BMO introduces Interac e-Transfer Bulk Receivables for Canadian corporates

BMO has announced that it now offers Interac e-Transfer Bulk Receivables for Canadian corporates. The feature allows BMO's Online Banking for Business clients to send near real-time payment requests to multiple recipients at once.

BMO's introduction of Interac e-Transfer Bulk Receivables will offer Canadian businesses more control over their incoming payments while enhancing visibility over their cash flow. The service helps businesses:

• Get paid faster: Payment requests are sent through real-time or SMS payment notifications, which can be accepted and paid directly by customers through their online banking channel.
• Manage cash flow efficiently: Daily reports track outstanding and fulfilled payment requests, making reconciliation easy.
• Simplify payments: The service provides automated email and SMS payment reminders to help eliminate the need to call, email, or mail outstanding payors. As well, no confidential information is shared with the recipient – only an email address or phone number is shared.

"Digital payment solutions are an important part of a business' efficient operation, and the ability to request near real-time payments from multiple parties at once is one way Canadian businesses can manage their accounts receivable with greater ease and confidence," said Peter Maoloni, vice president, Product & Platform Delivery at Interac Corp. "Interac e-Transfer Bulk Receivables leverages our proven capabilities in fraud detection and prevention, data analytics, direct messaging, and reporting to simplify important daily business transactions."

 

Standard Chartered completes its first cross-bank LC blockchain transaction between Vietnam and Thailand

Standard Chartered has announced the successful completion of the first cross-bank letter of credit (LC) transaction between Vietnam and Thailand conducted over blockchain, in partnership with Asian Development Bank (ADB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam and Standard Chartered Bank (Thai).

The transaction was completed over the Contour network, a blockchain-based open industry platform focused on digitising trade finance, and involved a US$50,000 shipment of plastics from Thailand’s SCG Plastics Co., Ltd. to Vietnam’s Opec Plastics Joint Stock Company. Compared to the paper-intensive processes involved in the traditional methods of trade finance, by digitising the end to end exchange of information and streamlining the process of LC issuance and confirmation, all trade participants achieved a significant reduction in processing time from up to five days to within seven hours.

It also marks the successful completion of ADB’s first credit guarantee using distributed ledger technology, as well as the first of such LC comprising a sell-down feature to be conducted on Contour. The transaction further paves the way for more banks and corporates to collaborate on innovative technology that can support the growth of trade, having demonstrated the ability to complete the trade sell-down process with greater speed and efficiency.

 

Truvalue Labs and Solactive launch AI-powered ESG indexes

Truvalue Labs and Solactive have announced the launch of the Solactive Truvalue ESG Index Series. These indices are designed to provide investors with diversified exposure to global large- and mid-cap equities with strong ESG characteristics.

As assets in passive ESG funds doubled to US$250bn in the past three years, investors are demanding better quality information. Truvalue Labs says it sources and analyses information differently than traditional ESG research firms do, using natural language processing and machine learning. Its Insight scores are derived from real-time ESG information that is not dependent on company disclosures. 

The Solactive Truvalue ESG United States Index is the first benchmark in the series, which applies Truvalue Labs’ Volume and Insight scores for component selection while avoiding exposure to fossil fuels, utilities and tobacco companies. As of August 26, 2020, index performance from February 2008 shows annualised returns of 12.43% compared with 10.38% for the Solactive GBS United States Large & Mid Cap Index, the parent index.