HDBank on May 6 joined Contour, the open trade finance network, to increase its ability to extend trade financing to more corporates.

This addition to Contour’s blockchain-based network further enhances its offering to the trade finance industry.

HDBank is the latest financial institution to join Contour and the first bank in Viet Nam to be part of the company’s network. This offers an opportunity for Vietnamese corporates to take advantage of the online negotiation and streamlined management of letters of credit with counterparties in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the US.

Built on R3’s Corda, Contour’s network is focused on overhauling the letter of credit (LC) issuance process. LCs are traditionally paper-based, time consuming to process and costly to deal with.

By digitising LCs on a blockchain network, the processing time and cost are significantly reduced. In the current socio-economic climate, the need for further efficiency in the market has grown even more apparent.

Carl Wegner, CEO of Contour said: “The focus with our network has always been to establish a neutral platform that all different types of banks and corporates can use for trade finance transactions. To fully unlock the potential of what enterprise blockchain can bring to trade finance, banks and corporates need to be able to collaborate and forge new connections. That is the ultimate aim of Contour, and it’s something we’re continuing to see as we welcome HDBank into the network.”

Pham Quoc Thanh, CEO of HDBank, said: “We saw the potential for Contour to revolutionise how we issue LCs and knew it was an opportunity like no other.

“By working with Carl and his team, we hope to change that, providing increased flexibility with LCs, streamlining the process and providing funds to corporates in a far more efficient manner than ever before. In due course, we look forward to sharing news of transactions taking place on this network.” — VNS