Akbank accomplishes its digital first live transaction on the we.trade platform!
Akbank, which took a significant step in the digitalization of foreign trade when it became the first Turkish bank to join the we.trade consortium of leading European banks last November, has successfully completed its first transaction on the platform. In this transaction, on behalf of its client, Akbank issued a Bank Payment Undertaking (BPU) for a smart contact, helping lead the way in opening new digital trade corridors. we.trade provides exporters with receivables guarantee and financing, whilst securing payment guarantees for importers, in a safe and reliable digital environment.
In his statement, Executive Vice President of Akbank SME Banking, Bülent Oğuz said, “Being the first Turkish bank to adopt the we.trade platform, a platform which works with blockchain infrastructure, we are excited to execute our first transaction. In this transaction, we approved a Bank Payment Undertaking (BPU) on a smart contract with our SME client Bemo Grup on the we.trade platform. This trade, which was previously executed by opening a deferred letter of credit between two companies, was carried out in a much easier way over we.trade”
“We foresee that blockchain technology and smart contracts reduce the reliance on physical documents, as well as eliminating the operational workload of traditional business models. We offer a fast, easy and transparent digital experience in foreign trade for our customers in a reliable environment provided by this technology. We believe that these innovative solutions will also contribute positively to the digital transformation of companies that export or plan to export and by facilitating their access to financing in foreign trade”
Atila Koçak, CEO of Bemo Grup, who performed the first transaction on the we.trade platform, said, “With we.trade, foreign trade transactions are very easy, safe and more importantly fast. It is a system that can eliminate all the problems that we experienced previously during the whole documentation process with letters of credit. Through this innovative solution by Akbank, it is exciting to manage our foreign trade transactions in such an easy way. I wish we could meet and trade with all our counterparties we work with on the we.trade platform”
In his statement, we.trade CTO Mark Cudden told, “we.trade thanks Akbank and Bemo Grup for engaging on this digital journey together with the we.trade platform as its foundation. May this be the catalyst for many more transactions in the future”