By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Southeast Asia's largest bank DBS (SI:DBSM), Swiss commodities trader Trafigura [TRAFG.UL] and their partners have started a blockchain trading platform in Singapore aimed at reducing paperwork and improving trade flows, the bank said.
The first trade to be carried out on the ICC Tradeflow platform will be a cargo of iron ore worth $20 million to be shipped from Africa to China this month, DBS said on Wednesday.
The platform is built on Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority's (IMDA's) network infrastructure and Perlin's blockchain technology, DBS said.
The International Chamber of Commerce is also a partner in this project, the bank added.
"By tapping into each other's respective expertise in commodities and finance, our customers will be able to receive their goods at least 50% faster with much less paperwork," said Tan Su Shan, head of institutional banking at DBS.
All parties on the blockchain platform will also be able to send, receive and act upon trade instructions in real time, cutting the end-to-end trade document transit time by more than half from 45 to 20 days, the bank said.
More enhancements will be made to the platform including trade finance on-the-go, providing background information and credit ratings on trade participants, vessels and couriers to build trust among counterparties, DBS said.