Bangkok Bank has joined the Marco Polo trade finance initiative developed by blockchain software startup R3 and trade finance technology firm TradeIX.

The Marco Polo platform is aimed to make trade finance simpler and more risk-free using blockchain technology instead of manual, paper-based processes, and already boasts major financial institutions including BNP, Commerzbank and ING as participants. The project was launched in September 2017 and moved to the pilot stage earlier this year.

Upon joining the project, Bangkok Bank hopes to apply distributed ledger technologies (DLT) to "address the complexities and inefficiencies of trade finance," Ian Guy Gillard, the bank's executive VP, stated in a press release.

The solution provides end-to-end, real-time connectivity between the participants of a trade transaction and helps in eliminating inefficiencies and discrepancies in data flow. Delivered over TradeIX's TIX open platform and built with R3's DLT product Corda, Marco Polo currently addresses three areas of trade finance: risk mitigation, payables finance and receivables finance.

Pornnit Dunnvatanachit, another executive from Bangkok Bank, said:

Bangkok Bank sign image via Shutterstock