Deutsche Bank rolls out digital signature solution for Daimler in ASEAN

Deutsche Bank has announced that it is implementing an electronic banking signature solution together with Daimler Treasury in Singapore with potential application in further markets in Asia for the company's treasury functions.

Document and contract signing remains one of the most important and frequent processes between banks and its clients and can involve a high degree of manual processing. Leveraging DocuSign, Daimler should be able to save costs and gain efficiencies by eliminating the need to send via physical documentation to Deutsche Bank.

Deutsche Bank has been Daimler's long-term core transaction banking partner in Asia Pacific, providing cash management, documentary trade, and risk management solutions. The Daimler Group is one of the biggest producers of premium cars and the world's biggest commercial vehicle manufacturer with a global reach. The company provides financing, leasing, fleet management, insurance, and innovative mobility services.

"We are continuously looking for new ways to streamline our operations using digital tools," commented Dr. Kai Bartlmae, head Treasury Operations Asia Pacific at Daimler. "Deutsche Bank and Daimler Treasury's use of DocuSign is a major step in digitalising our treasury processes. We intend to use this solution in other areas in the near future. We are pleased with the benefits of DocuSign, which aligns with Daimler's culture on digital transformation."

"With this digital signature solution, Daimler's treasury function will be able to significantly reduce turnaround times for banking signatures from days to minutes while improving documentary risk control," said Chintan Shah, APAC head of Corporate Cash Management at Deutsche Bank.

 

Australian Border Force starts trade blockchain trial with Singapore

The Australian Border Force (ABF) has said it is developing solutions to make cross border trade simpler and paperless for Australian businesses, in line with the bilateral Australia-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement. A trial was launched on 23 November with Singapore Customs and Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to test digital verification systems: the first to be developed using blockchain technology by experts from Australia and Singapore at the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) for inter-government document exchange.

ABF Commissioner Michael Outram said the ABF looks forward to close collaboration with international partner agencies on mutual border modernisation programmes: “The ABF welcomes the opportunity to collaborate further with Singapore to improve cross-border trade between our countries. In addition to our efforts internationally, this initiative will incorporate paperless trading and secure, digital exchange of trade information as part of the future architecture and design of an Australian Trade Single Window."

The trial will test digital verification platforms across both the ABF-developed Intergovernmental Ledger (IGL) and IMDA’s TradeTrust for electronic trade documents. Businesses and regulators will give feedback on their experience verifying Certificates of Origin with the two systems - with the aim of reducing administration costs and increasing trade efficiency.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Australian Industry Group, as well as financial institutions in Singapore, including ANZ, will take part in the trial. The trial supports the Australian government’s recently announced Simplified Trade Agenda, which is looking to reform and digitise trade compliance processes. The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment is also collaborating on complimentary digital initiatives with Singapore regulators to progress paperless trading for phytosanitary and sanitary certificates for food and agricultural trade.

The ABF says it will feed lessons learned from the trial into the Supply Chain Working Group’s Discovery Report under the National Blockchain Roadmap led by Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.

 

Nordic digital bank Lunar takes treasury management to the cloud with FIS

Denmark-based Lunar has selected a cloud-based treasury and risk management solution from financial technology firm FIS, to enable the mobile-only digital bank to optimise liquidity and manage risk as it continues its rapid expansion.

Lunar, which received a banking license in 2019, offers businesses and consumers throughout the Nordics savings, investments and insurance products via a digital app. The challenger bank was looking for a treasury management solution that provides rich functionality while leveraging open application programming (API) interfaces to ensure simple integration with cloud-based applications.

The Nordic bank chose the FIS private cloud-based Ambit Quantum, a front-to-back treasury and risk management solution, to manage liquidity, hedge accounting and regulatory compliance. Lunar will implement the solution on the FIS private cloud under a managed services contract.

In addition, Lunar will leverage the FIS SWIFT Service Bureau to securely connect its treasury and payment operation to banking partners through SWIFT and other industry exchanges and networks. Seamless integration through API gateways will allow Lunar and its customers to access up-to-date information on the Lunar banking app.

 

Ebury and TrustBills partner on international trade solutions

Ebury, a global transaction platform, has signed a partnership with TrustBills, a German fintech that helps companies finance their international trade. The two firms have agreed to supplement each other’s portfolios, integrate their payment systems, and support their respective sales activities.

The partnership is designed to mutually enhance both companies’ product offering and aims to make international trade easier for corporates as well as increasing access to cross border receivables finance to more market participants.

By integrating their payments systems, TrustBills and Ebury say they will be able to provide a better alternative to the EBICS approval process. This will provide clients in Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg with another technology option for payments and working capital.