivity in a major and secure global ecosystem.'
Connecting global trade: Enabling interoperability between financial institutions and electronic Bill of Lading (eBL) platforms
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