# Settling international trade finance via distributed ledgers

> Bangkok Bank and Commerzbank conducted an international trade finance transaction between Asia and Europe using the DLT-based Marco Polo network. The initiative focused on testing open-account trade finance processing using shared distributed ledger records to reduce friction. By synchronizing transaction documentation digitally, the participating financial institutions aimed to accelerate settlement and cut manual operational overhead.

**Sector:** Tertiary sector · **Industry:** Banking and financial services · **Organisation:** Bangkok Bank, Commerzbank · **Maturity level:** Pilot

Canonical URL: https://www.sapientblock.com/en/use-cases/bangkok-bank-internationale-handelsfinanzierungen-distributed-ledger-netzwerke

## Documentation status

- **Project status:** Pilot
- **Evidence:** Evidence medium
- **Editorial review:** pending

## Description

Bangkok Bank and Commerzbank demonstrated within this pilot project how cross-border trade finance between Asia and Europe can be digitalised. In traditional foreign trade, open-account transactions often require lengthy reconciliations and time-intensive exchange of physical documents. By using a shared distributed ledger platform, trade data could be synchronised directly between the banks, significantly speeding up processes.

The pilot project used the Marco Polo Network, built on the enterprise DLT platform R3 Corda, to automate trade finance between companies and banks. The focus was on digitalising payment obligations and trade data, which were previously often sent by post or inconsistent electronic formats. The partners involved, including Bangkok Bank and Commerzbank, conducted real transaction processes to test the practicality of data reconciliation and automated payment approval. Corda's architecture prevented uninvolved parties from accessing confidential business parameters. The successful execution demonstrated the potential of distributed ledger structures to significantly reduce processing times in global corporate banking.

## Benefits

- Faster release of liquidity for export and import companies
- Reduced error rates in invoice and freight data verification
- Accelerated processing times in cross-border trade finance
- High data security and confidentiality through bilateral peer-to-peer communication
- Reduced administrative effort through digitalised reconciliation processes
- Avoidance of manual data entry from paper documents
- Focus on exception cases and customer-oriented consulting

## Challenges

- Integration effort into established IT and ERP landscapes of corporate clients
- Requirement for broad consortium formation to achieve significant network effects
- Need for uniform legal frameworks for DLT transactions in foreign trade
- Adjustment to fully digital workflows without familiar paper documents

## Technology foundation

R3 Corda was chosen as the underlying distributed ledger technology because the platform is specifically designed for regulated financial institutions and shares transaction data only between the directly involved parties. This ensures strict confidentiality and banking-compliant data protection without global data distribution.

## Sources

- [Banks run trade finance pilot on Marco Polo blockchain](https://ctmfile.com/story/banks-run-trade-finance-pilot-on-marco-polo-blockchain)
- [First Marco Polo trade finance pilot between Asia and Europe](https://www.fintechfutures.com/fintech/first-marco-polo-trade-finance-pilot-between-asia-and-europe)